OPINION:
The spring of 2024 will go down in history as a semester of disgrace and disorder for many U.S. higher education institutions, and the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of their presidents.
Many campus leaders passively stood by while student protesters and outside agitators threatened and intimidated students, set up illegal encampments, barricaded buildings, blocked campus access and clashed with police. Campus protests were permitted to rage unchecked for weeks, jeopardizing student safety and security and effectively shutting down many institutions.
This was unacceptable. With a new academic year soon upon us and the likelihood of further disruptive protests, college and university presidents must either step up this fall to preserve the teaching and learning environment or step aside.
For over 21 years, I served as chief legal counsel for 15 public institutions of higher education. I counseled more than 50 college presidents on their legal duties and responsibilities as their chief operating officer. Principal among them, every president must maintain a safe and secure learning environment for their students and employees.
A learning environment cannot thrive in the absence of safety and security. Nothing else can follow without these essentials — no teaching and learning, no open debate and discussion, no free inquiry or intellectual curiosity, no academic freedom.
Effective presidential leadership requires conveying a clear and unmistakable message that teaching and learning are the institution’s primary purpose, and any conduct that interferes with achieving that purpose will not be tolerated.
By failing to quell the protests, these presidents subjected their institutions to significant liability, including potential civil rights violations for the harassment, threats and intimidation suffered by many students and breach of contract claims for failing to deliver the educational benefits and services students were promised and paid for in high tuition and fees.
In addition to mounting lawsuits, colleges and universities face increased calls for greater congressional oversight and cuts in their federal funding.
What we witnessed this spring on so many campuses was anything but strong presidential leadership. The presidents of Columbia University, the University of California at Los Angeles, Portland State University, Rutgers University and Northwestern University, to name a few, conveyed weakness and capitulation, which elevated and prioritized the demands of the mob over the academic interests, safety and security of most of their students.
None of these presidents should be considered for a Profile in Courage Award in the near future. By coddling protesters and acquiescing to their demands, these presidents gained little more than a temporary cessation of hostilities while exposing their institutions to significant liability.
Further, their inaction undermined campus safety and security, discredited institutional policies, weakened administrative authority and validated the protesters’ disruptive and illegal tactics, ultimately offering incentive for future unrest.
It didn’t need to be that way. Their timid and anemic responses starkly contrast to the strong leadership exhibited by the University of Florida’s then-president, Ben Sasse.
First, Mr. Sasse affirmed the protesters’ constitutionally protected rights to engage in free speech and peaceful protests. Second, he clearly identified what activities were not permitted in a peaceful protest. Third, he refused to negotiate with protesters. Fourth, law enforcement made arrests only after several days of warning protesters that they would be arrested if they failed to follow the university’s rules. Nine protesters were arrested, and the protests fizzled out.
Mr. Sasse conveyed a clear and unmistakable message to protesters: I respect your rights to engage in free speech and peaceful protest, those rights have limits, there are consequences for exceeding those rights and I will enforce our rules if you fail to heed my warnings.
Presidents should review Mr. Sasse’s actions as a case study in leadership in the face of agitation on their campus come fall. If they do not, they place their institution in great legal peril.
College presidents who continue to cower and capitulate to protesters, permitting a breach in campus safety and security and the hijacking of the teaching and learning environment, should be shown the door.
Higher education is at a crossroads. We need institutional leaders who prioritize and promote a safe and secure learning environment for all while serving as a bulwark against the mob and its radical objectives. Anything less is unacceptable.
• Ken Tashjy is a Campus Reform Higher Education fellow, former general counsel for over 20 years for 15 higher education institutions, an attorney and a former adjunct instructor at Suffolk University.
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