A few days ago, I was thinking about how little activism I see at the University of Connecticut today. It is rare now that I see such expressions by students through their dress, speech, signs, etc.
Then I saw an article on the front page of Sunday’s Hartford Courant that includes comments by students expressing their concerns about President Radenka Maric’s crackdown on protests against the genocide in Gaza. That article reported that UConn not only received an F grade but ranked 215 out of the 257 colleges and universities surveyed. That’s 215 out of 257!
One can also see the recent article about that report in the Daily Campus.
If we are concerned about the rise of authoritarianism in the US, we need look no farther than Gulley Hall.
The bedrock principle upon which universities are built is academic freedom and freedom of speech. And the key to any successful relationship is trust.
One of the first courses I taught as a sociology professor was the Sociology of Deviance. In that class I stressed that anyone could be declared to be wayward simply by those with the power to do so imposing rules that make even normal behavior deviant or even criminal. That is, by narrowing the path of what is acceptable they can increase the waywardness, although the actual behavior of those so branded has not actually changed.
By definition all social protest must entail some degree of disruption to the status quo. By making the rules of social protest on campus so restrictive and cumbersome President Maric has ensured that whoever engages in activities she disapproves can be treated as outlaws.
There is a name for such enforced civility. It is called oppression.
In a classic case of toxic femineity and rank hypocrisy President Maric professes “love for all” while ruthlessly shutting down dissent.
When it comes to what a first-class university should be about, it seems that President Maric just doesn’t seem to get it.
If President Maric really loves UConn, and the principles upon which higher education is founded, she should resign.
Sincerely,
Noel A. Cazenave, PhD
Professor of Sociology
This time the prof didn’t do the reading. If they had read the FIRE report they would have seen that the national mean score was F. The national median score of the FIRE report was also F. The institutions that score highest are mostly in deep red states; this reflects high ideological conformity rather than a climate of unrestricted free speech.
It’s almost like FIRE is using this survey to promote its own agenda.
Having seen the “Gaza” anti Israel protests, encampment and constant propaganda posted on campus bulletin boards over the past 2 years, it’s hard to imagine that this prof is making a genuine argument here. Free speech has limits, and no university should tolerate hate speech. A couple of days after the Oct 7 2023 terror attacks, there was a “protest” on campus where attendees were openly pro-Hamas and wearing kaffiyeh face coverings and military style clothes.
Moreover, the university has a right to set and uphold its community standards. In this regard, Pres Maric has not done a great job. There should have been academic consequences for many of the protesters, including the pro-Hamas protesters and the students and groups who made a vile antisemitic caricature of her around sept 20, 2024. It seems that if this prof has their way, “activism” would be valued above education and quality of life. As an alumn, I hope that doesn’t happen. Keep up the good work, Pres. Maric!
Cazenave is right. Maric’s response to the peaceful use of free speech by the university’s own students was shameful and is a blight on this institution’s history. Her behavior represented an abdication of her responsibility as the chief university administrator and in itself should be grounds for removal from office.