On Friday, September 20th, student protestors peacefully occupied a board room in North College to express their frustration with the administration’s slow response to the Committee for Investor Responsibility’s recommendation for divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s military attacks on Gaza. In response to this peaceful protest, within minutes the administration called the Middletown Police, members of which arrived on campus and placed students in handcuffs before later releasing them.
The Wesleyan AAUP Executive Committee condemns the administration’s actions in the strongest possible terms. We refuse to accept that peaceful student protest warrants police intervention.
As outlined in the [AAUP’s] Joint Statement on the Rights and Freedoms of Students (1967), “College and university students are both citizens and members of the academic community. As citizens, students should enjoy the same freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and right of petition that other citizens enjoy and, as members of the academic community, they are subject to the obligations that accrue to them by virtue of this membership. Faculty members and administration officials should ensure that institutional powers are not employed to inhibit such intellectual and personal development of students as is often promoted by their exercise of the rights of citizenship both on and off campus.”
More generally, the Wesleyan AAUP (along with AAUP national) condemns recent attempts by university administrations across the country to crack down on student and faculty protests. As noted in an August 14th statement, “these policies severely undermine the academic freedom and freedom of speech and expression that are fundamental to higher education. Free inquiry and free expression are indispensable for the transmission of knowledge, the development of students, and the well-being of democracy. Our colleges and universities should encourage, not suppress, open and vigorous dialogue and debate even on the most deeply held beliefs.”
Our strong objection to the use of police in response to peaceful protest is compounded by the recent increase of campus surveillance, evidenced by the installation of new security cameras. These measures provide the administration with new tools to track students and faculty on campus, and they effectively curtail freedom of expression by means of implicit intimidation. In light of the president’s recent invitation for more political activity on campus, we call for leniency in any disciplinary actions against the protesting students.
Jeffers Lennox, on behalf of the Wesleyan AAUP Executive Committee.
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