Hopkins elitism illuminated at MSE

I am not here to tell you how you should feel about the Occupy movement, Karl Rove, free speech or the rights of protestors. Those are all important topics, which are subject to individual opinion and should not be preached about by a freshman. But the Karl Rove protests did reveal a campus-wide issue that does need to be addressed: the feelings of elitism among the Hopkins student body.

There was plenty of anger after the Rove protests on Tuesday. Most of the anger was not directed at the ideas the protestors held or that Rove's speech could not be listened to uninterrupted. The anger was not divided by political affiliation. No, most of the anger was at the protestors for bringing shame to the Hopkins name and over the fact that people from the outside world had brought their issues into the Hopkins bubble. The protestors acted disrespectfully, which many students saw as negatively affecting the reputation of Hopkins. For example, during the question and answer session, many questions began with an apology to Rove for the outrageous and embarrassing behavior of the protestors, an idea that continued in many Facebook status updates and discussions following the event.

Many of the protestors were from outside of the Hopkins student body and, according to many Hopkins students, should not have brought their problems to our campus and our event, whether it was open to the public or not. When Elizabeth Goodstein, one of the MSE Symposium co-chairs, took the podium to try to calm the audience down, she told the audience to stop acting disrespectfully because they were there to hear Rove speak. And those Hopkins students who were involved with the protest had no right as Hopkins students, who by nature of attending Hopkins are privileged and part of the elite, to be fighting with the 99 percent. The joke Twitter account @hopkinsproblems tweeted after the event, "If you pay $60,000 a year in tuition, you're simply NOT the 99 percent."

First of all, it is shameful to our entire community that the foremost concern of so many students is the reputation of Hopkins. Reprimanding the protestors because you do not agree with their ideas or methods or debating their ideas and methods, is, to me, completely acceptable; these actions would show engagement with the world and critical thinking. Ignoring the content of the ideas of both the Occupy movement and Rove to pay attention to how Hopkins looks to the world shows shallowness and ignorance on behalf of the student body. There is a world beyond Hopkins, in which the only thing that matters is not the reputation of Hopkins. The treatment of the outside population during this event is even more elitist and tragic. Just because somebody does not go to Hopkins one, does not discredit their ideas, and two, does not mean that they need to stay out of our campus. The protestors did not feel that Rove should have been paid to speak by Hopkins, which is why they protested. Just because this was a Hopkins event does not mean that it is only relevant to Hopkins students. The opinions and wants of the students should not necessarily take precedence over those of the non-Hopkins population, simply because we go to Hopkins and they don't. This was a public event, part of a symposium meant to bring speakers to the area, not just to bring speakers for the delight of the Hopkins body.

During the first mic check, Rove yelled to the protestors, "no one appointed you!" In response, one audience member said, "that's the point!" The point of the protesters was to make a statement, even though they were not the powerful authority figure being given the stage. When the general Hopkins student body looked down on the outside protestors, it was as if they were saying that they were not accepted.

Not being accepted to Hopkins does not make you a less credible, less worthy person, and being accepted does not give you the right to look down on others. Being accepted to this great university certainly speaks highly of your credentials, but it does not give you the right to act as though you are better than everyone else. In fact, along with acceptance to Hopkins comes an obligation to be engaged in the world and give back to a world that has allowed you such as a privilege. Or at least it should. Hopkins students, do not embarrass yourselves by looking down on the rest of the world and not caring about real world issues. You are only proving Karl Rove right about how arrogant at least part of the audience at his speech was.