UW Madison demonstrators claim university investments support Israeli 'apartheid,' disrupt meeting with protest
Nineteen anti-Israel protesters were arrested for disrupting a University of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting, which was briefly paused before resuming.
The demonstrators criticized the Board's alleged lack of transparency regarding investments in Israel, while the university stated that police acted to restore order.
Almost twenty anti-Israel demonstrators were arrested at the University of Wisconsin, Madison for disrupting a Board of Regents meeting last week.
The meeting took place early in the morning of Dec. 5 inside a university building, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
“On Thursday, December 5, at 8:30 a.m., approximately 50 protesters disrupted a Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting at Gordon Dining & Event Center. Student Affairs staff and UWPD officers warned the group to stop, but they refused and continued the disruption,” the university announced on its website on Dec. 5. “UWPD officers cleared the group from the room so the meeting could continue.”
“Nineteen people were arrested and released,” the announcement continued. “No citations were issued; however, each case will be investigated, and citations could be issued in the future.”
University police were able to quickly clear the protest and resume with the Board of Regents meeting, despite the attempts of the demonstrators to shut it down. “The disruption lasted about 15 minutes,” the university concluded, “and the meeting resumed without further issues.”
In a statement released about the protest, an anti-Israel group at UW-Madison entitled the UW-Milwaukee Popular University for Palestine asserted that the Board had not been transparent about its investments in what it called “Israeli apartheid and the destruction of Palestinian education.”
“The protest began by standing in silence inside the meeting room, followed by a student representative speaking out,” the group stated. “Shortly after, at least 15 police officers arrived, and several students were physically assaulted and detained.”
“The Board of Regents’ decision to reject demands for disclosing financial investments and divesting from the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people, alongside the physical assault of students by campus police, is clear evidence that the University of Wisconsin System has no regard for its students,” the student group concluded.
One of the UW-Madison Regents explained that the meeting was supposed to be about other issues, and that it was an inappropriate time and place for an anti-Israel protest.
“At this point, we’d like to continue on with the business of the Universities of Wisconsin, so we will have the room cleared,” the Regent said, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Wisconsin-Madison for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
