When did UNM become no better than a banana republic hiding
behind the buzzwords of "safety" and lurking behind "proper
permits?" Sure, Karen Wentworth
can hide behind University policy as justification for the removal of the
protesters but weren't the protesters camping out on university property the
whole week before? So I guess the
policy is only there when the University gets tired of the protesters? How convenient. I guess I’m supposed to be soothed by this
bit of “bureaucratese” and disregard the fact that UNM is selectively enforcing
its own policy like some sort of banana republic. If UNM is going to hide behind policy than
they should’ve done it last week.
Now I’m supposed to be soothed by this quote, ““Central
(Avenue) is just not a safe place,” she said.
Really? Central Avenue is not
safe? Did it suddenly get more safe
when the protesters we’re on the corner of Central and University?
Finally, in what struck me as sort of “Kafkaesque” its
reported, “Wentworth said protesters applied for a convention permit when they
should have applied for an outdoor activities permit.” Oh my, they got the wrong paperwork? Would they have been allowed to stay had
they gotten the right paperwork?
Here’s my guess as to what happened. Protesters camp out on University and
Central for what administrators hope is a couple of days. It turns out that it lasts a bit longer so
the university asks if they would be willing to relocate from the pristine
environs at University and Central to a more trodden location next to the
bookstore. The protesters relocate and
when they don’t disperse after a couple of really crappy, rainy days, the
administration starts to get a bit worried.
What if the protesters just don’t go away? Haven’t we humored them long enough? Haven’t they made their point? Okay, well let’s get rid of them. Let’s do it at midnight so no other
students/community members see it. Let’s
hide behind the monster bureaucracy we’ve created and say it’s not “safe,” and
it’s not “sanitary.” Really?
So this is how much UNM supports the first amendment? We’re here to educate and help create civil
minded citizens but when it gets a tad bit ugly, let’s just dispense with
it. Here’s my suggestion. You support the first amendment but you don’t
want people defecating on the lawn, put up a Port-a-Pot. You support the first amendment but you don’t
want a ramshackle “shanty town” to make UNM look like a third world village,
put up those nice, neat Lobo tents so the protesters can be protected from the
elements. There are numerous other ways
UNM could show its support for the protesters, but as it is, they’ve shown that
they support the banks, the corporations, the very elements that have caused a
budgetary hardship on every department at UNM.
You’re either support the protesters or you support the banks. Whose side are you on?
Don McIver
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