UNM psych department calls for dropping charges against pro-Palestine protesters
Members of the University of New Mexico's psychology department demanded that all charges against pro-Palestine protesters be dropped, criticizing the administration's response to the protests.
Letter signatories also called for 'mental health support' for students affected by 'police violence.'
Members of the psychology department at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque authored an open letter last month to the university administration that demanded that all charges levied against pro-Palestine protesters at the school be dropped.
The Daily Lobo reported that, as of Aug. 11, UNM leadership has not yet responded to the statement from its psychology department community.
The July 19 letter is signed by the “undergraduate, graduate, staff, and faculty members in the Psychology Department,” with dozens of names listed. The Daily Lobo reported that it was authored by five individuals within the department, including a faculty member.
“As a department that’s concerned with mental health and the well-being of individuals, we are concerned with what the [UNM] administration did and what the administration had the police do,” Donia Hijaz, a signatory of the letter and a psychology doctoral student, told the Daily Lobo.
“I felt safe [at the encampment],” Hijaz continued. “I’m so grateful for what it provided for all of us and I definitely feel like it helped [our] mental health. It was a safe space, and it allowed our voices to be heard.”
The letter—which has been co-signed by nearly 70 psychology students, faculty, staff, and alumni—takes a definite position on the war between Israel and Palestnie, accusing Israel of committing “genocide.”
“As Israel continues to commit genocide in Gaza,” the letter states, “with a death count of over 36,000 Palestinian civilians and horrifying images of massacre after massacre continuing to emerge from Gaza, it is crucial that we stand with students, faculty, staff, and alumni at UNM and across the country who are putting their lives and futures on the line to fight for the rights and dignity of Palestinians.”
The open letter also demands that UNM President Garnett Stokes and university leadership “drop all charges against student and community protesters and support student’s rights to activism and free speech.”
[RELATED: Columbia University condemns vandalism at COO’s residence amidst anti-Israel protests]
The document specifically critiques the use of physical force to shut down the encampment that pro-Palestine demonstrators set up on the UNM campus earlier this year.
“[O]n May 15th,” the letter says, “which commemorates the Nakba (where thousands of Palestinian civilians were massacred, and over 750,000 Palestinians were violently and forcibly displaced), police arrived at the peaceful encampment with riot gear and began to intimidate protesters.”
The signatories of the statement concluded by requesting “that the UNM administration provides mental health support and resources to students who were affected by the police violence.”
Campus Reform has contacted the University of New Mexico for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
