On Oct. 21, 2024, the Students for a Democratic Society called a protest to condemn the University of Minnesota administration’s refusal to divest from Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A group of protestors entered Morrill Hall, renamed it Halimy Hall and asked those inside to leave.
This protest was the culmination of the University administration’s lack of meaningful engagement with student activists. In May 2024, student protesters agreed to dismantle the encampment, contingent on the administration’s commitment to negotiate student demands. Since then, the administration has gone back on its word. In August, the University’s Board of Regents passed a resolution refusing to divest from Israel, while President Cunningham introduced draconian protest policies.
Soon after students occupied Halimy Hall, police entered the building and arrested protesters. Eleven protesters (eight students and three alumni) were jailed, held on “probable cause” for more than 36 hours and interrogated. Transgender protesters were misgendered and separated from others.
For two weeks after their release, students were barred from their classes and evicted abruptly and without due process. After preliminary hearings, students were given arbitrary suspensions from one to five semesters and were expected to pay more than $5,500 each in restitution.
After the students’ legal representatives appealed this decision, the Campus Committee for Student Behavior (CCSB) scheduled a hearing for Feb. 21 and 28. The students’ legal team has repeatedly asked for more time to guarantee a fair process. The chair of the hearing panel adamantly denied this request, claiming that the hearings had to be conducted within a month of the pre-hearing.
Yet, when asked to postpone the hearings to March, the chair claimed that March has already been reserved for other hearings!
After the chair resigned (she was asked to recuse herself for documented bias), the Senate Committee on Committees hand-picked a new member for CCSB and made him the chair of the panel. The new chair has published a pro-Israel article that relies heavily on the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) antisemitism index.
As Jewish Voice for Peace has argued, ADL is an Islamophobic and pro-Israel organization that accuses any critique of the Israeli state of antisemitism.
Appointing a new pro-Israel member to CCSB when several existing members could act as panel chair raises doubts about the neutrality of the hearing process. Like his predecessor, the newly appointed chair has denied students more time for the hearing.
This refusal contradicts CCSB rules, which explicitly state that “The appeals procedure shall provide both substantive and procedural fairness for the student or student group alleged to have violated the Student Conduct Code and shall provide for resolution of cases within a reasonable period of time.”
Rushing the hearing is especially unethical because the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) has recently resubmitted the students’ cases to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department for criminal charges. This means that the students’ testimonies in the University hearing could be used against them in future criminal hearings. As such, students are forced to be silent, lest they incriminate themselves.
The resubmission of criminal charges shows UMPD and the administration’s lack of concern for students, especially trans students, at a time when executive orders are passed to intentionally put trans people and pro-Palestine activists in danger.
The administration’s sinister actions reveal their deep Islamophobia and their willingness to go above and beyond to criminalize Palestine activism.
The perpetuation of Islamophobic rhetoric in the guise of “safety” and neutrality in Cunningham’s explicit reference to “masked individuals” who threaten the UMN community is echoed by a Department of Public Safety staff, who after a Campus Safety Committee meeting referred to student protesters as those “wearing a face covering that frankly, in the consciousness of America, still probably evokes 9/11 – even though nobody wore one of those during that event.”
This racist and Islamophobic association of keffiyeh — a cultural symbol in the Middle East — with terrorism subjects Muslims (or those who look like Muslims) to deadly violence. Exactly a year before this senate member’s Islamophobic comment, three Muslim students in Vermont were shot for wearing keffiyehs. While the arrested students are not Muslim or Palestinian, they are criminalized for looking like terrorists (wearing keffiyehs) and for their Palestine activism.
The enforcement of harsh disciplinary measures seems to be applied disproportionately to protests against the Israeli state’s genocide in Gaza. Since 1969, there have been multiple building occupations at the University — none of which have received the drastic punishment imposed on the pro-Palestinian liberation protesters in October 2024.
This discrepancy reflects the administration’s Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bias. It is despicable that UMPD has resubmitted students’ cases for criminal charges at a time when anti-trans, anti-Palestinian and anti-immigrant laws subject student activists to state violence.
The University of Minnesota must pursue a restorative justice approach, postpone the disciplinary hearing to ensure fairness, drop criminal charges and stop perpetuating Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism and transphobia.
Sima Shakhsari, Leith Ghuloum, Rahsaan Mahadeo, Christine Harb, and Lana Barkwai are members of the UMN Educators for Justice in Palestine. Jess Sundin is a retired UMN staff, former member of Students for a Democratic Society and mother of a current SDS member.
