By Courtney Suhre
“Hey Hey, Ho Ho let Kerry Kohl Go!”
Assuming most college students have a short term memory, myself included, they will have no idea who the aforementioned woman is or what the chant is referring to.
Well I’m here to enlighten you. She was the focus of a small protest that happened in U of L President James Ramsey’s office last week over the situation involving four students left behind in Belize.
There were 30 or so students who began the march in the quad and ended up in the middle of Grawemeyer Hall trying to pile into the small entrance next to Dr. Ramsey’s office.
As I was in an office just across the hall, I could hear the students’ chanting long before they reached the Thinker and was a little surprised when I heard them screaming from right outside our door.
As the students barged into Ramsey’s office and demanded to speak with him about the issue at hand, he was unavailable. Protestors were shocked to find he was in a meeting. Should this come as a surprise? Of course not. As president of a major University, Dr. Ramsey is usually in meetings all day long, meetings which have been scheduled months in advance. To expect anything different is both short-sighted and rude.
I understand that this – to be outspoken and demanding – is the basis of a protest. However, the organizers of such a protest must expect such bumps in the road. Would the students want a professor to ask them to skip an important class just to talk about pressing issues on his mind? That is ludicrous. The professor would schedule an appointment and the students would go about their day.
It is understandable to want the best from your university or college and even more understandable if disappointment follows such expectations not being met. All students feel this way at one point or another. However, as much as it is commendable to organize a protest and fight for what you believe, there is a certain way (heck, we’ll call it protocol) one should follow before expecting any real changes made.
Some of the most important legislative decisions have come from protests and organized rallying. A perfect example of this are the protests in the 1960s rallying for bans again segregation. Martin Luther King Jr. will forever be a legend in our country for this alone. However you did not see King Jr. behaving in an erratic and unprofessional manner. He was always well spoken, well dressed and polite.
The mob of students who bounded into Ramsey’s office will have little success in getting what they want, or even getting a meeting if they don’t appear rational and composed.
And if it hasn’t happened already, formally request a meeting with whoever will listen and explain your arguments and carefully listen to his or her answers.
Can a meeting between a willing administrator and a determined student help resolve the issue?
Maybe, maybe not. But it is pretty clear the days of yelling “Hey and Ho” to effectively make a point are long gone, especially in an office building.
Courtney Suhre is a junior communication major. E-mail her at opinion@louisvillecardinal.com.
