My campus had a literal dumpster fire after that controversial speaker got banned

I was at UC Santa Cruz last spring when they canceled that alt-media guy's talk, and the protest spilled into the parking lot where someone actually set a dumpster on fire near the library. Has anyone else seen a campus controversy turn into something that dumb?

2 comments

2 Comments

baker.ben17d ago

That dumpster fire at UC Santa Cruz got way more attention than the actual speaker controversy. @kevin_carr is right that things escalate too fast, but I'd push back a little on the "every campus" thing. I go to a mid-sized state school in Ohio and we've had heated debates this year without any fires or smashed windows. The student senate actually passed a resolution letting both sides book rooms equally after a protest last semester. It's not perfect, but we somehow managed to disagree without torching anything.

kevin_carr17d ago

Walk onto any campus these days and it's like everyone forgot how to disagree without burning something down. Saw it in my own town at the community college last fall. Some student group brought in a speaker, the other side got pissed, and next thing you know the debate got replaced by a smashed window and a screaming match in the admin building. Nobody actually listens anymore. It's all about who can be the loudest and wreck the most stuff. Turned a simple disagreement into a mess that cost thousands to clean up.