Student group fails to meet requirements for conference
Archived article from Sep 22, 2003
By Douglas Frank
NJ Solidarity-Rutgers Chapter will not have use of university facilities for its Third National Student Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement scheduled for Oct. 10-12, because the student group failed to meet criteria required of all student organizations planning large-scale events on campus.
Vice President for Student Affairs Emmet Dennis, in announcing the decision Sept. 12, noted the university worked in good faith with the student group to guide it through the process in order to have a safe and viable event. "We advised them of these requirements early on in writing and in person, but they have not provided the information needed for the event to proceed," he said.
The group failed to schedule meetings with university staff to complete required plans and to develop event-related contracts; did not provide a list of scheduled speakers and failed to provide a comprehensive description of its event, Dennis added.
Information and material required but not submitted included: a list of room requirements to accommodate the conference's agenda; a parking plan and cost estimate; and a deposit to cover conference expenses. Student leaders of NJ Solidarity-Rutgers Chapter were informed of the requirements for hosting their event in a university facility in February when they first requested space.
"Despite our best efforts to work with the students to plan a successful event, they failed to meet our established requirements and have not been forthcoming with the basic information that we require of all student groups seeking to use university facilities," Dennis said.
The matter had been further complicated, Dennis noted, by the fact that the national organizations that were originally planning the conference with NJ Solidarity withdrew their participation and announced their intention to hold their own conference in Ohio in November.
NJ Solidarity-Rutgers Chapter, a student group registered with Rutgers College, had originally sought to hold a conference at the Douglass College Center. Last month, in response to the organization's own attendance estimates, which rose from 200-300 at the time of the original request to 500 in recent weeks, and recommendations from Rutgers' Division of Public Safety, the university informed NJ Solidarity-Rutgers Chapter that the Louis Brown Athletic Center would be reserved for the conference. The change of location was viewed as necessary so that the university could better address several public safety issues that could arise due to increased attendance, as well as a heightened level of public interest.
Among the university units working over the summer with the student organization to plan its event were the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs; the Rutgers College Office of Student Leadership, Involvement & Programs; the Division of Public Safety; and the Louis Brown Athletic Center's operations staff.
In a news release on the NJ Solidarity Web site, the student group took issue with the administration's decision and vowed to hold the conference anyway. "The university is attempting to abuse bureaucracy in order to silence student voices," said Paola Rizzuto, a Rutgers College sophomore and president of the organization. "We refuse to be silenced. We will hold our conference wherever we must — in a hotel, in a park, wherever."
As a registered student group, it could reapply to host a future event at the university. The process would then be restarted with the same requirements, according to Dennis.
"Our commitment to free speech and the right of individuals and groups to express their views remains firm," said Rutgers President Richard L. McCormick. "In rescinding the reservation, the university makes no judgment on the content of the event or the organization's position. It is our responsibility to apply our policies fairly and equally, and I am comfortable that we have done so in this case.
"Rutgers must and will continue to provide a forum for a wide variety of viewpoints," he added.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences–New Brunswick had planned to hold a teach-in on "Freedom of Speech and the Role of the Public Research University in a Pluralist Democracy" to address concerns and issues raised by the NJ Solidarity conference, but due to the cancellation of the conference, the Oct. 8 teach-in has been postponed.
"The timing of the teach-in had originally been dictated by the dates of the scheduled NJ Solidarity conference," said political science professor Edward Rhodes, who organized the teach-in. "Now that plans for the event have changed, I hope to use the additional time to work with my colleagues to put together a more useful and thoughtful program to address these critical issues."
The concept of the teach-in is an outgrowth of remarks by President McCormick in July in response to the student group's conference application. McCormick had said some elements of the group's mission were "abhorrent" to him, but he noted that "intrinsic to Rutgers' own mission is the free exchange of ideas and discourse on a variety of issues, including those that are controversial."
"This university must remain a model of debate, dialogue and education," McCormick said. "I believe this is an appropriate and powerful role for our institution, and we encourage our students to express their beliefs and analyze the difficult issues of the day."
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