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University of Minnesota professors condemned school administrators and law enforcement for stopping a violent anti-Israel mob that stormed a campus building, destroyed property, and barricaded doors, trapping terrified employees inside.
"This sort of overreaction is a direct result of the militarized response that this administration has adopted," political science professor Teri Caraway said during an Oct. 24 Faculty Senate meeting.
Student protesters assembled on a campus lawn on Oct. 21 before a group descended on Morrill Hall around 4 p.m. Once inside, masked individuals broke windows to access locked offices and spray-painted security camera lenses, according to the university. Police were called in to ensure the safety of the trapped employees and because of the ongoing property damage, arresting 11.
University president Rebecca Cunningham in a schoolwide message the next day provided a thorough accounting of the events. She said the mob's "threatening behavior and destruction of property" created "a terrifying experience for many of our employees."
"These actions endanger safety, erode the fabric of our University community, and undermine the legitimacy of important causes that our students, faculty and staff care so deeply about," Cunningham wrote.
She reiterated her remarks at the beginning of the Oct. 24 meeting. She again thoroughly described the events and further detailed trapped employees' experiences.
"The situation involved intimidating employees in their workplaces, hampering their ability to move about freely, and destruction of university property," Cunningham said during the meeting. "I had many very frightened staff on Monday."
"I would ask people to think about, as you sit in your offices, how that would feel for you right now if that occurred in your workplace," she continued. "This was not a peaceful protest and not a First Amendment-protected activity. These activities clearly crossed the line into illegal activity."
But later in the meeting, several professors criticized the administration's response to the "protest" and were concerned that students' "free expression" was being suppressed. They also argued that the "security-based response" disrupted learning and demanded that police officers be held accountable.
"It seems to me that the administration is eager to hold students accountable for their actions," Caraway said. "The students have been suspended as of today, by the way, and that the cops are let off the hook."
She said her "colleagues on site during the protest" saw at least 20 squad cars, 100 officers, and a SWAT team. "They entered Morrill Hall with their weapons drawn," she said. "No wonder, you know, it was chaotic."
Caraway also criticized police for arresting a student journalist who was present. Cunningham said at the top of the meeting that officers detained a reporter for five minutes before releasing him. Caraway told the Washington Free Beacon the student was detained for at least two hours.
"There needs to be, you know, accountability, not just for the students, but also for trained law enforcement officers who should know better," Caraway said at the meeting. "What sort of disciplinary actions would be taken against the officers?"
In response, Cunningham told Caraway to imagine herself trapped in the building with the violent mob.
"I also, again, would ask you to consider how you would feel in your office if, as you were typing at your computer, glass started shattering around you, and the air filled with chemicals, and people with ability to destroy things started shouting outside your office, not knowing exactly what's going on," Cunningham said. "We have to restore safety, and I will not let our students, I will not let any of you, be intimidated, and I will not let my staff in the building be intimidated."
A university spokeswoman told the Free Beacon that the chemical smell was from the spray paint the mob used on security camera lenses, "which was quite strong inside the building."
Caraway didn't comment on her remarks regarding the administration's response and instead told the Free Beacon that her "question was about the student reporter who was detained by the police for at least two hours."
"I observed that the deployment of such a large number of law enforcement officers increased the probability of such an unfortunate outcome," she said.
Other professors echoed Caraway's concerns about the administration's decision to call in the police.
"It's a pleasure to work at an institution where a number of departments were established as a result of protest, and I have to say that I'm really concerned as a BIPOC faculty member to think about this security-based response," English professor V.V. Ganeshananthan said. "I want to underscore Professor Caraway's point about the security-based response [in] which, you know, we're insufficiently addressing these students' freedom of expression and also disrupting the learning activities that are going on on-campus."
Sima Shakhsari, an anti-Israel professor in the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies department, suggested she wanted to "make a [public] statement to condemn the administration" for subjecting students to "violence" by suspending and evicting them from campus. Shakhsari has denied that Hamas terrorists raped Israeli women on Oct. 7 and was seen on campus attending an anti-Israel rally, chanting, "Globalize the Intifada."
Caraway also cast doubt on whether staff members were actually trapped in Morrill Hall, telling the Free Beacon that a new video "paints a more complex picture of what transpired."
An Instagram post by several groups, including the University of Minnesota Educators for Justice in Palestine, claimed the school administration was "lying about staff being held hostage." The Thursday post said that "kind and patient" protesters offered employees escorts and that staff "were free to leave" through one door that was left open. The other exits were "blocked off to ensure the safety of the protesters." It also claimed that anonymous employees said that "the situation was stressful, but the staff were never in any danger or held against their will."
The post includes video of agitators offering to escort people out.
The professors' defense of radical student activists reflects the prevalent anti-Israel rhetoric in higher education. A September report by the AMCHA Initiative, a nonpartisan organization that works to combat anti-Semitism, found that Jewish students are 7.3 times more likely to face physical violence at universities with anti-Israel faculty groups.
After rioters stormed Morrill Hall, the University of Minnesota Educators for Justice in Palestine released a statement supporting the occupation and accusing Cunningham of falsely representing the riots as "distressing and disruptive." The faculty group said storming the building was a "brave move by students" and a "peaceful protest" against the "administration's complicity with the Israeli state's genocide in Gaza."
Of the 11 arrested at Morrill Hall, 8 are students who received interim suspensions pending disciplinary proceedings, while the remaining 3 are alumni. The charges they face include fourth-degree assault, damage to property, riot, and trespassing.
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