Committee on protest policies to hold open meeting on May 13

The Ad Hoc Committee on Dissent and Protest, convened to examine policies and practices related to protest actions at the University of Chicago, will hold an open meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 13 in the Swift Hall Common Room.

Provost Thomas F. Rosenbaum convened the committee last quarter, after a protest at the Center for Care and Discovery ended in arrests. The committee, led by David A. Strauss, the Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law, is charged with reviewing policies and practices that exist now, soliciting ideas from the University community, and making recommendations for changes or additions.

The open meeting will focus on general issues about protest on campus and on these questions of particular interest: Should protests at facilities that present special concerns—for example, where there are patients, sensitive technical equipment, art or historical artifacts—be treated differently than protests elsewhere on campus? How should policies and practices account for protests that include both University-connected individuals and members of the larger community?

Members of the University community also are encouraged to send ideas and comments to protestpolicyinput@uchicago.edu. Background materials and further details are available at http://provost.uchicago.edu/initiatives/Protest%20webpage%20050213.pdf.

The committee is expected to continue gathering information and deliberating through the spring and fall quarters before reporting back to the provost. Other committee members are: Emilio Kouri, Professor in History and Romance Languages and the College; Stacy Lindau, Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology; Emil J. Martinec, Professor in Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute and the College; Everett E. Vokes, the John E. Ultmann Professor in Medicine; and Christopher Woods, Associate Professor in the Oriental Institute, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the College. Ingrid Gould, Associate Provost for Faculty and Student Affairs, staffs the committee.

The committee is one of several faculty-led initiatives tasked to address the January protest and the broader questions it raised.