Case Study: How to Handle a Student Demonstration

A small group of radical students organized a rally to protest tuition increases and other grievances and rallied in front of the administration building. They demanded entry into the building and to see the President. The building was secured by campus police in advance of the rally and the president was, in any case, out of town that day. The Vice President of Student Affairs and I met with campus police and agreed we would leave the building to meet the rally leaders and receive their written demands. We listened politely to each speaker and despite various insults, false statements and personal attacks on me and the president, we remained silent. At the end of the diatribes we accepted the letter of demands and stated that there would be a reply within a week (we actually replied in a few days and was widely distributed). After we left the rally quickly dispersed.

Although the rally leaders were not satisfied with the administration's reply when it came a few days later, which was firm but respectfully addressed each demand no matter how absurd, and tried to hold further rallies, they were unable to arouse any interest for follow up demonstrations. With no arrests, without being to claim that they were not heard by senior leaders, and without being able to claim that the demands were ignored, they had little more to say and the group was barely heard from for the rest of the academic year.

Lessons learned:

1. Respect the right to protest, even when they ask for or say things that are offensive or silly
2. Treat the leaders and the group with respect, even if you believe that they do not represent a significant number of students
3. Never lose your cool, no matter what they say (though you can, as I did, quietly inform the leadership how counterproductive tossing insults is when you are asking for something)
4. Make sure that the campus police give them lots of breathing room; only intervene when necessary for safety and only arrest when its a serious offense. No matter how you justify it, it rarely helps a college to arrest its own students during an otherwise peaceful protest. Of course, violence must be dealt with, but it is important for security officers not to over-react. 
5. Don't provide responses right away -- delay the response for a few days so you can give a well thought out written response, make sure that it is widely distributed and is respectful even if they aren't - always have the upper hand on respectfulness. Remember, even Dumbledore was polite to Draco Malfoy even as the latter sought to kill his teacher. You can't be too polite; it is very disarming.