On accommodating student protests

Like other universities my campus has been confronted with student protests. On Monday an encampment was set up in a clever place: a little island on campus, that was both quite visible to the social sciences faculty (where I work in the political science department) and simultaneously shielded from the outside world. It was easily by-passable for other students and faculty. In fact, the student-activists set up a symbolic check-point at one of the bridges onto the island. It’s a hundred yards of the entrance of my building and in eight years I have never had to use that bridge on the way to and from classes.

The university quickly announced it would call in the cops if the tents stayed up through the night. As regular readers know (recall) I think that was unwise. And rather predictably the rest of the week has seen increasing turmoil and even violent clashes between police and a wide-range of supporters of that encampment throughout the city. (Last night parts of Amsterdam were best avoided.) Some students in our department have been arrested through the week.

As it happens on Monday evening I had a scheduled re-sit exam for my (massive) History of Political lecture course. The exam site is near the medical school away from our campus. Most students showed up on time, but a few arrived late because they were unable to leave the demonstration on time being cordoned off by fellow demonstrators and Amsterdam police. In both cases, they finished the exam on time so I was not faced with any questions about whether I ought to accommodate them.

But another student in the class contacted me and wrote that “It was mentally and emotionally challenging to be able to show up and continue studying for the resit of HOPT, where all I cared about was going back to my friends who are students as well at the hospital since most international students here have no family and only has [sic] their friends to support and aid them.”

Now, as regular readers know I would never condemn student activism as such. It is on my view a part of academic freedom and education, although constrained and balanced by a number of other considerations. I have also defended that in print and against our university and civil authorities. So I wrote back something very close to the following.

In my university we often try to accommodate student care to others. For example, a dying parent or sibling is, often, grounds for such accommodation. The larger the course the more rule-governed our accommodation becomes.

But it doesn't follow from all of this that I would have to accommodate our class schedule to a protest. I am happy to recognize that for some students a cause is more important than my class. I respect them in their choice (even though I often don't endorse a particular cause). I am proud of and admire my students when they sacrifice time and energy to a cause, including (I hasten to add) friendship.

A protest is not, however, a grounds for adjusting the rules for a class. We are always faced with hard decisions about what to do with our lives. This is, in fact, intrinsic to politics. And, perhaps, that is part of the educative function of protesting, too. We, thereby, reveal our character.

The previous three paragraphs have been gnawing at me. I wonder whether I am violating a part of my duty of care, and should reach out to students to make further accommodations for those affected. What do readers think?