By Antonio Calderon
During a time in which college students are becoming more comfortable with speaking out on social injustices and other issues within the community, many colleges have the choice of whether or not they want to respect their ways of thinking and actions to bring upon change.
Colleges in Buffalo
have dealt with their own instances of dealing with protests held by their
students and now have similar policies and opinions on how to deal with it all. 
Buffalo State Plaza where protests are permitted
Earlier this year in May, students at Buffalo State University held a peaceful pro-Palestine walkout. Students were able to safely display their beliefs, but it was now clear that more protests would now be taking place for months and years to come.
Bonita R. Durand, the Interim President of Buffalo State is in favor of students having a space to protest but just wants to make sure that it is done properly and follows the schools Campus policy.
“Our goal is to
conduct any demonstrations in a safe, respectful, and helpful manner. We don’t
want our students to feel scared to express their emotions,” said Durand
said.
Buffalo State is not the only school committed to the rights of students. Canisius University is also big on protecting and giving proper freedom to those that attend. Dating all the way back to 2018, a released statement from Canisius stated that it would be joining other colleges and universities from across the nation in supporting students who would exercise their freedom. These values held true then and they still hold true now.
Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Lawrence T. Potter Jr. said he supports students making their voices heard about issues they deeply care for.
“Much like with other colleges, we also have our own policies that students do have to follow in relation to their protests but as long as they communicate with faculty ahead of time, it makes the process of giving them that space to express themselves much easier,” Potter said.
Jasean Michie, a member of the Canisius Students for Life organization says that Canisius has provided him and the organization a lot of help and resources to help push their beliefs out to the rest of the campus community and others living in the area as well.
“With our organization being based around a topic that is controversial and can be tricky to speak on, it is nice to know that Canisius still provides us with the resources to share our message when in many other situations I could imagine an organization like ours being shut down to avoid controversy,” Michie said.
