Nearly 100 people rallied in front of the University of Minnesota Northrop Auditorium Thursday night in observance of the National Day of Action to Defend Higher Education, a nationwide effort which organizers say saw demonstrations at over 160 campuses.
For nearly two hours, students, faculty and community members called for the University to defend its students from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, protect the freedom of speech on campus and divest from Israel. After the protest, the crowd held a candlelight vigil until 9 p.m., which Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies professor Sima Shakhsari said served to honor the lives lost on the Gaza Strip.
The protest, led by the Educators for Justice in Palestine, saw representatives from eight campus and community organizations from Minnesota who spoke in solidarity with the group.
AFSCME 3800, a union group that recently announced it was seeking to negotiate contract updates and new policies for worker rights on campus, denounced the University’s inaction in protecting its students and criticized the University’s institutional neutrality in the Israel-Palestine war.
The nationwide protest was planned for April 17, also known as Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, to acknowledge the political prisoners being held by Israel in the war, Shakhsari said.
“We are not only focusing on the violation of academic freedoms across the U.S. by the Trump administration,” Shakhsari said. “We are also here to stand in solidarity with all the Palestinian prisoners.”
Among the speakers at the protest was Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, who spoke on behalf of Jewish Voices for Peace.
Rosenberg said the Trump administration is targeting higher education because of the political resistance on campuses around the country. If these campuses do not give in to that political pressure, Rosenberg said real cultural transformations could be made in American society.
“We can resist. We can show each other a new world,” Rosenberg said. “We can build and embody revolution, even in the crumbling of an empire.”
Along with community members, many University faculty members attended the protest. Assistant professor of African American Studies Rahsaan Mahadeo said the University used the Board of Regents’ March ruling on institutional speech to silence faculty. In passing that decision, he said the University barred faculty from doing their jobs and created a “chilling effect.”
The Board’s policy on institutional speech does not prohibit faculty, but faculty groups, from speaking on issues of public concern.
“Our demonstration here today is to say, if you’re not going to allow us to do our jobs, we’re going to show you how important it is if we are mobilizing to fight back,” Mahadeo said.
Members of Students for a Democratic Society said they are working with other groups to form an advocacy network for international students on campus. SDS member Shae Ross said they can speak out against injustices with much more influence by joining forces.
“We’ve been in communication with unions, with other student groups, setting up a network of communication,” Ross said. “If someone is detained, not only do they have access to legal resources, but they also have access to us as organizers to make sure that we can hit the streets.”
