Charles H.F. Davis III speaks with Diverse Issues in Higher Ed about universities’ different responses to discharging campus protests

Speaking with Diverse Issues in Higher Education about the different approaches colleges and universities have taken to address recent student protests and encampments, Assistant Professor Charles H.F. Davis III says the use of police force has become equivalent to “best practice in higher education.” However, he adds, the alternative—peacefully formed agreements between students and administrations—can be employed with the hopes that they will diffuse protest momentum.

“There is a longstanding strategy by collect universities to wait out student organizers, partly in hopes that they will experience activist fatigue, or [students] will have competing interests, will have to get their stuff together for graduation, or the summer is a cooling down period. This has always been the case,” said Davis. “Student activists are limited by time. And in the case of Brown, and NU to a lesser extent, organizers gave up a lot of stuff and didn't really get a lot in return.”