Students protest to support Bennett

Nearly two dozen students gathered in the Teaching and Learning Center Wednesday night to march in protest of the University of Idaho’s decision to place Denise Bennett on administrative leave. 

Protesters placed black tape over their mouths “to signify the attempts of the university to stifle and mute the voice of their students,” according to the event’s Facebook page. 

Protestors marched from the TLC to the Administration Building where they stood in silence on the front steps. Ryan Benson, the event organizer, led the group’s sending of individual emails to UI administrators in support of Bennett. 

 “She’s got a passion for supporting the students,” said Bradley Janssen, Bennett’s husband who attended the event. “She spent her whole Christmas vacation here fixing the studio because she wants things to go well for the students.”

Denise Bennett | Courtesy

Janssen thanked students for attending the protest in support of his wife.

“All I would say is watch your backs, because a university that would be as unethical as they are going after one of their instructors would do the same thing and go after one of their students,” Janssen said. “You’re all putting yourself out there at risk to yourselves and Denise would thank you for that.” 

From there, protestors marched through the Commons to speak at the ASUI Senate meeting’s open forum. 

Benson told student representatives that Bennett’s leave was hampering education.

“It’s unacceptable to have students paying for an education, and now they’re worried about advising, internships and now whether or not they will graduate on time, let alone their safety on campus” Benson said.

Tasia North, a fourth-year student from the College of Natural Resources, never met Bennett but joined the protest because they felt the way the university is handling the situation is unacceptable. 

“Texting the entire student body that there is a crazy lady with a gun and meth and that she’s a threat to campus is really not OK,” North said, “because most students have no idea who she is or what’s going and all of sudden they get a text and that’s scary for no reason.”

Former ASUI Senator Teja Sunku, a third-year statistics student, also joined the protest after following news related to Bennett. 

“I think it’s kind of a pattern of behavior on behalf of the administration,” Sunku said. “The administration has a pattern of either dragging their feet or jumping ahead and not going through proper channels.” 

Protestors also referenced past administrative handling of former UI Athletic Director Rob Spear compared to treatment of Bennett.

“We got all kinds of emails about how he’s a good upstanding guy and that investigations are ongoing, and with Bennett within a week the entire student body is getting a text about guns and meth,” North said. Bailey O’Bryant, a broadcast and digital media major and fourth-year student, has been helping with efforts in support of Bennett and said he will continue to do so until Bennett is reinstated.

“We’re angry, we’re upset at the fact that the administration is trying to pull this as an internal issue that is not affecting students,” O’Bryant said. 

O’Bryant said he thinks the administration’s decision to not let Bennett’s students know where their classes stood until four days after she was put on leave shows a disregard for students.

“It’s frustrating, my class with Denise on Tuesdays we didn’t go,” O’Bryant said. “We met off campus, just us students, to discuss our schedule and what we needed to do. We weren’t going to sit there with someone who took part in putting Denise on leave.” 

Student’s for Denise do not have a next event planned, but Benson said they will continue to support Bennett.

“I’m pretty proud of the turnout,” Benson said. “I think any students voicing their opinions or that they care is important and I like what we did tonight.” 

For more information, follow the links below.

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Students for Denise speak at ASUI Senate

A previous version of this article misspelt O’Bryant’s name.

Ellamae Burnell can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @EllamaeBurnell