Chalk with courage or don’t chalk at all

It was nice to see people on campus standing up for their beliefs on Friday by demanding that Wesleyan divest from two companies involved in the arms trade. It was a lot less nice to see them use chalk to write pro-divestment slogans, and then try to hide the chalk when public safety got near, whispering, “Hide the chalk, P-Safe’s coming!” If you’re going to use an illegal tactic, have the grace to stand by it! By using chalk to express their message, the organizers of the protest indicated they were willing to disobey certain rules in order to get their message across. This is civil disobedience—defined by John Rawls as, “a public, non-violent, conscientious yet political act contrary to the law usually done with the aim of bringing about a change in the law or policies of a government” (1)–and I applaud it.

But civil disobedience comes with a price: you have to be willing to risk getting caught, and you have to be willing to take what punishment comes to you. Again, to quote Rawls, “the willingness to accept the legal consequences of one’s conduct,” is crucial in order to express one’s “fidelity to the law,” even while breaking a certain law to make a point. This is the essential trait that separates civil disobedience from petty crime. By hiding their chalk when public safety got near, the protestors robbed their act of significance and their actions of courage. Even if it wasn’t a protest about chalking (the excuse I was given twice when I asked why the protestors were hiding the chalk), the choice of civilly disobedient tactics means that you have to stand by those tactics when the risks are highest, not just when you think you can get away with no punishment.

And in this case, what was the worst that could have happened? Some people might have gotten SJB-ed? P-Safe might have taken the chalk away? If these protestors are unwilling to demonstrate taking even the smallest risks in the name of their beliefs, how can they criticize the rest of campus for its inaction?

1: Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Revised Edition. Harvard University Press, USA: 1971