The Kelley protests were unneeded

The now infamous protest that occurred outside a JPMorgan-Chase sponsored event at the Kelley School of Business last week was done in a way that served to almost invalidate the ideas of those protesting.

The protesters disagree with many of the actions which major banks, such as JPMorgan-Chase, have taken in the past year and attempted to voice these opinions in a peaceful way.

However, by blocking the door to the event, the protest ceased to be peaceful and instead deprived students desiring to attend of the opportunity to be recruited or learn more about the company.

The right to free speech should never be compromised; however, these protesters’ actions took an active role in preventing students at the University from making their own decisions on their own terms.

Not allowing students to enter the room didn’t hurt the bank. It hurt your fellow students, many of whom are probably up to their ears in student loan debt, just as you are. These banks will continue to recruit across the nation. Meanwhile, your fellow students may graduate without a job.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with preparing for a career you believe will be stable or wanting to make money later in life. Many students have chosen to pursue this goal through the Kelley school. They work hard for their degrees, and they expect to be able to utilize them to their best advantage.

It is not up to anyone but the students making their career choices to decide what they can and cannot do. It seems the protests have also served to highlight another important conflict: the one between business students and non-business students on this campus.

IDS opinion columnist Sidney Fletcher wrote a column regarding his perspective on the protest and has received considerable backlash. It seems many of the comments and much of the anger associated with them come only partially from what Fletcher actually wrote.

There seem to be large amounts of animosity directed not only at these protesters, but also at non-business students. Accusations have been thrown left and right that liberal arts majors and other students will one day be “flipping burgers” and that they don’t work nearly as hard as business students do.

In times of conflict and uncertainty, students should stick together. It’s a truly bleak world for graduates, whatever your major and however hard you’ve worked. Jobs are scarce and debt is prevalent, and success seems harder and harder to find. Students need to watch out for one another and learn to cooperate now.

We need to be the model for the rest of America. If we keep arguing like this, America will continue on the problematic path with which most of us are currently unhappy. Mutual respect and cooperation from both sides of any issue can only solve this.

Please keep that in mind.