University of Utah faculty demand reinstatement of socialist club that disrupted YAF event

More than 70 faculty members at the University of Utah signed a petition demanding that the university reinstate funding for a socialist student group.

The letter calls for the “immediate reinstatement” of funding for Mecha de U of U, a student group that “organizes for a society free of oppression and to create a movement that centers Black, Indigenous, Queer, Trans, and Femme people,” according to Mecha’s group page. More than 70 faculty and staff members signed the letter, as reported by The Salt Lake Tribune.

[RELATED: Brandeis bans SJP chapter, citing its support for Hamas and ‘violent elimination’ of Jews]

Mecha calls for the “[t]ermination of oppressive systems” including “capitalism” and “cis-heteropatriarchy”, the “termination of land ownership,” and the “[a]bolishment of all police and prisons,” according to the group website.

Last November, the group published a list of demands to its Instagram page that includes a demand for the University of Utah “cut all ties with Israel.”

Mecha lost funding following its members’ disruptive behavior. In November 2023, around 50 members of the socialist group interrupted the viewing of “Damaged,” a documentary that criticizes trans surgeries for minors, hosted by the University of Utah’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, as reported by The Daily Utah Chronicle.

[RELATED: Suspended anti-Israel groups still operating on Columbia campus, Jewish students claim]

Mecha, which shared the open letter on its Instagram page, wrote: “We are thankful to get this support from our professors and we urge ALL faculty and staff at the U to follow the example of their colleagues.”

Campus Reform has contacted the University of Utah, the University’s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, Mecha de U of U, and several of the faculty signatories for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.