A group of students has planned a silent sit-in protest in response to the University of Idaho placing journalism and mass media professor Denise Bennett on administrative leave.
The protest will take place in the UI College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences administrative offices Wednesday afternoon, according to the group’s Facebook page.
“We will be civil and respectful, but we will make a point,” the page description reads. “Students that are protesting by not attending Denise’s classes are encouraged to spend their time in the CLASS office instead.”
Ryan Benson, UI student and administrator of the page, said the administration, CLASS and UI President Chuck Staben should seriously consider the students’ voices and reinstate Bennett. Benson and others on social media said they had their posters calling for Bennett’s reinstatement taken down.
“Because we’re disappointed in the limiting of our free expression, we decided to move the event up and make it clear that we, the students, disagree with the lack of due process and the quick actions of a silent administration,” he said.
The planned protest is expected to begin near the front entrance of the Administration Building at noon. The group will remain in the building until 3 p.m.
Benson is also the administrator of the “REINSTATE DENISE BENNETT” Facebook page, which has 99 members. On the page, members can find posts from other students hanging flyers around campus, calling for Bennett’s return.
Members of the movement also put together a website, where interested protestors can download different posters to print themselves and post around campus.
A change.org petition also began in efforts to reinstate Bennett, with 650 signees as of Monday night.
Bennett’s scheduled classes begin Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. Although Jodi Walker, UI director of communications, said classes will continue as planned, she did not know who would be teaching. UI has yet to provide an official explanation of the situation to students.
“More than anything, I want to see her reinstated,” said Emily Davis, Benson’s fellow Facebook page administrator. “I want her in my classroom this week because she is still my professor this semester. I want her rightfully back teaching students. I just wish more people understood how important she is to this university.”
Bennett was originally placed on leave Thursday. She said the news came after she was told in an email she had around $450 unspent from a grant project that expired in December. She said she was furious, “penning an email full of the word f—k” to administration officials, among others.
She said she was told about the leave via a phone call Thursday night by Sean Quinlan, dean of CLASS, and through subsequent text messages.
Questions posed to the JAMM department and CLASS Dean Sean Quinlan were redirected to Walker.
Brandon Hill can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @brandonmtnhill