About 300 students protested over the course of several hours Thursday outside the student commons at Kennesaw State University after the investiture ceremony for KSU President Sam Olens.
Tasnim Shamma / WABE
The controversy over political protest at Kennesaw State continued Thursday at the investiture ceremony for university President Sam Olens.
More than a dozen people knelt during the national anthem at the convocation center near the beginning of the ceremony and then walked out when Olens was introduced.
Olens didn’t mention the controversy during his speech, but state Sen. Lindsey Tippins of Marietta did.
Tippins is an alumnus of Kennesaw State University. He said he enrolled at Kennesaw Junior College in the fall of 1967 and completed his bachelor’s of business administration degree from Georgia State University.
“In those 50 years, I have noticed that it seems that universities have always been the scene of turbulent social discussions and political discussions,” Tippins said. “I don’t expect that to change. I’m not sure that it ought to change. It may be the role of universities.”
Focus On Kennesaw State
KSU recently barred cheerleaders from the field at football games during the national anthem, after five of them knelt at a game in protest of racial inequality.
University officials said that policy change and the cheerleaders’ actions are unrelated.
The Georgia University System announced late Wednesday it’s investigating the policy change.
The university said it is not considering revoking the academic and athletic scholarships of the mascot, football players and cheerleaders who have knelt in protest recently.
After Thursday’s ceremony, about 300 people protested outside with their fists in the air, kneeling and chanting, “Land of the free, but we can’t take a knee?”
Brandon Jackson, KSU’s associate director of multicultural student affairs, said he couldn’t comment directly on the protests but said they should be able to determine what avenues are safe for different forms of expression.
“I think any times groups want to express themselves, they should be able to find the avenue to do that,” Jackson said. “This is a college so we’re all about the sharing of viewpoints and expression of ideas, and I think everyone should support that concept and really get to the root of what people are trying to get out there.”
Protest Opposition
Many people watching Thursday’s protest joined in or showed support for the students kneeling in the center of the greenspace. Some, however, expressed disapproval.
Caric Martin, an alumnus and member of KSU’s Athletic Association Board of Directors, said alumni have told him they feel angry and embarrassed.
“I’m all fine for them having free expression on the campus green when they’re not representing anything and I haven’t paid to be there, that’s cool,” Martin said. “But to do it in a situation where everybody has to sit and listen, I feel like it was forced upon me. If you want things to improve, you got to have a dialogue. It can’t be a monologue.”
He said he felt his voice wasn’t being heard and didn’t feel the cheerleaders “have shown a lot about critical thinking skills of how it might be perceived.”
KSU junior Neil Wolin, right, expressed disapproval with the students who were kneeling Thursday. (Tasnim Shamma/WABE)
KSU junior Neil Wolin placed his hand over his chest and students protesting said he called them terrorists. A loud exchange followed with a few students, and Wolin said they were using the mascot to embarrass the country.
Wolin: “I’m racist because I’m a conservative? You think America is racist and it’s not. It was racist and now it’s not. Take all the Confederate monuments down. Destroy history if that makes you happy. Do it. If that’s a racial trigger for you, do it. You know what’s a racial trigger for me? Black fraternities. Black universities.” Protester: “Why is that?” Wolin: “I don’t have a white fraternity. I don’t have a white university. Just like confederate monuments are racial triggers to you, black universities are racial triggers to me. Black fraternities are racial triggers to me. I don’t get to join a black fraternity.” Protester: “You have that right.” Wolin: “You are wrong. You are unpatriotic. You put your hand and you stand for America that loves you and you should love it back. Just because a police officer shot somebody does not mean he’s American, or un-American, he represents that police industry.” Protester: “He understands that. But I’m just saying, I want to show support for those that have died. Do you see the names that are on my back? These names are women.” Wolin: “Man, there’s white people getting shot just like black people.” Protester: “And I agree. I have no problem saying that. And that is a problem we have as Americans: police brutality. It’s not just our race. It’s your race. You don’t see just black people out here.” Wolin: “What are you kneeling for?” Protester: “We are kneeling because we need to raise awareness to those problems.”
When an African-American protester said he was a Navy veteran, Wolin told him he was disrespecting the U.S. flag and the military by kneeling.
Wolin spoke to reporters afterwards and said he does not support racism, the Ku Klux Klan or Black Lives Matter because he said he wants to promote unity.
“They’re all groups promoting race,” Wolin said. “No one should ever promote race. This is all causing violence and divisiveness.”
