To the Tufts community:
I sent the following to the Tufts administration after receiving their email regarding the student protests on campus, published here with a few revisions:
I am tremendously disappointed with the administration's response to student protests, in many ways. First, while I am sure the protests are disquieting to some, part of college life — for over six decades — has always included protests: some quiet and civil, some less so. I myself took part in a fairly unruly protest calling for Tufts to divest from companies doing business with South Africa during apartheid, in which we took over Ballou Hall. While I know the administration at the time was furious with us, they certainly didn’t drop the hammer as it were. Neither should the current administration at Tufts. Students have a right to protest, whether it’s convenient for everyone or not.
Second, in the April 28 email to students and alumni, at no point did the administration even mention what the protesters are demanding — and I’m certain they have demands. If the administration has gone to all the trouble to write to the entire Tufts community, surely they could give us at least a piece of the protesters’ side of the story? If I were to hazard a guess, it must have to do with money — divestment from Israeli companies, perhaps? I wonder if the administration has even given a moment’s serious consideration to any of the protesters’ demands. If not, why? I think the community at large deserves to hear the administration’s explanations on this, instead of what looks suspiciously to my old eyes as a whitewashing to make said administration look good to the public when they attack the protesters to move them out.
Yet it is the administration’s refusal to engage in dialogue with the protesters that is perhaps the most egregiously concerning part of the email. College is supposed to be a place for students, professors and administration to engage in free speech, the right to assemble and protest and to listen to each other with at least a modicum of mutual respect. Have they actually listened respectfully to the protesters? Or have they simply tolerated their presence — which is absolutely not the same thing. Respectful listening means hearing what they are asking and giving it genuinely serious consideration.
Are some of the protesters going too far? I’d be shocked if they weren’t. There are always some bad apples in any group. But to use that as an excuse to shut down the protest is wrong on a whole host of levels. It’s wrong, and it’s un-American. This country was founded on protest, from issues of taxation and representation to issues of slavery, trade unionization, women’s suffrage, civil rights and anti-war protests. Said protests throughout our nation’s history have never — never! — been sanctioned by all, certainly not those in power at the time. Yet in each of the instances I cited above, our nation became stronger and better because of those protests. So I reiterate: Shutting down protests because they are inconvenient or uncomfortable rarely falls on the right side of history. Whether you agree with the protesters or not isn’t relevant; they represent a significant portion of our nation’s population and as such deserve very much to be taken seriously.
In my initial email responding to the administration, I ended by saying, “All I ask is to be informed — fully informed — on both sides of this issue. Is that too much to ask of my alma mater?” Let me add to that. I ask each and every one of us — protesters, administration, faculty, staff, the student community and the broader Tufts diaspora — all of us who love Tufts and love the education it generates, to recognize how blessed we are to live in a country that allows for protest (however grudgingly) and how tragically stunted this country would be without protests. Whether you agree or not with any particular protest, respect it. For without it democracy dies, and growth and change are diminished or nonexistent.
Sincerely,
Corby Griffin, LA’85
