Students gathered at the Hannah Administration building Friday afternoon to voice support for a pro-Palestinian student protester who is facing disciplinary charges for allegedly making the university's president feel unsafe during a protest at a campus event.
The student, social relations and policy senior Eli Folts, addressed the crowd at the gathering’s outset, describing a power imbalance between those who brought the charges against him and himself.
"As a student about to get his degree, and as an on-call and temp employee, I am in a vulnerable position where the president of the university has all the power," he said.
In an interview with The State News this week, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz distanced himself from the pending disciplinary action, saying he did not file the charges against Folts, and wasn’t aware of them until he saw a news article about the saga.
Speakers at Friday's demonstration broadly rebuked the administration for what they see as a curtailing of students’ right to protest.
"Challenging authority through protest is not intimidation," said Black Students Alliance Vice President Miah Gill. "It is the exercise of a fundamental right."
Folts is currently awaiting a Nov. 4 hearing on two charges against him: persistent intimidation and disruption of university functions — both of which he has denied. He was also initially charged with harassment, but that charge has since been dropped, Folts told The State News on Friday.
That "makes sense" he added, "because there is no grounds for these charges, and that is the most outrageous one."
Lt. Steven Brandman, the MSU police officer who filed the charge against Folts, will be present at the hearing, Folts said. He added that he plans to submit four names to the Office of Student Support and Accountability who will act as witnesses to the confrontation in question at the hearing.
Several student groups have sent letters to MSU administration in support of Folts in the days leading up to Friday’s demonstration, including the Black Students’ Alliance and the James Madison College Student Senate.
James Madison College professor Jennifer Goett, during remarks at the demonstration Friday, noted that the college leadership passed a resolution Friday in support of Folts.
"I’m grateful for that action, but it's not enough," she said. "And I really urge us to open our eyes and take stock of what really matters in this world and begin to act based on conscience and integrity and justice and truth."
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