About My Vote Concerning Academic Amnesty (November 5)

At the September meeting of the Senate, I voted against giving academic amnesty to the November 5 Day of Action ("Drop the Fees" Campaign).

My argument was simple:

Granting academic amnesty could lead down a slippery slope. Why should we give special recognition to this day, and not any others? On the debate on this motion, I specifically brought up protests on humanitarian crises (i.e. Darfur) as examples of causes that might be more important than the "Drop the Fees" campaign. As academic amnesty does not force professors to do anything (other than write make-up exams), I felt that ultimately it is up to students to take responsibility for their academic lives.

Thus, this decision of the Senate was injudicious in my view, especially since the University had not established clear criteria for groups requesting academic amnesty.

JWR2