U of M students say they’re facing suspension, $5,500 fines for pro-Palestinian protest
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Minneapolis City Council is backing pro-Palestinian student protesters who are facing suspension, fines and evictions for occupying a campus building at the University of Minnesota in October.
On Tuesday afternoon, the city council committee of the whole passed a resolution 7 to 5 urging the university to rescind all “academic charges, suspensions and evictions” of student protesters.
The resolution also asks the university to work with student activists on their demand for the U to divest from Israel and weapons manufacturers, and encourages the City Attorney and Hennepin County Attorney to drop the case against the one protester facing an assault charge.
It will go up for a final vote on Thursday before heading to Mayor Jacob Frey’s desk.
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“It’s crucial that we draw a clear line that the criminalization of nonviolent protests undermines free-speech protections and democracy, and that we do not condone criminalization and repression by the university, by the county, and we don’t, of course, want to do that here,” said Council member Robin Wonsley, who proposed the resolution.
This resolution comes a week after the protesters were handed “unfair punishments” in disciplinary hearings held by the University, according to U of M’s Students for a Democratic Society.
A group of over 20 protesters were at the committee meeting to support the resolution.
“Today was definitely a big win. We really hope that this resolution shows the university that there's not only just community support and faculty support. But also council members are saying that this is an issue and that they need to hold themselves accountable for this,” said Juliet Murphy, a spokesperson for Students for a Democratic Society.
According to the student group, seven students were suspended for up to two and a half years and charged restitution payments of $5,500 each for their role in occupying Morrill Hall.
One of the students was not given a suspension, and at least three students were evicted from student housing.
“It just illustrates that the reason that they’re doing these suspensions is just to give the harshest and strictest punishment possible, to set these students as an example to try to discourage people from protesting in the future,” said Murphy.
Photos from the protest on Oct. 21 showed tables, chairs and pallets piled in front of some doors and windows outside Morrill Hall. The university has said that protesters spraypainted security cameras, broke windows and barricaded the building’s exits, resulting in over $67,000 worth of damage.
Organizers have insisted that they let people inside the building leave at will.
“So from what we can determine, the university hasn’t presented any evidence that shows that these students did what they’re claiming, which is destruction of property, breaking university policies. So it’s honestly confusing to us how they determined which students got which varying suspension lengths,” Murphy said.
A total of 11 people were arrested for the divestment occupation — eight of them are current students and three are recent alumni. One of the alums, 23-year-old Robyn Harbison, was charged with fourth-degree assault, with prosecutors alleging he spit at an officer. The other 10 were not facing criminal charges.
All eight students had been under interim suspension until sometime last month.
In 1969, Black students occupied Morrill Hall for 24 hours as part of the Civil Rights Movement. The occupation spurred the creation of the U’s Department of African-American and African Studies, which Wonsley cited during Tuesday’s committee meeting.
During the October protest, protesters renamed Morrill Hall “Halimy Hall” to commemorate 19-year-old Medo Halimy, a Palestinian TikTok creator who died after an Israeli airstrike.
The University declined to comment on the status of the student protesters, citing privacy law. But they sent in a letter to City Council in response to the resolution, reiterating U of M President Rebecca Cunningham’s message about the occupation on Oct. 22.
“We have seen many peaceful protests this fall. However, what happened in Morrill Hall yesterday was not a form of legitimate protest. … These actions crossed the line into illegal activity when they actively threatened the emotional and physical safety of our employees, prevented their free movement, disrupted building operations and destroyed campus property.”