National attention on BJL campus protests highlight controversial issues on race
Caroline LippmanThe protests of the University’s Black Justice League in late November have received national attention, including discussions of renaming campus buildings and speculation on the possibility that the protests may impact a future Supreme Court decision. Michael Dorf, law professor at Cornell University, noted that campus protests across the nation have sparked a conversation about race and rights. “To my mind, the protests are effective from the perspective of a university committed to the freedom of speech, even if the protestors don’t get what they want,” he said. He added that if people are chanting or occupying an office, that is free speech, but it is also a way of sparking free speech. Students on college campuses across the country have engaged in similar protests to remove the names of racist benefactors from school institutions,noted Evan Draim ’16, a member of the Princeton Open Campus Coalition. University of KentuckyPresident Eli Capilouto decided to cover a mural depicting scenes of African-American laborers working in a tobacco field, explaining that the mural inaccurately conveyed the nation’s past with respect to race and equality, andUniversity of OregonPresident Michael Schill ’80 agreed on Nov.