During my memorable days as an Emerson College undergraduate, the Beacon Street campus was a hotbed of political and social activism. It was at the peak of the Vietnam War when student protests on Boston Common and adjoining streets were a weekly event.
I remember protesting students sitting in the middle of Charles and Beacon Streets, blocking traffic, some throwing bricks and bottles at responding police officers. It was not unusual for the smell of tear gas to engulf our classrooms or student union after a night of student vs police skirmishes near the campus. And arrests were plentiful with the college taking a hands-off approach in defending arrested students.
Over the past few days the Herald chronicled the Emerson student tent encampment on a city-owned alley adjacent to a college building and the arrest of more than 100 students who refused to leave this area. While many students and some faculty criticized the arrests and methods used to enforce the encampment removal, I do not.
The arrests of these students were 100% justified and they must face the legal consequences of their actions. It’s immaterial that the protestors felt entitled to continue with their round-the-clock protest at this location. It was the expertise of fire and police officials that the encampment was a public safety hazard and must be removed that had credibility. These are the public safety professionals, not a bunch of students.
While police response was condemned by protesting students and the Boston Democratic Socialists of America (how did they become involved in the Emerson protest?) encamped students were warned many times by college and police officials to abandon their encampment. A Boston Police captain is on video pleading that he doesn’t want to arrest the protesters nor see them injured during the arrest process but students still refused his lawful order to disperse. They locked arms in defiance, which resulted in appropriate force to affect their arrests. They deserved the results.
Rick Pozniak is a veteran public relations and crisis communications expert who served as a senior communications executive at Emerson and Babson College. He now teaches at several local colleges.
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