Update from colleagues on arrest and police presence at the CCNY encampment:

• Traumatizing experience.
• A SLU colleague was issued a summons for protesting at CCNY. However, approximately 30 students, staff, and faculty arrested at the CCNY encampment got felony charges. They were charged with burglary. Note: Columbia University students got misdemeanor charges.
• Shocked at the level of violence and brutality meted out against students.
• A SLU student got a police-inflicted concussion.
• How can SLU support students (including providing emotional support, assignment extension, and more)?
• Chancellor’s statement on the events:
  • Frustrating
  • Maddening

Key Issues Raised:

• Process for identifying all SLU students arrested at the encampment/protests.
• Address the ongoing criminalization of students, faculty, and staff.
• Process and plan for supporting SLU students arrested or injured at protests.
• Address NYPD’s use of force on CUNY campuses.
• Address the suppression/repression of free speech on CUNY campuses.
• Create space for the SLU community to gather and discuss the moment we are in.
• Concretize a student support action plan (assignment extensions, and more)
• Grade boycott (at other universities).

Proposed Demands and Next Steps

• Strategize SLU’s response to campus encampment and CUNY’s response (free speech suppression, NYPD on campus, criminalization of students, staff, and faculty).
• Actions:
  • Draft letter on offering care and support to the SLU community.
  • Draft letter on unfolding events at CCNY and across CUNY campuses from SLU as a social justice school. Remember the real demands.
  • Identify opportunities to co-create with the student unions on ways to collaborate with labor unions.
  • Plan a SLU community assembly scheduled for next week (5/17 more information will be shared with this group)
  • Develop strategy/response for SLU’s commencement planning (if needed)
  • Letter to Chancellor regarding Hochul’s antisemitism lawyers on CUNY campuses.

Overall Possible Demands

• Demand CUNY drop all protest encampment-related charges.
• Endorse the five demands developed by student organizers.
• Amnesty for all students and faculty arrested at the CUNY/CCNY protests.
• Cops off campus.

Other Possible PSC/SLU Actions and Next Steps

• Schedule a follow up meeting of SLU/PSC (mindful of commencement walk through schedule to avoid scheduling conflicts).
• Community Assembly (tentatively scheduled for 5/17 in the evening).

Discussion/Report Back from the AGC meeting on May 1^st

SLU Leadership:

• Speak to SLU’s advisory board about aligning SLU’s investments to its social justice values.
  • Open to a discussion with faculty and staff after speaking to the advisory board and lawyers (he knows) about the issue.
• Outreach to the Labor Advisory Board regarding labor’s interests and investment in the issue. Unique opportunity to engage the Labor Advisory Board.
• Raise the issue of free speech and the right to protest with SLU trustees.
• Seek out opportunities to organize and engage with other CUNY presidents.

What can we do as a college?

• Draft and issue a SLU statement on student care and provide an analysis of the overall situation at CUNY re: the 5 Demands, free speech repression and use of police force at CCNY and other CUNY campuses.
• Outreach to the student union and retrieve letter that was drafted post AGC meeting; identify ways to co-create with the student union; and capitalize on this teaching moment on ways to act in solidarity with labor unions.
• Support and amplify students’ demands: Cops Off Campus and Free Speech!
• Stand in solidarity with UAW at NYU and Columbia. CUNY?

Broader SLU concerns:

• What are our requests to SLU’s advisory board?
• Will there be a student speaker at commencement?
  • What if there is not a student speaker?
  • The report from colleagues is that there will be an alum speaker.
• Actions at SLU’s commencement and contingency planning.
• What is the public library’s protocol/plan if there is disruption?
• SLU-wide assembly planning committee to frame the issue and plan the assembly.
• Identify and discuss any safety precautions for SLU because of the encampment/protests.
• A reminder to name the problem and connect this moment to a history of traumatization.
• Align with CUNY students on the free speech vs. justice argument.

CUNY-wide Community Concerns:

• Use of NYPD’s Strategic Response Group on campus.
• Deployment of NYPD on CUNY students.
• Militarization of CUNY campuses (we should pushback).
• Infiltration that is taking place on CUNY campuses.
• Examining the role of police as agents of a fascist state.
• Better understand commencement contingency planning based on CUNY Law School action last year.

Antisemitism Lawyers on Campus:

• Do not speak to lawyers without union representation.
• Have these Hochul lawyers visited SLU yet?
  • No obligation to speak to antisemitism lawyers if they come to SLU.
  • Volunteer to write to the chancellor (?).

Other Issues to Consider:

• Ways to incorporate SUNY into the conversation.
• Agree on a timeline for getting the advisory board to issue a solidarity statement.
• Follow up with student leaders to obtain a statement developed by SLU’s student union.
• Discussion on whether to endorse the five demands. Two colleagues voiced opposition.
  • Suggestions: bring as many people together as possible and keep the conversation as broad as possible.
  • Create space for dialogue on ending the repression and militarization of CUNY.
• Use the community assembly space to focus on the root cause of the problem and the real demands.

Timeline:

• Next PSC/SLU meeting for the week of 5/13.
• Community Assembly planning committee met on 5/8.
  • The tentative date for SLU’s community assembly is 5/17.
• Release statements to SLU community.
  • Statement of Care (ASAP)
  • SLU Solidarity Statement (ASAP)
  • Other (?)

Information shared at the PSC/SLU meeting on 5/6:

Monday, May 6th: CUNY-wide worker’s assembly

• Reflect on and analyze the (heated) conjuncture and then move to discuss, deliberate, and democratically decide how to best:
• Respond to the recent repression of our students and colleagues by the NYPD and CUNY administration,
• Plan for the upcoming (Thursday, May 9th) emergency Delegate Assembly and
• Continue to stand in solidarity with our courageous students and with the Palestinian people.

RSVP to the zoom here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpd-yuqD0qG9QmOddmTcDpwEYAUhsipuEH

CCNY President’s Statement on Encampment: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/presidentsoffice/blog/presidents-statement-encampment

Statement of Solidarity that the encampment put out: https://bit.ly/cgsestatement

Action letter designed for faculty & staff to pressure the Chancellor & CCNY President to get all charges dropped for encampment arrestees: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/demand-all-charges-be-dropped-against-cuny-gaza-solidarity-encampment?source=direct_link&