American University’s Student Government Undergraduate Senate unanimously voted to approve Resolution 19-019, calling for changes to the proposed Social Media and Facilities Use Policies at a Senate meeting on Sept. 15.
“A Resolution to Comment On and Revise the Draft Facility Use and Social Media Policies” calls for clarification on the definitions of several terms, including “assigned units,” “demonstration,” “significant disruption” and “expressly authorized,” and alterations to multiple subsections and proposed measures. The resolution serves as SG’s official response to the current drafts, which closed for comment on Sept. 18.
The drafted policies follow University President Jonathan Alger’s repeal of the Jan. 25 directives, which banned indoor protests, on Aug. 13.
According to the Facilities Use Policy, an assigned unit is “responsible for the day-to-day oversight, management, and operation of the Facilities under its purview.”
Senator-at-Large and sophomore in the School of Public Affairs Kaden Ouimet told The Eagle in an interview that the definition of an assigned unit, which the Facilities Use Policy says is “responsible for the day-to-day oversight, management, and operation of the Facilities under its purview,” could allow the AU Police Department to “selectively enforce” regulations against student groups.
“We’re really concerned that the presence of increased police at a time when students are experiencing police brutality, combined with potentially arming those police,” Ouimet said. “It’s a concern for students, especially students of color.”
The resolution, sponsored by Senators-at-Large and sophomores in SPA Asher Heisten and Connor Thompson, and Ouimet, requests that the University revert to the standards outlined in the 1992 Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students, which states that students should have the right to “express opinions publicly and privately.”
The resolution also suggests that the policy’s restriction of picketing, leafleting and demonstrations from within twenty feet of a university entrance or exit will interfere with campus life, preventing “Greek Life organizations, candidates for AUSG offices, and students from distributing flyers.” The plan for enforcing this rule by the University remains unclear, Heisten told The Eagle.
“In a conversation that the [executive board] members had with [Chief Financial Officer] Bronté [Burleigh-Jones] earlier in the day, before the facilities policy discussion, one of the board members asked, ‘How do we enforce that twenty feet?’” Heisten said. “And Bronté said, ‘I don't know.’”
“The characterization of Vice President Burleigh-Jones answer is not accurate,” Matt Bennett, vice president and chief communications officer wrote in an email statement to The Eagle.“De-escalation measures and other implementation actions were discussed thoroughly at the community forum.”
The resolution also claims the Social Media Policies, specifically regarding the use of the University’s name, could endanger individually-run accounts not officially affiliated with the University.
“There’s a lot of ambiguity about, does the term American University also refer to AU?,” Heisten said. “In that case, that would destroy a lot of social media platforms, including, like, AU Barstool and AU Rabbits.”
Heisten recommended that the University also include future comments from the student body after SG was not added to the working group for the policy at the time of its creation and had to ask to be included.
“We believe that administration is taking it a step too far, and we want to make sure that they work with us beforehand on policies like these that do affect the student body,” Heisten said.
Ouimet is wary of the University’s motives based on the enactment of the Jan. 25 directives without student involvement.
“I can come to no other conclusion [than that] there’s a deliberate attempt by administration to suppress Arab, Muslim and Palestinian students on campus in their advocacy for divestment,” Ouimet said.
On Sept. 26, SG posted on Instagram that they had reviewed the updated Facilities Use and Social Media draft policies on Sept. 23, which implemented some of the student’s feedback during a meeting with administrators, including Burleigh-Jones, Bennett, Vice President of Student Affairs Raymond Ou, general counsel and leaders from the working group on the policies.
The post said that Subsection C7 of the Facilities Use policy, which had originally said leafleting, picketing or demonstrations couldn’t occur “within twenty feet of building entrances and exits,” was updated to prohibit “demonstrations that disrupt peace under DC law.” The post also included that the Sept. 23 draft clarified the term “designated units” and does not mention AUPD.
“The community feedback received through the forums and written comments improved the policies, including specific updates to the section (C7) on activity near university buildings,” Bennett said in a statement to The Eagle. “We carefully considered the student input, which helped us further clarify and enhance the policy.”
SG has received and reviewed the Sept. 23 updated policies; however, that does not guarantee that they will be included in the final product.
“We have it on a good faith basis that [the updates] will be [included in the final draft of the policies],” SG wrote on the Instagram post, “but we want to acknowledge that this draft was not a final draft and we only have access to the updates that administrators give us.”
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks and Ella Rousseau.
