To the Editor,
Last night, after leaving the student senate meeting, I was inspired.
Despite the chaos that I witnessed, there was a discernible level of passion that pervaded the room. I saw passion in the eyes of the students who demanded that the sanctity of the democratic process be upheld. I saw passion in the eyes of Megan Marzec, as she stood on top of a table and refused to apologize for standing with the oppressed people of Palestine. I saw passion in the eyes of the student who held up a piece of lined paper: I’d rather have a conversation. And, yes, I saw passion in the eyes of those who were taken out of the room with their hands behind their backs.
Last night, after leaving the student senate meeting, I was inspired by students engaging in something that was bigger than themselves, bigger than this campus. Or so I thought.
This morning, I awoke with uneasiness, as if the events of the previous night had not been as profound as I had initially thought them to be. I decided to attend the meeting last night because something in my bones causes me to care a whole hell of a lot about what is going on in Gaza right now. I will not even speak to my own political ideologies. That is not the point and that is not why I am writing this letter.
I attended the meeting because I wanted to watch my peers exchange ideas, intellectually and responsibly. I wanted to see students defend themselves and their beliefs. I wanted to see challenge and growth. Most importantly, I wanted to see students work toward resolution. Within seconds of the official call to order it became quite clear that a disheartening number of students were not in attendance for the same reason.
Several disruptive students prevented what could have been a mutually enriching discussion of ideas. Some of these students were taken out in handcuffs. Many of them were not.
Today, I am saddened. I truly wanted to hear what Becky Sebo had to say. I wanted to listen and I wanted to understand. I was able to do none of those things, and neither was any other person in attendance. As the call to order was interrupted last night, I’d like to charge my own: I call on the members of this community, students and faculty alike, to hold their friends, their peers, their adversaries and most importantly, themselves to a standard of intellectual integrity. If we do not do so, then we have certainly done ourselves a great disservice.
Grace Eberly is a junior at Ohio University.
