by Jamee Greer
The Montana Kaimin’s talented new editor Bill Oram, along with reporter Jeff Osteen, write more about the puzzling efforts by administration officials to keep the media in the dark through web-only updates (the Kaimin has ended publishing for the year).
Both links are worth checking out!
Perspectives of many students have shifted in the wake of the administration’s actions to silence students who disagree with their policies, and it has become a statewide issue with friends in Bozeman and Billings offering their stances on the dangerous precedent set by university officials.
And the issue isn’t one to be broken down on basic party lines as Steve Dogiakos, a UM student and candidate for HD 93, offered his ideas on the situation here on 4and20blackbirds earlier this week:
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need for consequences to their actions, but isn’t the fact the University is already ALSO pressing criminal trespass charges overkill?
Is this the message that needs to be sent from the Administration? That, if you don’t agree with the way something is happening and you try to, peaceably, change it you are labeled a criminal and a criminal and academic miscreant.
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May 1, 2008 at 8:36 am
When we’re talking about precedence set by the university administration, it’s important to keep in mind that the university has to (or at least ought to) consistently enforce their policies regardless of the political stance taken by those who are using civil disobedience.
In this particular case, I think most people can agree that these students are well-intentioned and outstanding leaders for their moral vision, even if some may quibble with the details of their proposal or their tactics. But imagine if the office were peaceably taken over by white supremacists or some other group with an agenda we all find odious. Do we think this should be tolerated without any, even symbolic, academic consequences? That’s the precedence that I worry about …
May 1, 2008 at 10:51 am
@Daniel:
If there were already criminal charges being pressed in that situation? I do think it should be tolerated without academic consequences. What if the sit in were held be groups/people that had no affiliation with the university? They would be charged with criminal trespass and that’s it.
You say the University has to consistently enforce their policies in relation to political stances, but I that is not my point.
According to the Student Handbook , getting caught in the dorms with liquor (as a minor)/drugs is an either/or situation:
“…which could impact their future academics and careers if they are handled as an MIP OR through the Student Conduct Code.”
The discretion is the administration’s. To punish, both criminally AND academically, first-time “offenders” and student leaders when the drunk jack-ass in the dorm is only punished (sometimes even after multiple offenses!) from one angle is not consistent .
The administration needs to reconsider their decision, and in my opinion, drop the academic punishment.