The Witch-Hunt Against the Student Movement

In light of the blatantly unjust and biased persecution of Students for a Democratic Society’s National Vice-President, Juleea Berthelot by members of the Loyola University New Orleans administration, it is worth noting that the student movement has long faced repression by administrations that are— as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would put it— ”more committed to order than justice.”

Our administrations would rather sit idly by while the rights and dignities of the masses are thoroughly violated. They would prefer a peace defined not by the presence of a truly liberatory education, nor by strong communities rooted in human-centred values, but a peace defined by compliance and non-antagonism towards the status-quo. 

For additional context, Berthelot was charged with “promoting an unregistered student organization,” a charge so vague as to seem to carry rather little meaning. This is entirely irrespective of the fact that the Liberate and Unite New Orleans (LUNO) chapter of SDS is explicitly not affiliated in any way whatsoever with Loyola University New Orleans. While Loyola and the issues of Loyola students are the organization’s purpose, it would be disingenuous to allege that being a member of and promoting an independent political organization constitutes some potential crime or slight against the university itself. By persecuting a student based on their progressive political work, Loyola is explicitly discriminating against students based on political affiliations, a act that they claim to stand against in the IInd part to each course’s syllabus. This is even more apparent considering that the chapter of Turning Point USA, a far-right, Christian nationalist group, that was twice denied at Loyola continues to utilize Loyola trademarks and affiliate themselves with the school despite explicit denial by the Student Government Association. As was noted by LUNO-SDS in their statement on the matter, “The double standard is clear. When students stand with Trump, ICE raids, and racism Loyola sits by, but when students stand for justice Loyola administration is frothing at the mouth to suspend them.”

It is almost comical that the administration is so desperate to pay homage to the freedom fighters of the 1950s and ‘60s Civil Rights Movement, but will not hesitate to make examples of students who apply what they learn in their history courses. They are desperate to claim the moral high ground and present the “trail blazed” by historic leaders in the struggle for Civil Rights, all the while simultaneously targeting and persecuting students who lead in liberatory struggles in the present day. The truth of the matter is simple; the university’s administration has confused silence and capitulation with justice. They fail to see past their own inflated salaries and institutional prestige. They cannot possibly comprehend that resistance to injustice around the world will always require frustrating the extant power structures. 

We, as students, are begged and pleaded with to resist antagonizing administration. The attempts to invoke an infantile careerism in each and every one of us are strong. Administrations and their supporters are deeply attached to the idea that they may take tens of thousands of dollars from us and in return we will leave our environment thoroughly evacuated of our revolutionary character and go on to form further alienated, disjointed, and fundamentally placated masses. Students for a Democratic Society threatens this lie by showcasing that students— instead of simply keeping their heads buried in the sand and refusing to rustle feathers— are more than willing to firmly resist against imperialism at home and abroad. SDS broadcasts to the whole of the country that there are students who believe in something bigger than themselves— that there are students who will fight against racism, classism, misogyny, chauvinism, Queerphobia, and most of all the capitalist chains that bind them all together. And not only will we continue to fight against these “isms” and indignities, we will fight against the complacent, spineless administrations who refuse to. 

My only direct response to administration on this matter is that they may feel free to oppress us and beat us down. They can continue to suspend, oppress, intimidate, and humiliate; because it is still fundamentally true that the students, when united, will never be defeated. The entirety of LUNO-SDS, National SDS, and our broader community of organizers, activists, advocates, and human beings stands with Juleea Berthelot and with the student movement.