On-campus democracy does not exist

Thumbnail courtesy of Photo Editor Faith Zatlukal

Students across the nation have the right to protest in the act of their freedom of speech. Many of whom suffer dire consequences.

The New York Times estimates that “3,100 people have been arrested or detained on campuses across the country” since Apr. 18, 2024, for their involvement in protesting over the inexcusable mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. This comes after an Associated Press article in January of this year stated, “more than 1,230 people have been charged” for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, United States capitol attack. I find it astonishing and disappointing that more students/university members have been arrested than attempted insurrectionists. It is outright reprehensible that most arrests were made on peaceful demonstrators. A statement from the Human Rights Institute at Columbia University even mentioned that “The NYPD said that protesters were, ‘peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.’” Many of the individuals who were arrested did not violate the law. They violated unjust, undemocratic campus policies.

Last semester, I was a student at the University at Buffalo (UB). I witnessed the brutal arrest of fifteen protestors. The demonstration was peaceful, but despite this, UB called in several different police departments, roughly 80 law enforcement officers, to disperse and arrest the protesters. The officers then turned to the student bystanders and pushed us into the nearby buildings. 

During this process, officers ripped a student's hijab off and attempted to use intimidation tactics and language to corral us inside. Long after the detained protesters were shipped off using university buses, a smaller police presence remained. Days later, students organized a vigil, which caused part of the campus to be completely shut down, and undercover officers walked amongst grieving individuals. To what point will it be acceptable to call out these organizations for what they are? Antidemocratic hedge funds with at least one functional library.

Colleges and universities nationwide, including Geneseo, are passing tyrannical policies that further limit students’ right to expression and organization. I find it hard to believe these policies would have been rushed through if the protests in the spring had been about anything other than universities’ complicity in their investments in war profiteering and genocide. Based on the rules of the SUNY Board of Trustees on the Maintenance of Public Order, students' right to organize has never been protected. The ability to have a right to freedom of expression means nothing if the right to organize collectively is effectively nullified. 

SUNY has a principle called “Shared Governance,” where policies and decisions are supposed to be worked on not just by administrators and to be more transparent. While good in theory, it is deeply and seemingly purposely flawed. This only continues the cycle of undemocratic behavior of the university apparatus. According to Geneseo’s Policy on Policies, “All College policies require the approval of the President’s Cabinet. If the policy materials affect student life, it must be approved by the College Council. Such approval should be obtained after the policy is approved by the Cabinet.” This is absurd. Firstly, the Governor appoints members of the College Council. Secondly, it effectively makes the College Council just a rubber stamp. Only one student, the Student Association President, is on the College Council. 

This is not a good representation of student life. I believe that proposed policies related to student life should be discussed with students before they are implemented. Allowing the proposed policy to be discussed and voted on by the Student Senate would increase much-needed transparency at Geneseo. Given the recent slew of policies passed and approved directly related to student rights and responsibilities, it further proves that administrators are worried about students organizing together, which is why they allow more accessible collaboration rather than separation with a false sense of transparency. 

If colleges and universities nationwide truly claim to stand for the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion, they need to start being more equitable and inclusive. Transparency without inclusivity and diversity is not equity. If colleges intend to be and continue to be purposely inaccessibly transparent after demands of change, then they are outwardly oppressive.

Student movements may have different main goals, but all eventually boil down to the struggle for democracy. Despite what colleges and university administrators claim about their democratic-adjacent systems, none of that matters if students do not have the right to organize together. We, as students, may have a student government, but that is not enough. We need a student union. A union to protect us while we organize to call out the undemocratic and unjust rules that limit our rights to freedom of peaceful expression. 

Currently, these structures and systems incentivize us to be competitive, not collaborative with each other. Clubs and organizations may foster small communities but not a united congregation. Administrators nationwide have seen what happens when students are united: Meaningful change. If we want to protect and enhance our rights, we must unite and demand our colleges to be democratic, not bureaucratic. 

Accessible transparency is worth fighting for. Expressing and organizing ourselves is worth fighting for. Demanding democracy is worth fighting for. We, the students, deserve nothing less.