Letters to the editor are submitted from outside The Maneater and do not represent the view of the newspaper, editorial board or staff
About the author: Cruz Lewis is a sophomore at the University of Missouri. He is a member of Mizzou’s YDSA and MSJP.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s own and not representative of YDSA or the University of Missouri.
Noah Schnarre is the presidential candidate that will ensure the interests of the students are advanced. I use the word advanced instead of heard, or protected, or felt, or any other passive term because he will not be like the passive administrations of the past. We are living in a moment when both the state of Missouri and the university administration, whether they are separate things is debatable, work to extinguish the last of students’ agency. The longstanding tradition of student expression is being taken without institutional opposition. Noah will fulfill this role.
He will return reading day, commonly known as Stop Day, to the students. For those who do not know, Stop Day will not happen this upcoming fall semester. The state mandated that Veterans Day be a public holiday for the university, consequently forcing the university to hold class on the day that would be Stop Day. Combining this policy with the university and city’s police takedown of Stop Day last spring semester, it amounts to a targeted dismantling of a student holiday.
Stop Day is not trivial nor is it well substituted by a holiday that is in the middle of the semester on a Wednesday. It is a day where students get to choose what they want to do outside of any programming by the school or government. They may relax, they may party, and hell, they may even use the time to study. It symbolizes one of the highest forms of student freedom at the University of Missouri. Noah has articulated this point and will protect the future Stop Days that are not affected by the state-mandated holidays.
He will speak candidly on student censorship. In the two years I have been here I have observed nothing but the repression of student speech. I have witnessed the university force the Legion of Black Collegians’ to change the name of their events, not once but twice. I have witnessed the targeted ban on Mizzou Students for Justice in Palestine from the Homecoming parade, as well as the lawsuit where the administration lost on the grounds of first amendment violations in a federal court of law.
In my experiences with the Mizzou Young Democratic Socialists of America, we have been severely punished for violating minute rules and I have watched our members’ chalk messages washed away by the request of the administration. Not once was there opposition from our student government that met the moment. Noah is a fierce defender of student organizations and will not be private in his opposition to wrong decisions.
Past leadership has failed to feel the urgency of the time. The student body needs a leader that will meet the moment, both protecting and expanding the tradition of student expression.