Union groups held a rally Monday at the University of Minnesota to protest the University’s lack of protections for students and staff under President Donald Trump’s administration. 

The rally happened three days after the University announced an international graduate student was detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The University’s Graduate Labor Union – United Electrical, or GLU-UE, Local 1105 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Local 3800 held a rally on Johnston Hall’s steps. 

The protest saw hundreds of students, union workers and community members attend, and was originally planned to be a rally for labor protections under the new Trump administration and an announcement of demands on behalf of the unions’ workers. However, after a graduate student’s detainment, who was taken from off-campus housing on Thursday, outrage from members of the University community bled into the rally, as many speakers condemned the University for its inaction. In an article published Tuesday, MPR identified the student as Doğukan Günaydin.

Protesters shouted for over an hour at one of the largest protests on campus in the past year, disparaging the University’s administration for its passive attitude. 

Max Vast, the president of AFSCME 3800, condemned the University’s response to the detention of its graduate students, saying that many students and staff are terrified and the University has done very little to quell fears. 

“I think it’s woefully inadequate,” Vast said.

Vast said the University should be expected to support its staff and faculty more than sending a link to mental health resources.

“Sending faculty and staff a link to a mental health resource does nothing to prevent students from getting arrested by ICE in broad daylight,” Vast said.

During the rally, Minnesota State Senate Member Omar Fateh announced that another student had been detained by ICE at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Fateh said there is not much known at this time, but Minnesota State University, Mankato, is working to find more information about the student detained.

The Unions’ Demands

At the rally, AFSCME 3800 and GLU 1105 representatives announced that the unions are pursuing new labor agreements less than a week after Teamsters Local 320, another labor union for campus workers, said they would be pursuing contract renegotiations. 

Vast said that AFSCME 3800 and GLU 1105, along with the Teamsters, offered to negotiate jointly, but the University denied the request.

Their demands include:

• A meeting with the two unions 
• A commitment to protecting immigrant workers
• An agreement to halt layoffs for one year
• An outline addressing their response to possible funding cuts
• A commitment to banning cuts for cultural centers and academic programs
• An end to political repression on campus

Abaki Beck, president of GLU 1105, said the protest was planned before the graduate students’ detention, but the groups wanted to shift the focus of the protest to acknowledge their situation.

“People are really scared,” Beck said. “People want to be mobilized, people want to be organizing collectively. So, people are feeling very galvanized at this moment, not only to do this internal union work for supporting our fellow grad workers and doing contract enforcement, but also this broader political work.”

Even with the recent activism, Beck said she has not seen proactive change from the University to help members of the University community, and this comes as no surprise to her.

“It’s been a reactive response, and that is disappointing, but not unexpected,” Beck said. “That’s frequently how large institutions, and frequently how the University of Minnesota in particular, have responded to things.”

Beck is one of many union members around campus who have felt this fear, but some members are using this fear as fuel.

Taylor Barnes, an AFSCME 3800 member, said the only way to fight this fear is to fight back. In a speech, she called for everyone to continue the fight to protect their education and freedoms.

“Education is a right, and safety should be, too,” Barnes said. “We cannot let history repeat itself.”

Barnes graduated from the University a year ago before working as an access service specialist at the University libraries. Barnes said standing alongside others and helping in the fight feels gratifying, even if today’s political climate is intimidating.

“It’s just scary,” Barnes said. “But, it feels good to know that people are on your side, that you have people to talk to about it and stand with you.”