Emory Drafts New Campus Protest Rules
Graduation speech by Usher tops off year of relative campus tranquility.
Usher Raymond, the popular singer and entertainer, who prefers to be known just by his first name, brought some show-business glamour and gentle advice about how to achieve success to Emory University’s Commencement Exercises earlier this month. He encouraged the new graduates to think boldly, act with purpose, and be the “fearless architects of our future.”
“Be a little unrealistic, be a little delusional, even in your pursuit of happiness and fulfillment,” he said, “and at the same time, be patient, be respectful of the process, because life is filled with challenges, and they would either make you or break you, but that’s a choice, and that choice is yours.”
The warm reception he received was in sharp contrast to the atmosphere that surrounded last year’s commencement, which was relocated from the traditional outdoor setting of the university’s central quadrangle to Gas South Arena in suburban Gwinnett County.
The last-minute move in 2024 was a precaution by the school’s administration to head off a public protest during graduation by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Tensions were high on the campus after the university’s president, Gregory Fenves, called in Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol to break up an encampment on the quadrangle in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. Twenty-eight students, faculty members, and local activists were arrested.
Among those arrested was Noelle McAfee, chair of the school philosophy department, who was the president-elect of the University Senate, which represents students, faculty and staff in governance issues. She wasn’t directly involved in the protest but was on the scene to monitor what took place. The charges against her were quickly dropped but she was outraged by what took place.
“It was quite traumatic,” she said, “seeing students, young people who were just expressing their political views and then being assaulted. And not just students, but also a colleague of mine, another faculty member was thrown to the ground, smashed to the ground. So, the university thought they were doing this in the name of safety, but the danger came with the Georgia State Patrol.”
While the incident was short lived, the aftermath resulted in a comprehensive reappraisal of the university’s policies governing demonstrations by students on campus. Rabbi Larry Sernovitz, president of Hillels of Georgia, which maintains an important major presence at Emory, has been encouraged.
“It’s been a wonderful school year for our Jewish students. What has made such a difference has been the equitable enforcement of the code of conduct. It has allowed our students to be safe on campus and not have to worry about being Jewish or their connection to Jewish peoplehood.”
In one measure of progress, in recent weeks a group of 18 Emory student leaders, many of them not Jewish, landed in Israel for a visit as part of the Maccabee Task Force program that Hillel coordinates.
The revised code of conduct in what is called Emory’s Open Expressions Policy is the result of more than four months of study by members of the university’s Senate and several weeks of further discussion with administrators. It was announced in late March.
The new policy calls for, among other restrictions, that no protest or demonstration on campus can take place between midnight and 7 a.m., no tents are allowed, and all temporary structures must be removed each night. Outsiders, who are not members of the university community, may be asked to leave the campus and are subject to arrest if they refuse.
The new guidelines also stipulate that before any changes can be made to these rules, administrators must consult with the University Senate. And, while it’s clear that violent protests and the occupations of building will not be tolerated, the open expression of diverse views will not be discouraged.
Emory’s administration hopes the new agreement will heal some of the divisions that have developed over all the controversy that has been stirred. The agreement has the support of the University Senate and its president, McAfee.
“A big research university like Emory has many parts, but the heart and soul is about the educational mission, which is what’s really important to faculty, and that is, it requires freedom to think and to be able to say unpopular things,”
It was also a message that Usher also spoke about in his charge to the graduating class of 2025. It was that the real value of a college education is not in the accomplishment that four years brings, but in the freedom to put that accomplishment to work.
“In a world where credentials can feel overshadowed by computer keyboard clicks and followers and algorithms, does a diploma still matter? It’s not the paper that gives the power. It’s you. You create the value behind that degree.”
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