Hello, regents? Demonstrations increase democracy

Hello, regents? Demonstrations increase democracy

By Marc Lange

I read with dismay in the March 16 issue of the Daily Bruin
("Protest to greet regents") that Regent Howard Leach criticized
those students who protested recently in favor of affirmative
action, saying, "A demonstration implies wanting to use force or
emotion to put a point across." And Regent William Bagley
apparently agreed, quoted as saying, "For intelligent people of
university caliber to engage in (protests) is folly."

Well, the next time we need a revolution in this country (does
anyone remember we had one once?), I know not to call upon Regent
Leach to sign the Declaration or to dump tea in the harbor. If
Regent Leach’s government was napalming kids in some foreign
country, I expect Regent Leach would say that a nonviolent protest
march is too forceful (compared to napalm?) and that placards
displaying photos of the victims are too emotional (since when are
our emotions bad things?). The next time we find instances of
segregation and human rights abuses and are asked to march on
Washington to hear a speech by a latter-day Martin Luther King Jr.,
I’ll know that Regent Bagley will regard such activity as
unintelligent and beneath the dignity of a university graduate.

If the regents have been quoted correctly, their opinions are
outrageous.In fact, a demonstrator (who does not engage in threats
of coercion, of course) is engaging in an act that increases the
democracy in his or her country. A count of votes is no measure of
the intensity of opinion on either side of an issue. If a democracy
is a government that is responsive to the citizens’ will, then the
intensity of opinion, not just the numbers on either side, must be
taken into account.

Of course, a university is not a democracy. But that’s neither
here nor there when regents are peddling the general claim that a
protest implies a desire to use force. And of course, some protests
are empty or unintelligent. But, as history shows, a great many are
courageous, intelligent and effective.

In the same Daily Bruin article, UC President Jack Peltason is
quoted as saying "One has a constitutional right to protest, but
I’ve never found protests quite as effective as talking." I agree.
I suspect that if the regents offered to discuss the issues with
the protestors, the protesters would be willing ­ eager ­
to lay out the arguments for their positions. However, until the
regents make such an offer, the fact that protests are less
effective than talking is utterly irrelevant.

Lange is an assistant professor in the philosophy
department.