Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Approximately a dozen people protested with signs and slogans Monday as students and faculty met with administrators to discuss proposed academic cuts, at one point chanting, “Students first, hear our voice, it’s our school, it’s our choice.”
Kalie Hess, a second-year romance languages student, organized the protest. On Sunday, she and other students made signs with slogans like “chop from the top” and “If you’re going to run my education like a business, I’m taking mine elsewhere.” Some protesters had helped make signs the night before; others showed up and picked up a sign. At least two protesters showed up with their own signs.
The picketers encouraged students to sign a petition noting discontent with the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group report’s suggestions, which they used to force General Student Senate to consider a resolution, gathering 311 signatures. Senate rules allow a petition with 250 student signatures to force a vote on a resolution. GSS unanimously approved “An Act to Express Student Displeasure with Recent Academic Program Cuts Recommended by the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group” at its meeting Tuesday night.
Hess said the protesters were told to remove the sticks from their signs before entering the building, and were told they couldn’t enter the conference rooms with their signs, but said the administration and security didn’t interfere with the protest. The picketers stood in a lobby area on the second floor of Wells Commons, as it was raining heavily outside.
UMaine Public Safety Police Chief Noel March said it was standard policy to make sure nothing that could be used as weapons — such as the sticks of picket signs — is allowed in such events, and said that the number of public safety personnel — four when the event started, which was reduced to three — was standard as well. March said policy was to have at least one public safety officer per 250 people, and estimated the crowd at 300 people.
The suggested cuts were “obviously a very emotion-filled topic,” said Dean of Students Robert Dana, but added: “Civility and respect are the order of the day.”
