Faculty members suspended by Washington University after being arrested while protesting Israel’s continued military action in Gaza sharply criticized the school during a news conference Sunday.
The faculty members say the school’s administrators have made “false accusations against them and their students as it attempts to silence and discredit†protesters’ demands to divest from Boeing due to its role in the war.
“We’d like to see the university align its principles with its on-the-ground realities,†said Angela Miller, a professor of art history and archaeology.
Since the arrest of more than 100 people last month at a campus encampment for anti-war protesters, the school has suspended 23 students and nine employees, according to a release sent out ahead of a Sunday news conference, held on the eve of the school’s commencement ceremonies.
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Organizers of Sunday’s news conference criticized the school’s “refusal to engage in good faith discussions with students regarding their demands, and use of suspensions to punish students, faculty, and staff for protesting genocide,†among other complaints.
Five Washington U. professors, including Miller, who had been arrested, suspended or both took turns speaking Sunday in Forest Park, next to the edge of campus, before a gathering of a few dozen supporters.
They said protests had been nonviolent, unlike the school and police response, which left a 65-year-old Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor in attendance with nine broken ribs and a broken hand.
“This is the violence that Wash. U. administrators decided to unleash on protesters,†said Scott Ross, a suspended lecturer of anthropology who helped lead Sunday’s event. “It was peaceful until (the Washington University Police Department) brought violence.â€
Bret Gustafson, another suspended faculty member and a professor of anthropology, disputed the assertion that protesters had a “bad intention,†in the eyes of administrators.
“I’m not sure how protesting genocide can be a bad intention,†he said.
The school, however, maintains that “the tone of the protest on April 27 was not peaceful,†and included “aggressive chanting at the front door of the library,†said Julie Hail Flory, a spokeswoman for the university, in an emailed statement.
She added that the arrests occurred after multiple warnings plus orders for the crowd to disband and stop setting up “unapproved†tents.
University officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sunday’s event marked merely the latest round of infighting and criticism focused on Washington U.’s police response to the protest. At a contentious meeting last week, top school administrators faced more than an hour of questions from faculty about its actions, while more than 1,500 students, alumni and teachers have signed letters condemning the school’s conduct.
Boeing has longstanding ties with Israel’s military, and the company’s massive workforce in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area is focused on producing fighter jets as well as “precision-strike and cruise missile solutions†for countries across the globe, according to its website.
The Washington U. faculty members at Sunday’s event called attention to the company’s role behind munitions that have “destroyed homes and killed families in Gaza.â€
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since the start of its military offensive after terrorism attacks last October, Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians according to official tallies — including many civilians and children — leading to a humanitarian crisis that affects far more.
In late March, an said that “there are reasonable grounds†to believe that Israel’s conduct in Gaza constitutes genocide.
The Washington University professors at Sunday’s event have not faced formal charges or investigations and have been met with “absolute silence†from the school about what awaits, said Gustafson.
But amid the uncertainty, he added that the group is exploring potential legal action.