During the opening reception of the Saturday Program’s year-end exhibition on April 5, Jamshed Bharucha approached Vincent Hui, a student-teacher of the Saturday Program. Bharucha asked Hui to shake his hand. Hui responded “I can’t” and stepped back. Bharucha then stepped forward again, touching Hui’s arm and repeatedly demanding a hand-shake. In the words of Jemuel Joseph, a fellow student who witnessed the interaction:
It was at this moment that Vincent responded to Jamshed’s physical confrontation by saying ‘Don’t touch me’ – at which point I decided that it would be best to remove ourselves from the situation by walking away. A couple of minutes later, Jamshed again approaches us by himself while at the same time saying “shake my hand Vincent, you’ll shake my hand right now.” Jamshed forced himself upon Vincent, pushed him aggressively with his body and continued to demand a handshake. It was at the request of the Marina [Gutierrez, supervisor of the Saturday Program] that Vincent then shook his hand.
THE FOLLOW-UP
The next day, Jamshed wrote a two-page email to Gutierrez as well as several of the college’s deans, allegedly accusing Hui of having behavioral problems. Gutierrez and Stephen Baker, newly promoted Vice President of Student Affairs, asked Hui to apologize for the incident, while refusing to share Bharucha’s letter or even outline the charges.
After three weeks of ongoing conversations, Baker and Gutierrez informed Hui that he had been fired from the Saturday Program and suspended from all athletics. In an email titled “choices and consequences” sent to Hui and Gutierrez, Baker wrote, “We…believe that your participation in the Saturday Program and the cross-country team are privileges that may be revoked if your actions warrant…Neither Marina nor I have any obligation to reward your poor decisions with continued access to privileges.” Baker concludes, “You must understand that the freedom to express disagreement does not mean the freedom to express any views, at any time, in whatever manner you choose.” Hui was backing away from a physical confrontation that made him uncomfortable, and the administration is categorizing the incident as uncivil protest.
THE IMPLICATIONS
This is only the most recent in a string of incidents demonstrating how Bharucha punishes Cooper Union students for perceived “disrespect.” The student body is meant to have multiple channels, including Student Judicial Committee and Joint Student Council, through which to resolve disciplinary issues and check the power of the administration. Jamshed is ignoring all official channels, and dealing out personal (though no less binding) punishments for personal disputes that he has with students. Under this condition, there is nothing that students can do to protect themselves from unjust punishment short of going directly to the press or the police.
Under the current administrative structure, students are supposed to turn to either Stephen Baker, Vice President of Student Affairs, or Chris Chamberlain, Dean of Student Affairs, when they need an advocate to stand up for their rights in such an issue. Now that both of these figures have proved that it is their first priority to appease Barucha, the students are left without any administrative figures that can act as a student advocate. Rather, Baker stated that, “We have already shared with the JSC that this is a matter involving you, Marina and I,” denying Hui’s request to open the issue to broader review.
This is an issue that involves not only Vincent, but also every student who finds himself or herself in this same situation, but who does not reach out to the community. These are the students who we can only protect pre-emptively, by denying the administration the option to make these cases invisible.