Following protocol when protesting
A couple weeks removed from a protest of Canadian Forces recruitment at a Fanshawe career fair and internally the college still can't agree on who should be held accountable for the fuss it raised.
The protest wound up making headlines not for the cause, but for the college's seemingly knee-jerk reaction, which was deemed unnecessary in a few quarters. The protestors, who positioned themselves in front of the Forces booth were dragged and handcuffed by campus security and special constables who were called to the gym to deal with the situation.
But it seems that, in this matter at least, it's communication between the Student Union and the college that made the issue difficult.
“We have not spoken to them officially,” said Emily Marcoccia, Fanshawe's marketing and communications manager, about the dialogue between the two. “But it's on the agenda for an upcoming college/student union meeting, a scheduled meeting - so we didn't call a meeting for this issue.”
The meeting, which is scheduled this March, won't be the first time though that the college and Student Union have met on the subject of protests on campus. Last July following a similar protest against the Forces, being at the annual career fair, the matter was brought up at a subsequent meeting. And according to Marcoccia, a protocol was established to help deal with situations like that and pre-warn the college of an impending protest.
“We're going to take the minutes with us to the next meeting to remind the student union of what we have agreed to,” said Marcoccia. “And it is public record. We talked about a peaceful protest, but we clearly talked about a protocol that students would have to follow if they wanted to protest on campus and within what guidelines they would have to do that.”
“There's a meeting scheduled soon,” repeated Travis Mazereeuw, Fanshawe's Student Union president. “We'll discuss it again there. But in a situation like this, where the college is saying that the students were a problem and the students are saying that the college mistreated them I'll stand behind the students.
“I don't know if the college mistreated them, I wasn't there, so I didn't see anything first-hand. But until the college shows me something that proves these kids were blocking a doorway or a fire exit, or whatever the college is saying they did, I'll back the students.”
As for the protocol that Marcoccia said was agreed upon between the parties, the minutes from the meeting show that the responsibility of warning the clubs, or prospective protesters in this case, was that of the vice-president of internal affairs, Jason Wilton, who was unavailable for comment on the subject.
“The FSU's standpoint on the Forces being at the job fair hasn't changed,” Mazereeuw continued. “They have every right to be there like all the other potential employers, that's not what we think the problem was.”
His stance was affirmed in the minutes from the meeting between the college and Student Union where the FSU representatives agreed that ‘every student has the freedom of choice to choose whether they attend or not.'
Marcoccia stressed that the college would have considered giving the group an area to protest or set up a booth if they had been approached in advance. However the area would not have been directly next to the area the Canadian Armed Forces had been given because the college does not put two opposing groups in close proximity to help avoid any confrontations. The group would, therefore, may have been given a location to protest that has access to the same number of people attending the career fair.
“People do have a right of expression, they absolutely have rights under all sorts of civil laws and human rights laws, but they also have responsibilities,” Marcoccia stressed. “And although people perceive this as a public institution it's not, it's private property. When you're running a college you have a right and responsibility to ensure that everyone follows protocol and procedures.”
The college, therefore, has final say on the activities that take place on its grounds, which includes protests, and according to Marcoccia, that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
“Because they're our students we want to allow freedom of expression,” Marcoccia continued. “We're proponents [of] students having opinions, because if you think about it that's what college education is all about - but we cannot allow that to supercede other people's rights to respect and safety.”
The protest wound up making headlines not for the cause, but for the college's seemingly knee-jerk reaction, which was deemed unnecessary in a few quarters. The protestors, who positioned themselves in front of the Forces booth were dragged and handcuffed by campus security and special constables who were called to the gym to deal with the situation.
But it seems that, in this matter at least, it's communication between the Student Union and the college that made the issue difficult.
“We have not spoken to them officially,” said Emily Marcoccia, Fanshawe's marketing and communications manager, about the dialogue between the two. “But it's on the agenda for an upcoming college/student union meeting, a scheduled meeting - so we didn't call a meeting for this issue.”
The meeting, which is scheduled this March, won't be the first time though that the college and Student Union have met on the subject of protests on campus. Last July following a similar protest against the Forces, being at the annual career fair, the matter was brought up at a subsequent meeting. And according to Marcoccia, a protocol was established to help deal with situations like that and pre-warn the college of an impending protest.
“We're going to take the minutes with us to the next meeting to remind the student union of what we have agreed to,” said Marcoccia. “And it is public record. We talked about a peaceful protest, but we clearly talked about a protocol that students would have to follow if they wanted to protest on campus and within what guidelines they would have to do that.”
“There's a meeting scheduled soon,” repeated Travis Mazereeuw, Fanshawe's Student Union president. “We'll discuss it again there. But in a situation like this, where the college is saying that the students were a problem and the students are saying that the college mistreated them I'll stand behind the students.
“I don't know if the college mistreated them, I wasn't there, so I didn't see anything first-hand. But until the college shows me something that proves these kids were blocking a doorway or a fire exit, or whatever the college is saying they did, I'll back the students.”
As for the protocol that Marcoccia said was agreed upon between the parties, the minutes from the meeting show that the responsibility of warning the clubs, or prospective protesters in this case, was that of the vice-president of internal affairs, Jason Wilton, who was unavailable for comment on the subject.
“The FSU's standpoint on the Forces being at the job fair hasn't changed,” Mazereeuw continued. “They have every right to be there like all the other potential employers, that's not what we think the problem was.”
His stance was affirmed in the minutes from the meeting between the college and Student Union where the FSU representatives agreed that ‘every student has the freedom of choice to choose whether they attend or not.'
Marcoccia stressed that the college would have considered giving the group an area to protest or set up a booth if they had been approached in advance. However the area would not have been directly next to the area the Canadian Armed Forces had been given because the college does not put two opposing groups in close proximity to help avoid any confrontations. The group would, therefore, may have been given a location to protest that has access to the same number of people attending the career fair.
“People do have a right of expression, they absolutely have rights under all sorts of civil laws and human rights laws, but they also have responsibilities,” Marcoccia stressed. “And although people perceive this as a public institution it's not, it's private property. When you're running a college you have a right and responsibility to ensure that everyone follows protocol and procedures.”
The college, therefore, has final say on the activities that take place on its grounds, which includes protests, and according to Marcoccia, that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
“Because they're our students we want to allow freedom of expression,” Marcoccia continued. “We're proponents [of] students having opinions, because if you think about it that's what college education is all about - but we cannot allow that to supercede other people's rights to respect and safety.”
