Some students attending a women’s college in Massachusetts were outraged over a “Blue Lives Matter” rally, but the college president said that peaceful assembly is “protected in the First Amendment.”
“Participants will gather on the public area around the gazebo, which is not owned by the College,” Mount Holyoke President Sonya Stephens wrote in a school-wide letter earlier this month amid outrage from students over a pro-police “Back the Blue” rally.
“The right to peaceful assembly, and indeed to free speech, are protected in the First Amendment, and together with the freedoms of association, petition and the press are what we understand more broadly as freedom of expression,” she added.
Before the rally, some students on the campus were outraged and formed a petition in a bid to end it.
“I know that most students aren’t on campus, but there’s a ‘Back the Blue’ (pro-police) and pro-Trump standout at the village commons in South Hadley this weekend,” a post on “BIPOC at Mount Holyoke” read. “It’s right across the street from campus. I’m only reaching out because I hope student pressure on admin can create a response from the college.”
“This is outrageous and we demand a response from the administration of Mount Holyoke. Of all the places in South Hadley to have this demonstration, they decided to plan this protest in close proximity to the living quarters of our students. By maintaining silence about the upcoming events, the school is encouraging a gathering of people who could threaten our community’s safety,” the petition stated.
“Among the organizers of the protest are local corrections officers, a problematic reality for the institution to contend with, given the negative impact the prison industrial complex has on the very group (Black people) whose needs it claims to want to center,” it continued.
One student, only identified as Meghan, told Campus Reform she was unhappy with the petition.
“If people want to gather in a safe manner for a cause that brings them together, who are Black at MHC to tell them they can’t?” she said. “Police have been targeted this year too, whether Black at MHC want to recognize it or not. The Black at MHC organization wouldn’t appreciate it if people wanted to shut down a campus BLM protest in the way they’re calling for now, so why is this petition justified?”
