Students and Faculty Protest at the University of Akron

This article by Logan Lane and Kristina Aiad-Toss was published by The Buchtelite, the “editorially independent student voice at the University of Akron since 1889”:

Students Will Not Be Silenced

Protesters Interrupt Board of Trustees Meeting

“’[We] will not be silenced!’ protesters shouted at the Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday morning in the Student Union, where nearly a hundred UA students, alumni, and faculty gathered to voice disapproval over recent changes.

“’Students should have a voice that matters, just as faculty should,’ said UA graduate student Tom Guarino, one of the protest organizers, ‘and that hasn’t happened under this administration.’

“The protest, run by social media groups such as Graduates over Greed, Olive Jar, and Save the University of Akron from Scott Scarborough, gathered to criticize the elimination of the baseball team, the defunding of the UA Press and E.J. Thomas Hall, staff eliminations, and recent discussions of rebranding.

“Kelsey Watson, an Akron Ohio Student Association member, helped organize the protest. ‘We don’t think that [Scarborough] has our best interests in mind with the decisions that he has made,’ Watson said. ‘Our number one goal is to ask Scarborough to either resign from his position or for the Board of Trustees to release him from his position.’

“Several faculty members, alumni, and students spoke to the protesters before the meeting began. Kevin Kern, a professor in the history department, questioned the administration’s ability to represent its faculty and students. He noted that faculty voted three to one against the rebranding, and that student polls showed students were strongly opposed to the measure.

“’So if he is not speaking for the faculty, alumni, or students, then who is he speaking for?’ he said. . . .”