More than 100 faculty and staff members at Wayne State University denounced a “racist assault” on protesters demanding the school divest from companies linked to Israel.
In an open letter this week, the employees condemned WSU President Kimberly Espy and the Board of Governors for their silence as campus police forcibly removed protesters from a Board of Governors meeting on April 26.
The students were calling on the university to pull money from Israel-related companies as the country continues its brutal war on Hamas in Gaza.
“We particularly condemn President Kimberly Espy and the Board of Governors, who looked on silently as a large group of mostly Arab, Muslim, and Jewish students were assaulted and violated by campus police and security,” the letter states. “The attacks embody the latest wave of racist and McCarthyite repression against students on campuses across the United States.”
During the Board of Governors meeting, protesters began chanting, “We will not rest, until you divest.” Campus police, some in plain clothes, converged on the protesters and pushed and yanked them out of the meeting room as they linked arms and continued to chant. Video of the incident was posted on social media by Detroit Documenters.
BREAKING: Students at Wayne State University in Detroit were attacked by police while demanding the university Board of Governor’s divest from Israel.
The Student Senate passed a resolution in Nov. calling on the university to boycott Israel, which the board has ignored. pic.twitter.com/WGVFQBb0k6
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) April 26, 2024
The board refused to consider a resolution that the Student Senate approved in November that called on WSU “to develop socially responsible criteria for our university’s investments to ensure that we are not complicit in war profiteering and investing in companies that knowingly contribute to or benefit from human rights violations in Palestine and around the world.”
Faculty and staff were in attendance to urge the board to pass the divestment resolution, pointing out that Israel killed more than 34,000 Palestinian civilians, more than a third of whom were children, since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
College students across the country are demanding universities pull money from companies that do business with Israel.
When the board opted not to take up the divestment resolution, protesters began chanting.
“That vote never happened,” the letter states. “As a result, students engaged in a peaceful, nonviolent protest demanding that university officials consider the Divestment Resolution.”
The letter took aim at the swift, aggressive actions of police.
“The President and Board looked on without emotion as the officers they oversee forcefully cleared the room of Arab, Muslim, and Jewish students, faculty, and community supporters,” the letter says. “Campus police, in violation of their own protocol, flagrantly laid their hands on female students who were doing nothing more than chanting. One student was inexplicably arrested, even though students never received any order to vacate or disperse.”
The faculty and staff members called the police actions a “racist assault” and called for an apology.
“We demand that President Espy and the Board of Governors issue a clear and unequivocal apology to the students, protect academic freedom, and commit to prevent police violence against students, faculty, and community members in the future,” the letter concludes. “HANDS OFF THE STUDENTS.”
Wayne State officials didn’t immediately respond to Metro Times for comment.
