To protest or not to protest?

(Gerald Martineau/the Washington Post) Yesterday students and staff met at Nyumburu Cultural Center to march down to the Administration building in protest of the cuts on the Office of Equity and Diversity.  The protest made it into the Washington Post as well as the Diamondback this morning.

Members of the UMD community were given the opportunity to write down their feelings and post them on the Administration building.  Students and faculty declared, "Without diversity, there can be no equality." Various students expressed that the UMD self proclaimed ideals of diversity was what brought them to the university.

I have heard critics ask, "What is the point of the protest?  What can students actually do?"  That attitudes assumes that we have no say in our experience as college students.  It implies that our time here is a serious of experiences and actions done to us, rather than us being a part of the decision making process. 

No one denies that the budget cuts are serious and that the whole university hasn't been impacted.  I feel that students are voicing concerns that we are being ignored in the decision making process.  The students and faculty are equally affected by the decisions of the administration.  Students are asking for transparency.  At the very least we are asking to be informed rather than just being told after the fact. By protesting students are saying enough. 

We have come a long way as far as diversity, but we still have a long way to go.  Issues of diversity are not solely for minority groups, but affect us all equally.  There is so much that we have yet to learn from each other.

On Tuesday Novemeber 10, 9p students and faculty will again meet to discuss next steps.