The University has adopted a comprehensive policy to address demonstrations and disruptions on campus.
As outlined in the policy, the aim is to protect the rights of free speech, assembly and expression by making its facilities available for the appropriate exercise of these rights, including peaceful assembly.
“The University has long welcomed members of the academic community to discuss and demonstrate concern about important issues as long as the activity does not interfere with the rights of others, does not disrupt the operations of the University and is carried out in a safe and lawful way,” said John E. Klein, executive vice chancellor for administration.
“Unlike many of our peer institutions, Washington University has never had a formal policy addressing demonstrations and disruptions,” Klein noted. “The absence of such a policy has, at times, left the community questioning what may or may not be appropriate. The newly adopted policy statement incorporates suggestions from students and faculty members alike and is intended to help define the University’s expectations for peaceful demonstrations. The policy also helps to facilitate event planning and furthers equitable availability of space to all viewpoints.”
The policy, recently reviewed by the University Council and formally adopted by the Board of Trustees, is the result of a consensus-building process that started last spring.
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Students and Director of Campus Life Jill E. Carnaghi, Ph.D., was an invited speaker at the Student Union Senate in the spring to discuss the issues to be covered in the policy and met again with the senate this fall to review a draft of the proposed policy.
The senate is a group of 26 elected student representatives from all five undergraduate schools. Its purpose is to be the official voice for and take stances on behalf of the undergraduate student body on issues of campus-wide importance, a role that encompasses the demonstration policy, as well as actively working on projects that improve the resources and services the University provides for students. The senate accepted the draft.
“The most critical aspect of drafting this policy, at least in my perspective, is that it in fact protects, not restricts, students’ rights to free speech,” said Jeff Zove, speaker of the Student Union Senate from April 2005-April 2006. “It visibly states the University’s value of that right to free speech and the guidelines to ensure that it is done in a safe manner and does not prevent the University from continuing its primary function of providing education for its students.
“This policy shows that the University values free speech and activist demonstrations and sets the expectations students would have should they choose to protest and the ways to go about doing it,” Zove added.
Robert E. Thach, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, distributed a draft of the proposed policy this fall to the members of the Graduate Professional Council for their discussion and received their input. The Graduate Professional Council is a group of 16 elected student representatives from the University’s graduate and professional schools, with two representatives from each graduate or professional school.
Klein also held two meetings with the Faculty Senate Council, led by Mark Rollins, Ph.D., chair of philosophy in Arts & Sciences. In the first meeting last spring, the issues to be covered by the policy were discussed. In the second meeting this fall, the draft of the proposed policy was reviewed and found acceptable.
“Given the consensus among student and faculty representatives that the proposed policy balanced these important issues fairly and appropriately for Washington University, the policy was submitted to the University Council and the Board of Trustees and formally approved. It is a simple, one-page document, and we hope that all members of the University community will read the policy on the University’s Web site,” Klein said.
For the complete policy, visit wustl.edu/policies/demonstrations-and-disruption.html.