{"id":51288,"date":"2020-03-04T12:54:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T20:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=51288"},"modified":"2020-03-04T12:54:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T20:54:25","slug":"why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

For much of the 2019-2020 academic year,\u00a0Syracuse University has been besieged by student protests<\/a>\u00a0over how the school handled of a series of\u00a0racist incidents on campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the latest protest, Syracuse student activists have\u00a0occupied<\/a>\u00a0the campus administration building since Feb. 17. Using the hashtag #NotAgainSU, they are calling for action in the wake of\u00a0racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related incidents<\/a>\u00a0that allegedly occurred on campus since this past November, when they staged an earlier sit-in to\u00a0protest a spate of hate speech acts on campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The school initially\u00a0suspended 30 students<\/a>\u00a0involved in the latest occupation. However,\u00a0Chancellor Kent Syverud<\/a>\u00a0lifted the suspensions two days later. The Syracuse protesters have been meeting with the administration since March 2 to negotiate a\u00a0series of demands<\/a>. Some of the demands have\u00a0already been met<\/a>\u00a0since the November sit-in.<\/p>\n

Among other things, those demands include hiring more faculty of color and more counselors, revising the curriculum, giving students with disabilities preference in housing, and disarming public safety officers. Protesters also want to establish new policies for reporting bias-related incidents at the\u00a0150-year-old institution<\/a>, which is located in central New York state and serves more than 15,000 undergraduates.<\/p>\n

Whereas some may view student protests as\u00a0something to be squelched<\/a>, as an\u00a0education researcher<\/a>\u00a0and author of a\u00a0book about student activists<\/a>, I have come to see that campus protests, like the ones at Syracuse, serve an important educational purpose.<\/p>\n

Through activism, students learn not only to recognize and confront what they see as an unjust state of affairs. They also come to identify the root causes of a problem and develop solutions. The question college leaders and the broader society must ask, then, is if punishing student protesters \u2013 as what\u00a0initially took place<\/a>\u00a0at Syracuse \u2013 is the right course of action.<\/p>\n

The school\u2019s officials have acknowledged they are searching for answers in this regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all messed this up and I\u2019m sorry,\u201d said\u00a0Amanda Nicholson<\/a>, the assistant provost and dean of student success at Syracuse University. \u201cWhat we know is our current policies on how we work with protests have failed. They don\u2019t work. This is not a workable situation. We need to come up with something that really does work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thinking ahead<\/strong><\/h4>\n

I\u2019ve found that student activists today are quite sophisticated when they seek to negotiate and develop strategies for change.<\/p>\n

Consider an example from my new book, \u201cThe New Student Activists: The Rise of Neoactivism on Campus<\/a>,\u201d in which student activists sought to persuade campus administrators to replace what they saw as a culturally insensitive mascot. They figured that petitions, bookstore boycotts and other such actions would not get the administration to budge. So they crafted a compromise position to offer, once those other tactics would fail.<\/p>\n

The compromise would be to require all freshman to take a course in the history and culture of the people represented by the mascot.<\/p>\n

Privately, the student activists reasoned that as more students became educated on why it is problematic for people from a dominant culture to use an oppressed group\u2019s identity as a mascot, support for changing the mascot would grow. Publicly, they would present the compromise to administrators as a relatively low-cost and responsible way to address the activists\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n

The Syracuse protesters are pursuing similar tactics and goals. For instance, their list of demands includes creating a course on the\u00a0history of protests on their campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learning beyond the classroom<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Research<\/a>\u00a0affirms<\/a>\u00a0the idea that through activism, students\u00a0develop critical analysis skills<\/a>\u00a0and a deeper understanding of society and social change.<\/p>\n

Student activists have called out their colleges for a variety of things \u2013 from\u00a0relying on overseas sweatshops<\/a>\u00a0to produce their college apparel, to\u00a0polluting the environment<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0doing too little<\/a>\u00a0to investigate and punish sexual assault and harassment on campus.<\/p>\n

Robert Rhoads<\/a>, a scholar of higher education,\u00a0found<\/a>\u00a0that activism teaches students things they are unlikely to learn from course materials or class discussions. My own research, however, finds that activism can complement academic learning.<\/p>\n

For instance, in my\u00a0study<\/a>\u00a0of more than 200 student activists at 120 colleges and universities across the United States, I found that most believed their activism enhanced their academic performance.<\/p>\n

Although some acknowledged that activist work could feel more important or pressing than a homework assignment, the students by and large credited their activism with making them more successful academically. In some cases, it enabled them to make connections to theory or to apply course material to their everyday life. In other cases, it inspired them to work harder in classes so they would be seen as intellectually credible. Only 12.5% said activism hurt their grades or academic engagement.<\/p>\n

Looking to the future<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sometimes, colleges don\u2019t recognize the value of student activists until long after the fact. For instance, in February, the University of Mississippi \u2013 better known as Ole Miss \u2013\u00a0welcomed back<\/a>\u00a0five former students who had been expelled 50 years ago for protesting a campus environment that was hostile to minority students. The events were intended to honor the sacrifice of the activists and acknowledge the harm they suffered from law enforcement and university administrators.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think it should take half a century for a university \u2013 and society in general \u2013 to figure out that punishing students who challenge their institutions to improve is the wrong way to go. Fortunately, Syracuse Chancellor Syverud recognized that it was wrong to expel protesters when he reversed the #NotAgainSU suspensions.<\/p>\n

The deeper challenge for all universities, in my view, is to figure out how to address the conditions that give rise to protest in the first place.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Jerusha Osberg Conner is Associate Professor of Education at Villanova University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For much of the 2019-2020 academic year,\u00a0Syracuse University has been besieged by student protests\u00a0over how the school handled of a series of\u00a0racist incidents on campus. In the latest protest, Syracuse student activists have\u00a0occupied\u00a0the campus administration building since Feb. 17. Using the hashtag #NotAgainSU, they are calling for action in the wake of\u00a0racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":51289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[351568],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-51288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-student-activists"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For much of the 2019-2020 academic year,\u00a0Syracuse University has been besieged by student protests\u00a0over how the school handled of a series of\u00a0racist incidents on campus. In the latest protest, Syracuse student activists have\u00a0occupied\u00a0the campus administration building since Feb. 17. Using the hashtag #NotAgainSU, they are calling for action in the wake of\u00a0racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-04T20:54:25+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/syracuse_1013.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-04T20:54:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":953,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/syracuse_1013.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"student activists\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Higher Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/syracuse_1013.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-04T20:54:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/syracuse_1013.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/03\\\/syracuse_1013.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":506},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"For much of the 2019-2020 academic year,\u00a0Syracuse University has been besieged by student protests\u00a0over how the school handled of a series of\u00a0racist incidents on campus. In the latest protest, Syracuse student activists have\u00a0occupied\u00a0the campus administration building since Feb. 17. Using the hashtag #NotAgainSU, they are calling for action in the wake of\u00a0racist, anti-Semitic and bias-related […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2020-03-04T20:54:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":506,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/syracuse_1013.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters","datePublished":"2020-03-04T20:54:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/"},"wordCount":953,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/syracuse_1013.jpg","keywords":["student activists"],"articleSection":["Higher Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/","name":"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/syracuse_1013.jpg","datePublished":"2020-03-04T20:54:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/syracuse_1013.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/syracuse_1013.jpg","width":680,"height":506},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-colleges-should-think-twice-before-punishing-student-protesters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why colleges should think twice before punishing student protesters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51288"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=51288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}