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beet1031 · 8 days

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Endangering UNH’s Students: a Critique of PSC and NHYM

(Side note: I'm posting this because it's easier than making a whole website for one post)

Let’s get something out of the way very quickly; I am pro-Palestine. Not only do I want this horrible, awful genocide in Gaza to end, but I want Palestine to be freed from Israel’s tyrannical rule. So I’m not writing this critique because I disagree with either of these organizations politically. Actually, in terms of core values we agree on many levels. The reason I’m writing this is because I take issue with how the University of New Hampshire branches of the Palestinian Solidarity Coalition (PSC) and New Hampshire Youth Movement (NHYM) have been conducting themselves recently. To be honest, I’ve felt this way for quite some time now. But since no one was getting hurt, up until this point I’ve kept my opinions to myself. This, however, has changed. Now, thirteen people have been brutalized and arrested by the police. Eleven of those people were students at UNH. So suffice to say, it’s time to speak out. When it comes to their political campaigns, the PSC and NHYM have a huge issue with jumping the gun and antagonizing others. This issue has exacerbated itself to the point where now people are getting hurt. In order to understand the full extent of this issue, we need to go back to April of 2023.

NHYM and PACS:

On April 26 2023, NHYM held a protest on Thompson Hall lawn. Their protest was against UNH’s Psychological and Counseling Services (PACS) department, whom they believed were ignoring the needs of students. And the visual aspects of their protest made quite a strong statement; the group made a wooden coffin, surrounded by signs talking about the number of students on campus who had taken their own lives over the past year. During this protest, they held a mock ‘funeral’ to honor the lives of those who’d passed as well as make a statement against PACS.

At first, I was all for this. Hearing how many people had died, how few counselors there were, and all the other tidbits of information filled me with determination. I wanted to help, I wanted things to change. I went and helped them make a few posters, and got to know a lot of the people in this group. Most of them were students, and I must admit they were all wonderful people. At the time I just assumed that their protest was against PACS, even though I didn’t know all the details of what exactly was going on. So I didn’t think to question their methods. Then about a day or two after the protest took place, I realized that I wasn’t actually sure what NHYM was trying to do. So I asked a friend in the organization, “Hey, why exactly are you guys campaigning against PACS?” and his answer astonished me: “No, we’re not trying to go against PACS, we’re trying to work with them to inspire change”.

Wait… what? If their goal was to work with PACS, then why antagonize them? Surely if the goal was diplomacy, then bringing a giant coffin and a bunch of posters saying “how many more students have to die” to PACS’ front lawn would be the opposite of helpful. And given the fact that the school tried to have the protest shut down, I think it’s safe to say the administrators of UNH did feel quite agitated. When you look at the policies NHYM was trying to change, it’s not like any of them were openly malevolent. If anything, most of the policies just made it clear that PACS was a severely underfunded department without the means to be as diligent as their students needed. With that in mind, it’s hard to think the organization would be opposed to hearing out students who have serious concerns about them. So again, why antagonize them? And why go after PACS, when the issues you’re addressing are actually the fault of whoever makes their budget?

Not wanting to be one who complains without understanding the full story, I went to the next NHYM meeting to get their take on these questions. And to be honest, I was not comforted by their answers. First, I asked if the organization had done anything to try and reach out to the school before protesting. Their answer was nondescript, but I was able to get some information. They said that they had in fact emailed back and forth with PACS a few times, but had been told that there probably wasn’t enough money to implement the changes NHYM was looking for. The leaders of NHYM said that there was no hostility, nor an immediate shutdown of their concerns. Just mild dissent, and maybe a touch of disinterest. Sure, it’s not the greatest response in the world. But it’s hard to justify trying to turn the entire school against PACS based on that communication alone. Diplomacy takes time, but it goes a whole lot faster if the people you’re working with actually like you.

Although this anecdote is not directly related to the May 1st protests, it does highlight the main issue that I believe is present in both NHYM and the PSC. The UNH branches of both organizations prefer to put diplomacy to the side for the sake of garnering attention and ‘making a statement’. And while power in numbers is a powerful tool when used correctly, there’s more to politics than just theatrics. As far as I know, after the initial demonstration NHYM did meet with PACS in person to discuss changing their program. And the good news is, the two groups were actually able to make some progress towards helping UNH students. So my question is, what was stopping NHYM from just doing that in the first place?

May 1st:

My critiques of the PSC and how they handled the protest on May 1st aren’t as harsh as the previous section, since they tried at least a little bit to protect students. But in my opinion, there were still a few things they could have done better. Now, let me make something clear: what happened on May 1st was still entirely the police’s fault. There was no reason for them to be as aggressive as they were, and the way they treated students was completely unacceptable. That being said, it’s the responsibility of whoever’s hosting a protest to minimize the risk of that protest going wrong. And the PSC did very little to try and prevent the thirteen arrests that took place.

Right now, the PSC is using the brutalization of students by police to fuel their political campaign even further. And of course, what happened during the encampment protest was awful. But there’s one piece of information the PSC is hiding from the public- they knew the police were going to show up. In his official statement about the event, President Jimmy Dean wrote “those guidelines, as well as repeated requests and warnings from university staff and police, were blatantly ignored”. What he’s referring to here is the fact that the school warned the PSC that doing an encampment would lead to police shutting down the protest. In the past, the PSC has always had to get a permit to do their usual protests. And while they did have a permit to be on Thompson Hall lawn from 5-7pm, they did not have a permit to be there past 7pm. In their press statement the PSC cites the fact that the UNH code of conduct doesn’t have any rules against setting up tents on campus, but that doesn’t change the fact that they knew the potential risks of their protest long before the event.

There was absolutely no mention of potential police involvement in their advertisements for the protests. It is unclear whether the event had designated marshalls or professional peacekeepers who may have been able to deescalate the situation. During most protests, both of these people are usually marked in some sort of easily identifiable manner, such as reflective jackets. In the PSC’s defense, they did hold an optional teach-in about police safety before the encampment. But in a situation where you know the police will eventually come, why let this class be optional? Plus as mentioned before, it is unclear whether or not this professional was still around by the time the police showed up. Overall, given the gravity of the situation the PSC did very little to try and protect UNH’s students. They ignored the warnings of the administration, they withheld vital information from the public, and they did not organize well enough to minimize risk during their event.

Conclusion:

As I mentioned before, I’ve met a lot of the people on campus who work for the PSC and NHYM. I’ve participated in multiple of their events. I was even at the protest on May 1st. Everyone working for these organizations are very nice, very motivated people, and the last thing I want is for any of them to think that I take issue with them personally. Nor do I want to cause drama, so if anyone reading this knows people in either organization, please do not treat them any differently than you normally would. The only reason I’m writing this is because I know the PSC will continue to hold protests, at least until the genocide in Gaza is over. And I want people to know the potential risks of going to these protests, since the organizations hosting them seem to be ignoring them.

Here’s the thing; these oversights I’ve mentioned do not come from a place of malevolence. Students on campus are angry, and want to fix all the issues going on right now. Not only on campus, but in the world as a whole. I’ve absolutely been there before. But unfortunately, sometimes you have to be willing to work with the people you want change from, instead of against them. This is something that is not represented in either the PSC’s or NHYM’s actions. And if they continue to carry on as they are, I’m afraid about whether or not more people will get hurt. If you’re a student at UNH, please take this into consideration. Whether or not you agree with me, I hope you’ll at least think about what I’ve said.

#university of new hampshire #university #nhym #psc #critique #college

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