Respone to Occupy Protests

A Chronicle of Higher Education article, November 16, 2011, discusses the Occupy Protests at the University of California - Berkeley. Recently there was a violent altercation between protestors and the campus police who were trying to enforce rules that barred them from camping overnight. The students joined arms to create a barrier around the protest area and were met with police who hit them with batons and pulled their hair. The immediate reaction from University President, Robert Birgeneau, was to release a statement condemning the actions of the protesters, claiming that their linking of arms was beyond passive resistance. He reminded the students some of the most successful protests have utilized passive resistance to push their message.

Students quickly became outraged as they viewed the presidents response as a lack of support for them. They argued that campus police were out of line when they used batons and resorted to physical violence against protesters. The President released a followup statement that took a softer line against the protesters. He claimed that because he was in Asia at the time, he had limited access to the internet and was not able to view the videos of the clash that showed the force utilized by campus police.

The article goes on to state that protests on campus require balancing free speech, keeping the campus safe, and managing public perception. Some schools are having a harder time with this than others. Idaho State University has flipflopped on its approach to dealing with occupy protesters. According to the article they initially approved a permit for an overnight protest, then tried to limit the protest to daytime hours, and then allowed the overnight protest anyway when demonstrators ingnored instructions. Seattle Community College officials have expressed their view that they do not have the legal authority to prevent protesters from occupying city park. The Supreme Court has ruled that colleges can limit when protests can occur without limiting free speech and it seems that some colleges are better at this than others.

Students at Duke and Harvard have reported that the rapport with administration is actually quite amicable. At Duke, protesters have asked to be made aware of any weddings that are planned at a local chapel so that they do not disrupt the services. Harvard was checking student ID's prior to allowing students to enter Harvard Yard, but since demonstrators have been so well behaved, this has become less necessary. As the article points out, it is interesting that Berekely who has such a history of student activism has a President who is flipflopping on policy regarding student protest. Of all schools it would seem that UC-Berkeley would have set policies in place.

I wonder if the problem with having set standards for dealing with protests is difficult considering the varying dynamics of student protest, including size of the demonstrations, the possible presence of competing protesters, and historical background of the issue being protested, for example. I'm guessing this is probably the case. I wonder though, if we can do a better job of planning for student protests so that we do not appear to flipflop when we set standards for student conduct.