Treatment of guests not reflective of community values

In our first Our View this school year, we talked about how we have the opportunity to build community this year, especially after a year of Zoom classes, quarantining and social distancing. Unfortunately, recent events have shown that we have failed to put in the work necessary to make that goal a reality.

The INTG105 Zoom incident, where individuals disrupted a presentation by guest speaker Aja Black repeatedly, is embarrassing and ridiculous. It reflects poorly on the entire campus community and it is the perfect antithesis of the values we claim to uphold. Whoever took part in the disruption should feel ashamed, and as a community, we should reflect on what this behavior says about us.

According to the recent report from the Presidents’ offices, disruptors flooded the voice conversation and text chat with disruptive messages and racial epithets. This was in response to a guest who generously shared her time and efforts with our students. It is deplorable to welcome a guest with racial slurs and disruptions while she’s trying to present. For a campus that claims to welcome guests and demonstrate hospitality, we clearly have a long way to go before we can live out those values.

Recently, Senator Tina Smith’s lecture was ended immediately after it began by disruptors inside the lecture hall. Now, Aja Black’s two presentations were disrupted and her third one was cancelled altogether. After two years of class on Zoom and events cancelled or moved online, we should be cherishing and capitalizing on interactions with others, both during in person events and through Zoom conversations. With these recent events, guests might start thinking twice before coming to campus, or the organizers of these events might see webinars as a safer option. That isn’t a reality that any of us want, and isn’t something that would improve connection within our campus community.

Even though not everyone in the community is participating in these disruptions, the consequences reflect upon all of us. When a few people ruin an event for everyone, it’s disrespectful to the entire community.

We can say that we aren’t the type of community that accepts this type of behavior, but until consequences are issued and incidents like this stop, we are that type of community. Actions speak louder than words, and these actions speak loud and clear.

We run the risk of driving interesting speakers away from our campus if this sort of behavior continues. Speakers come to our campus to give students the opportunity to engage with them and learn from them. If students don’t demonstrate that they want to learn from and engage with guests, there is no reason for guests to come in person, or at all.

Maintaining a welcoming environment on campus is a core aspect of our CSB/SJU identity. Repeatedly and loudly disrespecting guests is a quick way to defile our schools’ reputations. Recently, there has been much discussion around campus about what it means to be a Johnnie or a Bennie. When someone visits our campuses, especially to share their time with students, we need to carefully consider what kind of experience they want to come away with if we want them to come back.

Let’s bring back our community values.