DATE: Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Dear Mr. Schapiro and Mr. Lewis,
We are writing this open letter to express our extreme shock and dismay at the university’s violent and repressive response to last Tuesday evening’s student protest of Northwestern University College Republicans’ (NUCR) Jeff Sessions event. Namely, we are appalled at the ways in which NUPD officers brutalized multiple student protestors in defense of Sessions and the fascist ideologies for which he stands. We write as alumni, as former student activists, and as those in community with the students brave enough to directly challenge the vitriolic hatred of the right wing, even in the face of the university’s intense suppression.
This is a particularly grave offense following the university’s highly publicized, self-congratulatory celebration of the Bursar’s Takeover’s 50th anniversary in 2018. For those who are unaware, the 1968 Bursar’s Takeover was a Black-led sit-in in which students occupied the Bursar’s office for 38 hours to demand improved conditions for Black students at Northwestern. It is hypocritical, insulting, and exploitative for the university to celebrate the student activists of the past while it continues to target, punish, and brutalize the student activists of today.
We, as alumni, are outraged at the presence of and violent behavior exhibited by Northwestern police at this event. We are aware that members of the Northwestern University Police Department physically assaulted students who were exercising their right to free speech by protesting this event; we know that NUPD officers forcefully grabbed and shoved students, and multiple students were pushed onto the ground. In 2018, university administrators were urged by students to disarm and remove police presence from protests to prevent violent altercations such as the one that occurred on November 5, 2019. The university neglected to act on or heed that demand and instead gave armed campus police officers the purview to exercise force as they see fit against students. This failure is irresponsible, dangerous, and potentially deadly, especially considering the fact that the majority of student activists are Black students and other students of color.
Northwestern’s administration has historically cited freedom of expression and academic thought as rationale behind allowing dangerous entities to be present on campus, including ICE, a string of right wing political pundits and figures, and Satoshi Kanazawa, a “scholar” and champion of scientific racism. However, we believe it is irresponsible and dangerous for you, Mr. Schapiro and Mr. Lewis, to prioritize such freedoms over the lives and safety of marginalized students. In doing so, the university has consistently posited the humanity of marginalized students as an intellectual playground or site of political debate. In allowing these same students to be physically punished by police, Northwestern has sent a loud and clear message: speech is free, but only for the powerful.
The violently racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and homophobic hatred that Jeff Sessions spews has real-life deadly consequences for marginalized communities. Just this past Monday, the day before Sessions came to campus, a white supremacist in Milwaukee threw acid into the face of Mahud Villalaz while simultaneously hurling racist and anti-immigrant insults. This event is only the most recent in a countless series of hate crimes that have been committed across the nation since the election of Donald Trump, some of which have been committed by Northwestern’s very own students. Platforming such a person at Northwestern not only endangers students who are directly affected by Sessions’ political actions, but also directly enables the spread of hateful and oppressive rhetoric. Due to NU's repeated prioritization of bigoted voices, exploitation of Black student action, and active harm against student protestors, we have no choice but to conclude that our alma mater has failed to uphold justice and favored the unethical moral ambiguity that birthed the Trump administration and stalled progress.
As alumni of this university, we refuse to stand by idly in the face of such news. We are deeply troubled, disgusted, and outraged that our alma mater would brutalize student activists in the defense of fascism. We demand that you, Mr. Schapiro and Mr. Lewis, immediately issue an apology for the irreparable harm that your administration and your police officers inflicted on Tuesday evening. We demand that you, Mr. Schapiro and Mr. Lewis, openly promise that the students from Tuesday’s protest will not be further traumatized or targeted with any form of disciplinary action. Finally, we support student demands for the end of police presence on all Northwestern campuses to ensure that Black students, students of color, and other marginalized students are able to exist on campus free from surveillance, harassment, and brutality.
Signed,
Alex Carther, Class of 2019
Danielle Douge, Class of 2019
Monica Garcia, Class of 2019
Helen Gutierrez, Class of 2019
Natalie Vega, Class of 2019
Jessica Wang, Class of 2019
Theanne Liu, Class of 2016
Jiyoon Song, Class of 2017
Katherine Lo, Class of 2019
Paul Salamanca, Class of 2018
Lucero Flores, Class of 2018
Joy Sales, PhD, Class of 2019
Sarah OberHoltzer, Class of 2017
Sanjana Lakshmi, Class of 2017
Karen Adjei, Class of 2018
Henry Chen, Class of 2018
Kevin Luong, Class of 2016
Grace Jing, Class of 2018
Edward Duron, Class of 2018
Dani Guerrero, Class of 2017
Hannah Schiller, Class of 2018
Diana Balitaan, Class of 2014
Caroline Olsen, Class of 2017
Julia Song, Class of 2019
Justine Kim, Class of 2019
Yoseline Huerta, Class of 2017
Joyce Wang, Class of 2017
Christine Farolan, Class of 2017
Onyinyechi Jessica Ogwumike, Class of 2019
Isabella Pinerua, Class of 2018
Ichigo Willis, Class of 2019
Victor Saavedra, Class of 2019
Vatsala Kumar, Class of 2017
Jennah Thompson-Vasquez, Class of 2019
Karen Gwee, Class of 2017
Kelly Shi, Class of 2019
Aditi Bhandari, Class of 2017
Nina Sedeño, Class of 2018
Naib Mian, Class of 2017
Betsy M Pisabaj, Class of 2019
Bethany Ao, Class of 2017
Isabella Soto, Class of 2019
Tanner Howard, Class of 2017
Neil Dixit, Class of 2019
Alejandro Banuelos, Class of 2017
Bodhi Alarcón, Class of 2018
Audre Sorem Smikle, Class of 2019
Fatima Gomez, Class of 2017