Editorial: Stonewalling 101

President Jay Bernhardt has a response to those who’d like to discuss the college’s strict policy on protests: Don’t bother me with your questions.

Bernhardt and his aides finally agreed to a long-delayed meeting last Monday with the heads of three unions, those representing the full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and staff. Top on the agenda was the administration’s unilateral policy suppressing freedom of speech and demonstrations.

When Bernhardt walked in with a posse of high-paid administrators, he quickly announced the ground rules: (1) No recording. (2) “We won’t be answering any questions.”

According to reports from several people at the meeting, the administrators sat largely tight-lipped, only asking the unions what their arguments were and vaguely promising “We’ll get back to you.”

This was a prime example of the imperial attitude Bernhardt has brought to his job. For the entire semester, his aides and press agents have fended off criticism by promising and then delaying meetings with various campus groups. When the meetings finally take place, they are fruitless. He gives the appearance of listening, even takes notes, but gives little in return—then scurries back to his office in the newly sealed-off 14th floor bunker.

Last spring, Bernhardt was censured by the faculty and given a “no confidence” vote by the student government, mainly in response to his panicked approach to pro-Palestinian demonstrators .His actions earned Emerson a national reputation for heavy-handed intolerance and likely contributed to a substantial enrollment drop.

Instead of making efforts to repair the harm he caused, Bernhardt doubled down on his failed strategy by rolling out a top-down, unilateral anti-protest policy, weaving his repressive philosophy into Emerson’s code of conduct.

When asked to answer for all of this?  “We won’t be answering any questions.”