Forum not for Bennet to
control
By Erin Wisman
I would like to take a minute to address the “silencing” of Doug Bennet at
yesterday’s forum. When student facilitators tried to maintain the integrity of
the forum’s format that was negotiated and agreed upon by student
representatives and deans, many members of the audience proceeded to boo and
demand that Bennet be able to speak.
First, I would like to point out that there were miscommunications and confusion
between students and administrators, as well as within the student organizers as
to what the format of the second half of the forum would be. (This is
understandable considering that this meeting was put together in literally 24
hours.) President Bennet was under the impression that he and his staff would be
allowed 25 minutes to respond to the questions and concerns brought up by those
who were able to articulate them during the open mic speak out. I would like to
reiterate that the mic was open for 25 minutes to students, faculty, staff,
community members, AND administrators. Only students chose to use that time. To
allow Bennet and the administration (six people) the same amount of time
allotted to the 400 other participants is grossly unbalanced. To bifurcate the
forum into a student question, administrator response format places students and
adminstrators on uneven ground. The point of this forum was precisely to allow
members of the greater Wesleyan community to meet on even ground and articulate
individual as well as group concerns. To allow Bennet and his colleagues more
time than everyone else to address these concerns allows for them to create the
appearance that they are handling these concerns, when, obviously, they are not.
It leaves room for them to put off further discussions and forums, because they
can claim they’ve already addressed our concerns.
This forum was not the beginning of any student movement. The concerns
explicitly articulated, as well as the many that were unable to be articulated
due to time and space constraints, represent struggles that have been going on
for days, weeks, months, years, and even decades on this campus. Nor was it a
culmination of a struggle; we’ve got their attention, now we have to keep it.
I do not wish to speak for all of my peers, but I know that I did not go into
that meeting expecting solutions or results. This was a space for continuing and
encouraging discourse, a space to give a voice to those who have been silenced.
President Bennet will have ample time to address the concerns brought up at the
forum at length. He has the resources and the power for his voice to be heard
over and over again. Yesterday’s forum was not a space for him to monopolize.
Wisman is a member of the Class of 2006.
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