A recent rejection of working group recommendations has cast doubt on the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) commitment to free speech and protection of student safety.
The pro-Palestine protests and subsequent response from law enforcement that swept college campuses throughout early 2024 left a sense of distrust between students and administrators, and UNH was no exception. Current UNH President Elizabeth Chilton initiated the Working Group on Free Speech and Expression to review the university’s response to the protests, analyze how that response aligned with the school’s values and provide recommendations on how to proceed, according to Seacoast Online.
The working group did just that and provided what I would consider to be altogether a reasonable and realistic set of recommendations, albeit with some disagreements along the way, according to the report. However, Chilton announced at the beginning of February she did not feel further investigations into the UNH Police Department’s (UNHPD) actions were necessary, rejecting one of the key actions the working group had recommended, according to another Seacoast Online article.
I find this rejection to be an alarming dereliction of duty on the part of the university’s president as well as all law enforcement bodies that participated in the response to the protests. The primary mission should be to protect and uplift students in all matters especially when it comes to usage of their most fundamental constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech.
By refusing to look further into the apparent misconduct on the part of UNHPD, the university is accepting a reality where students can be physically assaulted for voicing dissent against injustice in the world. UNH students should see this for what it is: A statement that the trust of the student body is no longer important to the administration.
I also find it all too symbolic that former UNHPD Chief Paul Dean, who individually was named as an unreasonable aggressor in the context of the response to the protest, has retired from his post not because of any of the backlash to his actions, but rather because he was selected to serve as Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s director of citizen services, according to the Concord Monitor.
I cannot imagine how it must feel for the student protestors to watch the man who violated their rights be rewarded with a promotion to the state administration while the university is unwilling to even take a second look at the environment that facilitated their abuse.
The working group made other recommendations, including ones to solidify the long-hazy boundaries between UNH and the Durham Police Department (DPD) concerning UNHPD. I believe this to also be more than reasonable, as it is not difficult to speculate the department’s disproportionate response could have at least partially arisen from insufficient oversight by either party that would theoretically have the power to do so.
This is key because one of the key justifications Chilton had previously offered for being unwilling to launch a further investigation was the price tag – up to $150,000. Even ignoring the fact that if one were to add up the annual tuition cost of all the student protestors it would positively dwarf that number, it is also worth noting that historically DPD has been in charge of UNHPD. I think the police department could step up, own its officers’ actions and cover the cost of an investigation.
In Chilton’s recent state of the university address, she emphasized again the importance of the working group’s recommendations “in supporting freedom of speech, regardless of the content.” For the sake of all parties involved, I hope those of the working group’s recommendations that Chilton has decided are worthwhile will be enough to make that supposed mission a reality.
Charlotte King can be contacted at
cking@kscequinox.com
