Protestors confronted Chancellor Boyce in his office as he was meeting students during the “Open Doors” event in the Lyceum Tuesday night.
The event, which was billed as “dinner and conversation with UM administration,” allowed students to interact in an intimate setting with administration such as the chancellor and provost, and departments like Diversity and Community Engagement, which hosted it.
More than 100 students showed up to “Open Doors,” which began at 5:30 pm, but around 6:15, between 15-20 protestors dressed mostly in black moved into the chancellor’s office, with red tape over their mouths that read “IHL.” They crowded around Boyce, who was associating with visitors, causing him to momentarily vacate his office, before returning with the escort of staff.
Bailey Paul, a junior student and protestor with the group, said that they represented no specific student group, but “the entire student body.” They are, however, reported to be members of Abolish IHL, the group that has protested Boyce and the IHL since Boyce’s appointment in October. The protestors handed out copies of Boyce’s statement on Jan. 16 regarding the Institution of Higher Learning’s decision to remove the proposed relocation of the Confederate monument from its January meeting agenda. They highlighted a sentence from that statement, “Our governing body – the IHL board – has exclusive authority to relocate the statue.”
“Glenn Boyce, who himself was an illegitimate hire, said that IHL has exclusive authority over what happens with the statue, but none of the people in the IHL have anything to do with this university, other than they get a little bit of money and give a little bit of money,” Paul said.
Chancellor Boyce would not offer comment about the protestors, but before their arrival, he expressed joy about meeting students and giving students the chance to meet administration.
“It gives students the opportunity to know that this a very open and receptive building for them, and I was excited to know that I would meet more students,” he said. “I love the community effect of it. Just seeing everyone coming in and excited, you can’t replace that.”
Boyce also said that he plans to institute an “open door” policy in the near future, to give students a designated time each week to talk to him, without normal constraints.
“I plan on having a time where I’m just open for students to visit, and get the word out there. Like I sit in the student union a while and just visit with everybody, maybe I’ll have lunch in some room and say, ‘hey, let’s talk,’” Boyce said.
Provost Noel Wilkin addressed opinions that the new Chancellor, and even administration as a whole, has not been as transparent or open as some would like. He said that an event like “Open Doors” can help to remove the divisions between students and their administration.
“It’s important for students to see us as human,” he said. “So many times, we’re talking to each other through statements, through newspaper articles or through other things, but really getting to know each other as people is what this is about, and that begins with looking face-to-face and having conversations with each other.”
Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Community Engagement Katrina Caldwell, who, along with junior student Joshua Mannery, created “Open Doors,” said that the goal of the event was to bring administration closer to students. She said that oftentimes the Lyceum can seem cold or off-limits to students, but hopes that the event will help to remove those barriers.
“A lot of our students don’t know that this is a space for them, don’t know the work that we do,” Caldwell said. “And so, for them to see us as people, or if they feel like they can come in here, if they’ve come in here one time, I think that takes away the anxiety about coming in this building now that they’ve had a conversation with us.”
Aside from the protestors, there were no other signs of student resistance. Students met administration and staff on all three floors of the Lyceum, where there was complimentary food and refreshments, and a variety of games and prizes for students to participate.
Freshmen student Yasmeen Green, from Baltimore, Maryland, admitted that she was not fully informed about the controversy surrounding the IHL and Boyce’s appointment, but said that students who oppose the chancellor have been quick to base their opinions off of others. She feels that if they took the time to come to an event like this, they might feel differently.
“I personally feel like you have to get out there to understand what you feel towards someone. A lot of people piggyback on other people’s opinions; they basically jump on the bandwagon,” Green said. “(Events) like this make you think that if things like this are going on, where was the issue to begin with.”