Montclair State University’s Student Government Association (SGA) announced via Instagram on Tuesday, Nov. 19 that the anticipated Expressive Activity Town Hall with President Koppell was canceled and to be rescheduled.
The town hall, initially scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 20, was to be held in the Student Center Room 411, where the SGA usually conducts their weekly Legislative Meetings. The new date of the meeting has changed to Jan. 22, after the winter break and into the early days of the spring 2025 semester.
When asked by student media organizations on Monday about the cancellation, Koppell said it was due to a family emergency.
The Expressive Activity Town Hall plans to address student concerns regarding the updated Expressive Activity Policy, published on Oct. 15. President Koppell is to answer questions students have about the policy through an open discussion.
No official email or statement from Koppell regarding the last-minute decision was sent to students, leaving many feeling perplexed and disappointed with how their concern of the updated policy is being handled.
Riley Maynard, a third-year music therapy graduate student, was looking forward to voicing their concerns to Koppell.
“I feel like he canceled it, or postponed it, so that people’s emotions would die down,” Maynard said. “I think that he thought that everybody had such heightened emotions and maybe if they schedule it for a new semester, then people won’t show up or people won’t have as [many] emotions.”
Third-year, music therapy graduate student Riley Maynard, who planned on attending the town hall meeting. David Bien-Aime | The Montclarion
Lauren Backus, a sophomore film and television major, saw the reactions from the general student body in regard to the cancellation.
“It’s not really a personal issue [for me], but I did see that people were upset about it,” Backus said. “As you should be, you want to be heard. You are paying all this money, you deserve to be heard. You deserve to have a campus where you can express yourself freely, so I understand that. At the same time, I understand also [that] he is a higher-up [administrator], he might have other priorities.”
Lauren Backus, a sophomore film and television major at Montclair State. David Bien-Aime | The Montclarion
Koppell said that he is working on getting an earlier date to reschedule, knowing the eagerness of the student body to have this meeting, as well as his own eagerness to address some of the misconceptions about the policy.
Due to time conflicts, the SGA and Koppell decided Jan. 22 would be the most convenient day for both parties for now.
“I take [a] serious obligation to my own children and my own family, and I had to do that, and I was sorry that we had to reschedule it,” Koppell said. “That was it, there was no nefarious plan.
Koppell also expressed that he feels many concerns that students have about the policy are due to “mischaracterizations.”
“I’m eager to address these questions because I think many of the criticisms are based on a mischaracterization and I would strongly urge people to read the thing yourself,” Koppell said.
President Koppell addresses student concerns during his biannual student media availability day. David Bien-Aime | The Montclarion
Koppell encouraged students to reach out to him personally regarding any campus issues that they have.
“I don’t think that there is any challenge in accessing the president of [Montclair State],” Koppell said. “I make myself quite available and I’m more than happy to talk to students.”
More updates regarding the updated policy and town hall are to come soon.
