Senior loses award for protest behavior at Bush speech

Within the space of a few weeks, senior Liz Monnin has been in and out of the of the good graces of the Alumni Association. After receiving conformation that she was going to be recognized with a Senior Award, The group revoked Monnin's award as a result of her behavior at protests at last month's visit from former President George H.W. Bush.

Members of the Alumni Association accused Monnin of disruptive actions at the speech, such as flashing an obscene gesture at Bush after he reproved the protestors. "While we respect your right to express your deeply held views, the methods you chose to use at the recent Fares Lecture were viewed as inappropriate and offensive by many members of the alumni family," the letter revoking Monnin's award said.

President of the Alumni Association Alan MacDougall, who wrote the letters presenting and then revoking Monnin's award, told her that he would keep the issue private. Monnin has made the letters public, however, and brought attention to the issue by commenting in an article last week in The BostonGlobe.

The decision to revoke Monnin's award was made after the Alumni Association received complaints from students, professors, and administrators about the protesters after the speech, MacDougall said. Only a few identified Monnin as one of protestors, he said.

Though MacDougall attended the Bush lecture and found the protestors' actions "inappropriate and not consistent with the traditional Tufts courtesy which President Bacow had urged on all who were attending," he was not aware at the time that Monnin was a participant.

Given the fact that the list of the 12 senior award winners has not yet been publicly announced and is only in the hands of the presentation's planners, it is unclear who told the Alumni Association that Monnin was a participant in the Bush protests.

Monnin's response to losing the award has mostly been of disillusionment with the University. "I'm disappointed in Tufts," she said. "Universities are meant to be places of dialogue; they need to be places that welcome dissent."

The Alumni Association's non-monetary award, which is given to 12 seniors who demonstrate leadership potential or academic achievement, has never before been revoked in its 48-year-old history.

Monnin was notified that she had received the award in a letter praising her "outstanding contributions to the Tufts community," dated the day before Bush's speech. Monnin was originally selected for the award due to "a nomination by a member of the faculty who mentioned all of her positive leadership activities but did not mention the disruptive incidents which have now come to light," MacDougall said.

Monnin has participated in a number of confrontational protests during her four years at Tufts. In 2000, Monnin partook in a two-day sit-in at Bendetson Hall to protest discrimination on campus. The Alumni Association was not previously aware of Monnin's numerous protest activities, MacDougall said.

But Monnin's activist tendencies are no secret on campus. "I don't try to hide my actions," Monnin said, adding that she includes her role in the Bendetson protest on her resume.

The matter is further muddied by the question of whether Monnin was behind the now infamous obscene gesture. Though Monnin insists she did not make the gesture, "I support and defend the person's right to do that," she said. The Alumni Association would not alter its decision even if another student were responsible, MacDougall said.

Given the importance of alumni contributions to Tufts' endowment, some have suggested that the association's decision was financially motivated. Monnin condemned the University's willingness "to squelch dissent in order to court alumni money."

Alumni contributed about one-third of the $607 million raised in the recent capital campaign, according to the Globe.

The Senior Awards will be presented alongside other honors during the Senior Awards weekend from April 11-13.