Editor:
In 1985 Columbia University students blockaded Hamilton Hall for 21 days to demand divestment from apartheid South Africa. The University acceded six months later and the following year the U.S. Congress passed the Comprehensive Antiapartheid Act.
Protests are occasionally successful in changing policy. The moral issue protested at Cal-Poly (“The Shit Show,” Oct. 3) was simple: mass murder stoked by our country and Cal-Poly.
The University’s chaotic response to the protests as documented by Thadeus Greenson, was an attempt at standard suppression tactics. It scarred both Cal-Poly and students. How much better would it have been if the administration had brought out tables, drinks and cookies, and engaged in a moderated, heartfelt discussion of morality, politics and our responsibilities as citizens: “My country, right or wrong: if right to be kept right, if wrong to be made right.” Sadly, a vital opportunity to fulfill the mission of all universities, as institutions of learning and preparation for a good life, was missed.
Ellen Taylor, Petrolia
This article appears in Combating the Barred Owl Invasion.