By Maristela Romero
The University of Maryland Student Government Association organized a rally in support of Jordan McNair’s family and to protest the reinstatement of the university’s head football coach DJ Durkin Thursday afternoon.
The rally continued despite the announcement of Durkin’s termination as head coach in a letter to the university community from President Wallace D. Loh Wednesday night
Many students said that they came to the rally mostly to show support for McNair in the wake of his death, while some protesters called for a “boycott” of the football game against Michigan State University to protest against the administration.
The SGA student body president, Jonathan Allen, asked the student community in an email Thursday afternoon to show support for student athletes by showing “our collective strength” at the Saturday football game.
During the rally, the SGA executive board handed out tickets to encourage attendance.
Homa Hajarian, a fifth year agriculture and anthropology major and member of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), led the opposing protesters who called for a boycott of Saturday’s football game.
Counter-protesters chanted “let her speak” during the SGA executive board’s speeches.
“The whole system is at fault here…they do not represent us as students,” Hajarian said. “They only care about making money.”
To Jonne Washington, a freshman environmental science and policy major protesting at the rally, “justice for Jordan” meant understanding and taking “accountability” for his death to ensure that no other student athletes will suffer the same mismanagement.
“To be honest, I understand both sides,” Washington said of the SGA and counter-protesters’ arguments. “I do agree that we should support the players and the only way we can do that is by going to the games, but I also agree with not supporting the people who make money off of it.”
Students and staff had divided attitudes toward the recent whirlwind of events surrounding the university’s response to McNair’s death, which prompted Loh to announce his retirement at the end of the academic year and later fire Durkin.
Loh disagreed with the Board of Regents’ strong recommendation to retain Durkin causing tension between the two parties. His decision to dismiss Durkin ultimately led to his retirement due to the threat of being fired by the Board of Regents.
This was immediately followed by a letter sent by the Provost Mary Ann Rankin and the deans of the University of Maryland acknowledging that the Board of the Regents had “intervened in the ability of the President to carry out his full duties” and called for Loh to continue his leadership.
Jennifer Doiron, a program management specialist for the Maryland Population Research Center, stood at the hem of the crowd as the rally marched on from McKeldin Library to the Administration building.
She said the actions taken by the Board of Regents were upsetting and supported Loh’s decision to fire Durkin. Doiron also agreed with the letter sent out by Rankin which called upon the Board of Regents to support Loh’s return.
”…I think this is a tough situation for him and I think he really took responsibility when no one else did,” she said. “I don’t know that he always made the right decisions throughout everything but I think he tried.”
Jesse Salsbury, a senior computer science major, voiced similar sentiments about Loh’s retirement at a time of disarray within the university.
“To me, there’s probably someone way more directly responsible than Wallace Loh,” Salsbury said.
There were other students at the rally who were not disheartened by Loh’s retirement and said that his delayed response to address McNair’s death among other issues on campus, justify his exit.
“I remember seeing stuff on my Twitter timeline in like the beginning of June when [Jordan] passed away,” Kristina Hart, a junior communications major said. “He waited until it was covered on ESPN, CNN — everywhere else for him to actually say something.”
Hart’s discontent toward the university’s president extended to the administration and the Board of Regents.
“In my opinion, it just seemed like they didn’t care that much until they had to care,” she said.
A statement from the Board of Regents Chair James T. Brady was released later in the afternoon to announce that he will step down from his position effective immediately.
Brady said that he believed his “continued presence on the board will inhibit its ability to move Maryland’s higher education agenda forward.”