Recent student appeals to the Administration have been based on the strategy of never budging an inch. Don’t let the President kick you out of his office. Don’t let the next speaker take away your microphone. Don’t let the Administration avoid the issue you’ve presented before them.
In a way, it has worked. The brash and powerful protests before winter break effectively conveyed an overwhelming sense of student discontent and garnered widespread media attention, though some of the more brazen tactics were criticized by students and administrators alike. Nothing is more powerful than seeing the many challenge the few.
The extensive statement of the administration’s policies that President Bennet released as a response falls far short of resolving student grievances, but it is a step in the right direction.
Still, the divide between students and the Administration remains vast. We seemed to have reached an impasse—the students have demanded, and they have not won. What now? At this juncture, it is crucial that both administrators and disgruntled students talk to one another and not past one another. Students were infuriated at the December forum to see Bennet and Dean Patton talk to each other onstage while students spoke, but aren’t we guilty of that too? So much of recent dialogue has been based on disrespect and unwillingness to truly hear the other side. We may outwardly claim to be willing to listen, but as long as there’s a part of us expecting only the same rhetoric, we’ll never actually get where we want to go. Now that we have the attention of the Administration, we have to give them our attention back.
For a real dialogue and real change to occur, we may need to step back. It’s obvious that someone has to change their stance, and while offering the olive branch may involve giving up some issues for the time being, it’s the first step. It is better to keep moving than to simply stand at this brick wall that seems to have been built, even if it means moving on from some of our fervent fights.
Compromise does not mean abandoning ideals; it means recognizing the reality of a situation and diplomatically proceeding from there. We’ve loudly and clearly given the administration our demands, but yelling won’t do the trick anymore. Student revolutions have happened here in the past and done nothing, but maybe this time if we’re willing to budge an inch, we could gain a mile.
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