College president offers to bail out students arrested in election protests
The president of Macalester College in Minnesota said after the election that she would help pay the "bail or a fine" for any student who "participates in civil disobedience" following the election.
She said she would defend free speech for all students.
The president of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota said on Twitter following the general election that she would reimburse any student who “participates in civil disobedience and needs help with bail or a fine.”
Suzanne Rivera, the president of Macalester College, sent the tweet on November 5, stating that she cares “deeply about both the wellbeing our students and their right to practice civil disobedience.”
”Any currently enrolled student who participates in civil disobedience and needs help with bail or a fine they cannot afford can seek reimbursement by emailing me,” she added.
I care deeply about both the wellbeing of our students and their right to practice civil disobedience. I affirm that our students have the support of @Macalester in various ways including:
— Macalester President (@MacalesterPres) November 5, 2020
Any currently enrolled student who participates in civil disobedience and needs help with bail or a fine they cannot afford can seek reimbursement by emailing me.
— Macalester President (@MacalesterPres) November 5, 2020
One student at Macalester who wishes to remain anonymous told Campus Reform that the university silences those who think differently.
”Long has Macalester been touted as a beacon of diversity, inclusion, and protection of marginalized voices, yet President Rivera’s actions have further revealed a glaring partiality that has always been present at Macalester — this institution will protect at all costs those who hold beliefs deemed acceptable, but silence and suppress those who dare to think differently,” the student said.
According to The Pioneer Press, Rivera said that she also offered to pay the bail and fines for students involved in the Black Lives Matter protests in June.
She also added that she would defend free speech for conservative students, attempting to explain that it wasn’t a political decision.
“I would defend free speech for our conservative students as vigorously as for our liberal students,” Rivera told the newspaper.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that early estimates of damage from the June protests in Minneapolis - just 10 minutes from Macalester’s campus - amount to at least $55 million.
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