Last night, on the 20th day of demonstrations demanding that NU divest from law enforcement, the Evanston Police Department pepper-sprayed and beat abolitionist protestors with NU Community Not Cops. One protestor was arrested and not released until past 4 AM this morning. We are also aware of at least two participating NUGW members who were pepper-sprayed.

We unequivocally condemn the police brutality on display last night.  Last night proved once again that it is heavily armed, militarized police who create and escalate violence. As NUCNC has long argued, and as we unfortunately saw on display last evening, the police do not, and never will, keep us safe. Our support for NUCNC is unwavering, police brutality against any member of our community, whether it be undergraduates, grad workers, staff, faculty, or a community member, is simply intolerable.

Last night’s brutal escalation of police violence was also a direct result of President Morton Schapiro’s egregious and irresponsible email to the campus community on October 19. In that message, Schapiro warned students who “violate rules and laws” that he was “making it abundantly clear that you will be held accountable.” This was a threat of aggression which gave police officers the green light to exact violence with impunity against student protestors. In the days following Schapiro’s email, our members attending daily actions reported a steady increase of police aggression and noted repeated attempts by police to provoke protestors. Police showed up to protests in riot gear with K-9 units, and student protestors faced local departments reinforced by a militarized regional police force, NIPAS (Northern Illinois Police Alarm System), trained in tactical “crowd control.” This escalation of police aggression culminated in alarming but entirely predictable ways yesterday evening. President Schapiro, who sits in one of the highest positions of power at this institution, helped to unleash this terror on his own students.

President Schapiro’s harmful message, which followed months of silence on anti-Black racism and police brutality, made it clear he is not fit for his role to lead this university and foster dialogue or wellbeing for its members. He must resign immediately. Schapiro criminalized non-violent student protests, engaged in inflammatory right-wing rhetoric (for which he has been praised by right-wing media and facist public figures), and was purposefully divisive. He has ignored the petition signed by over 8,000 community members calling for the abolition of University police and has refused to meet with Black students to discuss policing on campus. We demand the resignation of President Schapiro and urge the university to meet NUCNC’s demands for dismantling NUPD and severing all university ties with EPD/CPD. A police force that brutalizes and traumatizes students cannot protect those very same students. NU needs to meaningfully invest in Black student communities if there’s any hope of beginning to repair the harm and injustice that’s been done.

Additionally, The Chicago Tribune, ABC News, and the Mayor of Evanston, have presented a biased account of last night’s  protests. It’s unfortunate if not surprising that this media coverage takes police accounts at face value, when we know police regularly misrepresent or outright lie about these types of incidents. Last night is yet another example of police brutally and unnecessarily escalating peaceful protests from university students and workers.

At NUGW, we know that for Black graduate workers and for workers expericing racist oppression across the world, police are one of the most egregious and harmful ‘workplace abuses’ there is. NUGW fights alongside NUCNC for police abolition because Black, Brown, and Indigenous grad workers deserve to be protected from police violence while at work. NUGW’s support for NUCNC’s fight for police abolition and racial justice is not only a solidarity issue for us, although we are of course in steadfast solidarity with the Black undergraduates, service workers, and faculty targeted by police. But police abolition also clearly means a reduction in the harm faced by Black graduate workers at their workplaces. Thus, putting an end to the racist police terror is very much a labor fight, and it is NUGW’s fight, full stop.

In this historic moment for the university and the country, we are inspired by NU Community Not Cops’ visionary leadership and work toward a future without police. We are also heartened by the way that the NUCNC community immediately rallied to support protestors by offering rides, jail support, venmo donations, and more to those impacted by police terror last evening. This form of community care demonstrates the point that NUCNC has been making since June: we keep us safe, not cops. Abolition in our lifetime is not only possible, but non-negotiable.

We urge our members and supporters to keep supporting NUCNC. Follow them on twitter and instagram for daily updates, give money to NUGW’s organizer support fund to support NUCNC student leaders and to NUCNC’S campaign fundraiser, and continue to amplify support for NUCNC in whatever spaces you have access to.

Signed,

NUGW