Over this past year, Northern Michigan University has seen various protests take place, the most recent being against Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and the Palestine Encampment. With these protests, NMU has played a large part in the events themselves. It is our consensus, as the Editorial Board, that NMU is doing an amazing job handling, assisting and engaging with various protests.
NMU’s current standard for being involved in protests is as follows: they communicate with the protesters, inform them of what they are allowed to do to avoid breaking rules, occasionally bend certain rules for protesters, offer their help and then remain out of it.
This can be seen with the Palestine Encampment at the end of the winter 2024 semester. The university communicated with the protesters, allowed them to camp on university grounds, provided them with rules they had to follow and then let the protesters be, as well as bringing out water and other supplies to students.
This approach allows students to have a safe space to protest and exercise their rights and beliefs, with the university at their back and supporting them. This level of support varies, but was evident at the TPUSA protest. Students spoke about how TPUSA members tried to prevent protesters from entering by requiring them to present their student ID, and if they couldn’t, they attempted to bar them from entering. Yet students attending the protest said that NMU stepped in and made sure students who signed up for the event were allowed in.
The main idea behind a protest is to challenge authority, and NMU is the central authority on campus. Across many university protests, it seems the universities are against the students. Unlike other institutions, NMU finds itself aligned with student protesters.
