The Minneapolis City Council has postponed consideration of a resolution supporting U of M students arrested last for seizing and occupying and damaging Morrill Hall last month. Resolution author Robin Wonsley, who represents Ward 2 claims the students were victimized while engaging in a peaceful protest. University President Rebecca Cunningham paints a very different picture.
The measure, which was scheduled to be voted on at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday, November 13 is now scheduled to be considered on December 3.
Below is an excerpt from a letter to students, faculty and staff from President Cunningham followed by the resolution authored by Wonsley:
Rebecca Cunningham
President, University of Minnesota
“Several employees were working in Morrill Hall at the time of yesterday’s incident, some of whom were unable to exit the building for an extended period of time. Doors were barricaded inside and outside with furniture, and bicycle U-locks were placed on door handles, preventing employees’ free movement and exit. This was a terrifying experience for many of our employees.”
“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. The safety, security and wellbeing of our staff, students and faculty are our highest priority, and we cannot — and will not — allow this type of behavior.”
Read the full statement from president Cunningham here…
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Resolution
By Wonsley
Expressing solidarity with nonviolent campus activism opposing war and supporting Palestinian human rights, and urging no charges be filed against protestors arrested at the University of Minnesota on October 21, 2024.
Whereas, campus activism and nonviolent protest are important parts of Minneapolis history and United States history, and have helped advance crucial social movements, many of which were criminalized and repressed when they used nonviolent protest to advance their goals but are now widely celebrated and praised for taking bold and necessary action to achieve social change; and
Whereas, on October 21, 2024, University of Minnesota students held a protest outside and inside a University building, where it was documented that they allowed and repeatedly encouraged people present to leave the building. Law enforcement entered the building and arrested protestors, detained press, and seized a student journalist’s belongings. Arrestees were questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, transferred to the Hennepin County Jail, and held on probable cause, reportedly, without charge for over 36 hours. Arrestees have reported that they were insulted and mistreated by the police and that transgender women were held in men’s cells; and
Whereas, all student arrestees received letters of interim suspension from the University, barring them from attending class; those who live in student housing were evicted; and one arrestee was charged with a felony for 4th-degree assault; and
Whereas, the stated goal of the October 21, 2024, protest was for the University of Minnesota to divest from the State of Israel and Israeli academic institutions as part of a global movement of nonviolent economic strategies to protect Palestinian human rights; and
Whereas, in January of 2024, the City Council of Minneapolis adopted a policy formally supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. military funding to the State of Israel, and an end to U.S. tax dollars contributing to humanitarian catastrophe and loss of life; positions that align with the campus protests’ goal of divesting the University of Minnesota from the State of Israel; and
Whereas, the University of Minnesota is a land grant university that was supported by the Morrill Act of 1862, after Dakota people were dispossessed of their land through genocidal violence, starvation, and forced displacement; the same things Palestinians are now experiencing; and
Whereas, in January 1969, 70 Black students occupied Morrill Hall on the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities campus to protest institutional racism and catalyzed the creation and expansion of a variety of anti-racist initiatives and the creation of the African American and African Studies Department that is widely celebrated today; and
Whereas, the University of Minnesota student protests of the 1970’s and 1980’s against the South African system of apartheid contributed to University leadership’s eventual decision to divest from South Africa in opposition to apartheid; and
Whereas, academic and criminal charges can have serious impacts on educational and professional outcomes, economic stability, and long-term wellbeing, and these consequences are not proportional or appropriate for acts of conscientious nonviolent protest; and
Whereas, the criminalization of nonviolent protest undermines free speech protections and democracy, and the portrayal of nonviolent protests as dangerous or terroristic detracts from the seriousness of actual acts of politically motivated violence and terror; and
Whereas, repression and punishment of nonviolent student activists is ineffective at preventing protest, contradicts our city and University’s stated values, undermines democratic norms, and often falls on the wrong side of history.
Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by The City Council of the City of Minneapolis:
That the Minneapolis City Council stands in solidarity with nonviolent student activism for Palestinian human rights, and recognizes the crucial role of nonviolent campus protest in advancing crucial social change.
Be It Further Resolved that Minneapolis City Council urges the University of Minnesota to work with campus advocates to accomplish their goals of divestment from the State of Israel and participation in an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
Be It Further Resolved that the Minneapolis City Council urges the University of Minnesota to rescind all academic charges, suspensions, and evictions of student protestors.
Be It Further Resolved that the Minneapolis City Council, recognizing that the Minneapolis City Attorney’s prosecution function is independent of the Council, encourages the City Attorney and Hennepin County Attorney to consider the actions of all individuals within the historical and political context outlined in this resolution, to use this context to guide their exercise of prosecutorial discretion, and to consider dropping any charges against nonviolent protestors arrested at the University of Minnesota on October 21, 2024.
No. Just no.