University of Chicago students staged an “occupation” demanding that the school’s provost, Ka Yee Lee, abolish the campus police department and expand the school’s commitment to diversity — but not everything is going smoothly for the student group.
A similar group of protesters occupied the University of Chicago police department’s offices earlier this summer as part of national anti-racism and anti-police brutality demonstrations that happened in response to George Floyd’s death while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department. That occupation was cut short, however, when UChicago campus police refused to allow “occupiers” to get pizza deliveries while inside their building, according to The College Fix, and did not allow occupiers to use the building’s bathroom facilities, forcing them to choose between standing for social justice and relieving their bladders.
The new occupation, the Washington Free Beacon reports, is demanding “the abolition of the university’s police force, the formation of cultural centers, and the development of a ‘Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department.’ The new department, the group writes, would be required to teach ‘revolutionary histories, abolish all academic penalties … [and] redistribute resources to students and communities of color.'”
The University of Chicago’s provost responded to protesters’ demands in an open letter, flatly refusing to defund the UChicago campus police, and noting that protesters have repeatedly declined invitations to private meetings with school administration.
“I have offered to meet with the protesters,” the letter read. “In fact, since their occupation of the UCPD headquarters on June 11, we have communicated a standing invitation for representatives of the group to meet with me. We reiterated that offer again this week. However, they have refused, insisting that even the initial meeting must be conducted in a public forum and focus on how to implement their demand to defund and disband the UCPD. They have rejected a constructive dialogue about their concerns and the UCPD.”
Instead, it seems, the students prefer to protest, though the occupation has met with difficulty.
On Friday, protesters formed a “barricade” to keep out around a dozen Chicago police officers assigned to monitor the protest, but the barricade consisted of just one row of sandbags backed by a number of decorative chairs and a mattress.
Protesters link arms behind their barricade here at 49/Greenwood in #Kenwood. They’re all in good spirits despite this being their 7th day occupying. #ChicagoProtests pic.twitter.com/EiXRJaULOk
— Grace Del Vecchio (@delvecchiograce) September 5, 2020
Chicago police quickly dismantled the barrier and ordered protesters to disperse.
Late last week, after their initial demonstrations failed to produce results, student protesters spraypainted messages in front of provost Ka Yee Lee’s home, including a number of obscene phrases in Chinese.
“The demonstrators spray-painted messages in the street immediately outside her house,” the Free Beacon noted. “Written in Chinese characters was, ‘Don’t you care about your reputation’ and, more offensively, ‘F—k your mother.'”
The graffiti drew “an intense outcry from students, even those on the left, who accused #CareNotCops of anti-Asian racism and harassment. Provost Ka Yee Lee, born in Hong Kong, studied at Brown University and has been a professor at the University of Chicago since 1998.”