Washington University student government senators demand for administrators to disarm police after anti-Israel protests
Four student senators also called for eliminating all suspensions, implementing their own new protest policy, and creating an Indigenous Studies department.
Among the demands is a call for the university to disarm its own police department.
Student government senators at Washington University in St. Louis rolled out a wishlist that includes the chancellors’ resignation, disarming its police, and removing all suspensions student protesters received for disruptive protests.
The Sept. 3 resolution titled “Resolution to Drop the Suspension and Ensure Student Safety” demanded the university to “drop all suspensions given to all students and faculty who protest in solidarity with Palestine from their records,” “implement the feedback offered by the Senate and Treasury in further qualifying what constitutes disruptive behavior,” “disarm the Washington University Police Department,” and called for the chancellor “resign due to the university’s militarized police response.”
The resolution also called for Washington University in St. Louis to “create an Indigenous Studies department and ensure academic freedom for professors teaching and researching about Palestine.”
Saara Enginner and Emaan Sayied filed the resolution, which Sonal Churiwal and Natalia Leon Diaz sponsored. The sponsors read statements from three students suspended for participating in demonstrations at WashU.
Other student senators resisted the resolution. One noted its large number of demands and called for it to be divided.
“More is not always better,” Omar Abdelmoity said during the hearing, according to WashU’s student newspaper, Student Life. “I think we need to break it down into separate resolutions.”
Another student senator, Beni Bismwa, called out the resolution for attempting to disarm WashU’s police.
“Unfortunately, last week, there was another school shooting, and in America, that’s become a norm. Personally, for my safety, I wouldn’t want to go to a school knowing that the potential threat would not be able to be neutralized,” he said.
A third student senator criticized the resolution for tearing ties with the chancellor and the university administrators.
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“In the past year, we’ve put out resolution after resolution with nothing to show for it, and I think that resolution would just kill our chance of developing a better relationship with the administration,” Shail Soni said.
Campus Reform has contacted Washington University in St. Louis and its Student Union for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
