End Disciplinary Measures Against Campus Protesters at ASU, UA & NAU
The Arizona Board of Regents & University Presidents/Administrators at ASU, UArizona & NAU
In late April and early May, students, faculty, staff, and community members of many faiths and backgrounds assembled peacefully at each of our universities to express their opposition to our universities' financial connections to military contractors and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Like those who protested the US war in Vietnam in the 1960s-70s or the South African apartheid regime in the 1980s, these protesters called for an end to university investments that finance apartheid, war, and genocide.
Unfortunately – like their peers at dozens of other campuses around the country this spring – Arizona students were met with unnecessary violence and harmful actions by our universities’ administrations and campus police departments:
Peaceful protestors were arrested on all three campuses.
At UA, police tear-gassed and deployed rubber bullets against unarmed protestors. One student even suffered a concussion as a result of these actions.
At ASU, the police chief aggressively destroyed private property with a knife, and police forcibly removed the hijabs of four women, three of whom were students.
Protesters, some of whom weren't even arrested, are still facing disciplinary measures and ongoing investigations by the university.
In addition to the police response, ASU continues to pursue punitive measures against 25 students by denying appeals of their suspensions, despite the dismissal of their criminal cases by a Maricopa County judge. These students were forbidden from finishing their classes or contacting their professors, forced out of campus housing, and deprived of income from their on-campus jobs. ASU is also withholding the diplomas of graduating students indefinitely, and other students have not been permitted to enroll in fall classes. Some students at ASU have been formally suspended until August 16th and cannot return until certain conditions, as outlined by the university, are met.
These harsh, reactionary measures must stop. We ask you to join us in signing this petition to reinstate the suspended students and end all disciplinary measures against members of our university communities for expressing solidarity with Palestinians.Sponsored by
To:
The Arizona Board of Regents & University Presidents/Administrators at ASU, UArizona & NAU
From:
[Your Name]
To the Arizona Board of Regents and University Presidents,
Our public universities are in a pivotal moment, and so is your leadership. We, the undersigned students, staff, faculty, and community members, have repeatedly voiced our concerns to you about the attacks on our roles in shared governance, many of which you have directly initiated or sanctioned. Faith in your ability to govern our institutions is at an all-time low. Based on your inaction, we’d like to reiterate that you and your governing decisions are responsible for the recent police violence on our campuses.
Across all three of Arizona’s public universities, students, staff, faculty, and community members have been exercising their First Amendment rights and protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the role that Arizona’s public universities have in it. In response to these peaceful protests, all three of the universities under your administration authorized violent police crackdowns. You approved mass arrests of student protestors at ASU on April 26, and then again at UA and NAU on April 30, this time deploying chemical weapons, and yet again at UA on May 10, also attacking staff and faculty who stood in solidarity to protect their students. All of this was unnecessary violence inflicted on peaceful protesters.
We, the undersigned, condemn the violent suppression of students, workers, and community members. The measures taken in response to the encampments are a violation of our First Amendment rights of free speech and have a chilling effect on dialogue and sharing ideas and beliefs. We call upon the Board of Regents and our university presidents to put an end to the punitive measures that have been applied to the peaceful protesters and to ensure the maintenance of shared governance structures, including Staff Council, Faculty Senate, and Student Government. Work with us to build and invest in these shared governance structures so we can address the challenges our universities face together.
We request the following actions toward this end:
1) Drop all suspensions against ASU students and restore student-worker positions, internships, and research positions,
2) Cease all investigations of student organizations that advocate for Palestinians on all campuses. Students should have the right to express their political opinions.
3) Allow community members who were arrested back on campus,
4) Do not adopt or implement the policy titled “Prohibition on Support for Foreign Terrorist Organizations by Student Groups and Organizations”, ABOR already has policies that forbid discrimination and harassment. This proposed new policy, its title notwithstanding, is designed to single out the recent student protesters, and gives ABOR latitude to label calls for justice in Palestine 'support of terrorist organizations',
5) Endorse the addition of staff and students to the Arizona statutes that require shared governance between faculty and administration at Arizona’s public universities, and strongly oppose efforts to dismantle these structures, such as the recently vetoed, HB 2735.