Hannah Kovnar
University of Minnesota President Rebeca Cunningham gave a report about Monday’s occupation of Morrill Hall at the University Senate meeting Thursday, saying the actions of protesters Monday were unacceptable.
The protests and occupation of Morrill Hall were led by UMN Students for a Democratic Society. The occupation lasted several hours, during that time windows were broken inside the building, security cameras were spray painted and doors were barricaded. Many members of staff were in the building.
“This is clearly unacceptable behavior within our University community,” Cunningham said. “And to be clear, this was not a peaceful protest and not a First Amendment-protected activity. These activities crossed the line into illegal activity.”
Cunningham said the actions of protesters Monday endangered the safety of the University community and undermined the legitimacy of important causes that students, faculty and staff care about.
This is the first protest this academic year where arrests occurred. Eleven protesters were arrested and released Wednesday, and one faces charges.
“We’ve seen many peaceful protests already this semester, both before Monday and even after that without incident,” Cunningham said. “However, what happened in Morrill Hall on Monday was different. The situation involved intimidating employees and their workplaces, hampering their ability to move about freely and destruction of University property.”
Cunningham spoke directly about Minnesota Daily reporter Tyler Church, who was briefly detained Monday and had his belongings confiscated by the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD), which were not returned until Wednesday.
“I want to reiterate that we’re all committed to ensuring our journalists are able to safely and freely carry out their responsibilities and be in the eyes and the ears of the public, and we’ll continue that commitment to be at the forefront of our work,” Cunningham said.
UMPD released a similar statement which states they are committed to ensuring journalists can safely and freely do their job.
Cunningham said UMPD is investigating the occupation of Morrill Hall with Hennepin County, including what was observed by employees and what was captured on building and campus security cameras.
“When I have tearful, frightened staff calling from their office, that is the time for our campus police to restore safety,” Cunningham said. “This was vandalism and disruption of University operations.”
There was a resolution from faculty to formally disapprove of UMPD for its involvement, but it was not discussed because of time constraints. The student senate censured UMPD earlier Thursday afternoon.
Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately stated there is a University senate meeting Nov. 7.