Emerson parent says ‘serious failure’ by administrators prompted petition

MassLive.com ^

[matt04]

Nearly 150 Emerson College parents on Thursday sent a letter calling for President Jay Bernhardt’s resignation, a decision one parent said was motivated by a sense that administrators and Bernhardt in particular had consistently failed to meet the needs of students before and after the arrests of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters last week.

Megan Howard, one of the organizers of the petition, and the first parent to sign on, told MassLive that her student was at the encampment set up at Emerson on the morning of April 25, when Boston Police descended on student protesters and began taking them into custody. She said her student was not arrested, but watched as “things turned violent.”

The experience was “pretty traumatic,” Howard said.

Feeling powerless, Howard said she and other parents looked for a way to make their voices heard. The first signature recorded in support of the call for Bernhardt’s resignation was Howard’s, on April 29.

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In the petition, the parents said they no longer had confidence in Bernhardt’s ability to “keep students safe, communicate openly and transparently with the Emerson community, and lead a unified campus.”

The petition adds to the growing public pressure on Bernhardt and other college administrators, though Emerson’s Board of Trustees said it “remains confident in President Bernhardt’s leadership and unequivocally supports his presidency.”

[matt04]

Help mommy, I got in trouble for breaking the law, can you send a letter telling them I felt scared when I was held accountable.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Oh, and mommy, while you’re at it, could you sue the bastards for making me feel unsafe?”