At a meeting for campus media on April 24, President Creighton discussed the right to and limits of student protest, and ways the administration is trying to encourage civil discussion on campus.
"We respect student concerns and understand that the negotiating team's concerns are legitimate concerns of many students, and we respect students' rights to be engaged in the governance of the institution in appropriate ways, and to make their views known," Creighton said. "A legitimate way of expressing your point of view is through peaceful protests and rallies, and even sit-ins that are respectful and don't prevent the business of the College from being conducted. But it is deplorable to disrupt the business of the College. It is a source of anxiety for College employees, and is tremendously expensive. And it is not in keeping with civil discourse and civil behavior, so we can't condone or respect that kind of protest ... We don't wish to be excessively authoritarian as an institution, but we simply can't allow unlawful events."
"To function as a community, we must be mutually respectful and honest; this must be the foundation of the conversations we have, and I haven't always found that [happening on campus]. We need ways to communicate better, but to do that, we need basic trust and civility. Without that, we don't have the Mount Holyoke we value."
Asked about the possibility of further protests this spring, Creighton said, "We're hoping to mend the tensions and the breakdown in discourse between now and the trustee meeting. We hope that our efforts, such as the April 29 "community conversation" forum, and changes in the Plan for MHC 2003, which show that student voices have been heard this year, will help us pull together as a community."
![[Index]](../index3.gif){kind=small}