Following the protests across UC campuses in November, UC President Mark Yudof commissioned a report, called the Robinson-Edley report, to make recommendations to facilitate free speech while maintaining the health and safety of those involved. A draft of the report has been released to allow the UC community to provide comments until June 8 to strengthen the report’s recommendations.
Beginning with the Free Speech movement in the ’60s, free speech and civil disobedience have been intertwined with UC history and culture. To ensure the free flow of ideas we must take every step possible to protect our right to free speech.
We must not give up this chance; this is a rare opportunity for us to give input on policies that will directly apply to us. We have the means to shape the administration within our reach.
With the State’s decreasing financial investment in higher education, protests and civil disobedience will only happen with increasing frequency. Whether you choose to protest or not, the administration’s response affects everyone — we have first-hand knowledge of that. It is our duty to share this knowledge, and it is pathetic if only 33 people from the entire UC system had commented on it as of last week. If we do not take advantage of this opportunity to voice our opinions, we may not be given another.
In order to prevent the events like those in November from happening again, we must ensure that the recommendations put forward are implemented. We must put it on ourselves to hold the administration accountable.
However, that first requires us to know what is being recommended. Getting through all 158 pages of the report is a daunting task — especially for those of us who have enough trouble getting through 20 pages of assigned reading. However, there is a solution: The report conveniently lists all of its recommendations beginning on page 100. It’s an easy read and it’s just as easy to make a comment.
Go to campusprotestreport.universityofcalifornia.edu to skim through the recommendations and let your voice be heard. It is as easy as creeping on your friends’ Facebook profiles.
