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ASUO and Senate presidents: Pres Schill’s response to protest misguided

Sorry, this is from the weekend, just catching up. ASUO President Amy Schenk’s Op-Ed was posted Saturday, along with a report from Saul Hubbard, “Backlash grows as UO pursues conduct charges for students who disrupted a Schill speech“.

From Schenk:

On Oct. 23, University of Oregon President Michael Schill wrote an op-ed in The New York Times headlined “The misguided student crusade against fascism.” His column was a reproach directed toward the students who protested his state-of-the-university speech.

Schill condemned the protesters for supposedly stealing his right to free speech. He claimed that their actions exclude potential allies and portrayed himself as one of the student body’s strongest supporters, but chose not to respond to the students’ original concerns.

Instead, the essay was a way for Schill to publicly misrepresent the beliefs of the protesters, his own students. The result was a contradictory, repetitious testimony that juxtaposed Schill’s support of “free speech” and his simultaneous disapproval of student protests. …

We urge President Schill to invite these students in and work with them rather than publicly shaming them in a newspaper column filled with half-truths and mischaracterizations. He should take this as a sign that it is time to collaborate with students rather than punishing them with a vague student conduct code. At an institution of higher education, it is vital that student voices are included, not ignored.

My impression is that Pres Schill is indeed now trying to do that. From Hubbard:

The University of Oregon’s administration is facing growing backlash over its decision to pursue student conduct charges against a group of protesters who disrupted a speech by UO President Michael Schill last month.

The peaceful protest — about rising tuition costs and seeking a ban on white nationalist groups on campus, among other grievances — caused Schill to abandon his planned address.

Student and faculty leaders are increasingly speaking out against the disciplinary move, which they characterize as divisive and futile.

The University Senate is considering a symbolic resolution calling for the charges to be dropped, and it has “pretty broad support” among faculty and student members, Senate President Chris Sinclair said Friday. …

8 Comments

  1. Dog 11/21/2017

    Maybe its just me, but as the University “evolution” proceeds I see more and more examples of everything being treated as an invisible problem relegated to spreadsheet or memo management. I am quite sure the student protesters felt that the only way to get notices, was too get noticed. Now they are heavily penalized for their actions to remove their invisibility.

    What kind of system is that?

    Watch V for Vendatta if you want a clue …

    Silent, obedient consent …

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKvvOFIHs4k

  2. huge improvements 11/22/2017

    I’m impressed how far along Shill’s presidency has come. Not long ago, the administration was suing students it didn’t like. Now its only pressing conduct charges. Progress!

    • uomatters Post author | 11/22/2017

      Keep up those positive vibes, Huge!

    • dog 11/22/2017

      examples of student suits against, please

      • huge improvements 11/23/2017

        You don’t remember Jane Doe? They only dropped it after getting humiliated for following the advice of their previous resident ambulance chaser.

  3. dog 11/23/2017

    Of course I remember that one “suing students” implies
    there are others.

    • huge improvements 11/23/2017

      Artis and Dotson off the top of my head.

  4. Dog 11/24/2017

    well fine if your going to include “student athlete” situations, then
    yeah, okay; my comment was related to general student protests
    from general students … and on that basis, I do not see a huge
    improvement.

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