Protest tensions echo 1985 fight for South Africa divestment – The Minnesota Daily

Mistrust in administration, protesters facing off with police and the Board of Regents declining to divest from a foreign country may sound familiar to both current students and 1980s alumni.

University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham presented the University’s plan for “systemwide planning for civic engagement” for the fall semester at a special Board meeting on Aug. 27, wherein the Board adopted “institutional neutrality” with its endowment investments. 

Cunningham said the University “will need to take action” when protesters do not comply with University policies.

The University’s consolidated protest guidelines include:

• Gatherings of more than 100 people require a permit.
• Only one bullhorn can be used.
• Signs and banners cannot be larger than 14 by 22 inches.
• Protesters may not enact tents, tables, or other structures. All protests (regardless of permit status) must end by 10 p.m. 

The University also developed a tiered framework over the summer for responding to violations of University policies.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) plan to conduct protests as they did before the University said it would start enforcing the guidelines, according to Emily Chu, a recent graduate of the University and a member of the UMN chapter of SDS.

“A protest with a permit is a parade,” Chu said. “It is well within our rights to disrupt campus as we see fit as a means of peaceful protest.”

Back to the future

Apartheid in South Africa brought on a “wave of protest” at Big Ten schools in May 1985, the Minnesota Daily reported at the time. Outrage from student protesters was fueled by the increasing value of the University’s investments in South Africa.

Sasmit Rahman, an SDS member and former University student, said the “prolonged student protest and pressure campaigns that finally got (the University) to cave and divest from apartheid South Africa, and I think that’s exactly what we’re going to see with divestment from Israel.”

In June 1985, students participated in a sit-in costing the police $19,000 and prompted the Board of Regents to consider calls for divestment, the Minnesota Daily reported. The University Senate passed a motion 132 to 4 saying the University’s investment in South Africa “represents support for apartheid.”

Despite support from students and faculty, the Board initially voted in June 1985 to limit existing investments but voted against total divestiture. 

Members of the Coalition for University Divestment from South Africa continued protests, from vandalizing Morrill Hall to taking over then-President Ken Keller’s office, resulting in seven arrests. The Board voted 9-2 for total divestment in October 1985.

Laura Beltz, the director of policy reform at Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said legal standards are constantly changed and influenced by precedents set by new cases.

“As cases have been litigated over the decades, those decisions have helped shape these legal standards and clarify where exactly the boundaries are between protected speech, non-protected speech, and things like lawful protests and civil disobedience,” Beltz said.

Is the University allowed to limit protests?

According to Beltz, regulations on time, place and manner “have to be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest, and they have to leave open ample alternative channels for communicating the message.” 

All regulations must be “content neutral,” or applied regardless of viewpoint, Beltz said.

The rights of protesters are protected in Minnesota under the state’s Anti-SLAPP law, safeguarding public expression. The Public Assembly and First Amendment Rights Model Policy protects the right for groups to demonstrate in public spaces and facilities, with limitations including noise and trespassing restrictions, and allows for private property owners to set their own restrictions on their property.

UW-Milwaukee suspended student groups over alleged “intimidating language” in a July 19 social media post aimed at the local Jewish community.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison sanctioned pro-Palestinian demonstrators for non-academic misconduct, according to an article published by The Daily Cardinal on Aug. 22. 

The University of Wisconsin recently updated its protest policies, requiring “expressive activity” to remain 25 feet from building entrances and limiting sound amplification without prior approval. 

The University of Michigan quietly passed restrictions on protesting over the summer and became the “judge, jury and executioner” in determining the fates of students who violate policies, said Zhane Yamin, The Michigan Daily’s editor-in-chief over the summer.

“You can appeal, but you’re appealing to the university that brought the charges on you,” Yamin said.

The Michigan Daily’s editorial board wrote that the University of Michigan’s new policy “effectively dismisses the need for any proof that actual harm has occurred before disciplinary proceedings are initiated.”

In 2021, the University of Minnesota decided to withdraw all of its investments in fossil fuel-related companies over the following five to seven years and would not make “new private investments in funds that invest heavily in fossil fuel extraction or processing,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

“The University (of Minnesota) investments are a direct reflection of the University’s values, which is why they are so proud of their divestment from fossil fuels,” Rahman said.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued Indiana University over its new protest policy for limiting protests at night, and other universities have been sued as well, Beltz said.

“This is definitely a trend across the country, as far as colleges revising these policies at an unprecedented level,” Beltz said. “And I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing to take a look back on the year and take stock and think, ‘Alright, are our policies clear enough?’”

“Overreaction… and then a resetting”

Protesters at the University of Minnesota set up the first encampment on April 23 at around 5 a.m., and University police officers responded at 6 a.m., asking protesters to leave by 7 a.m., said Rahman, one of nine individuals arrested at the encampment.

Members of the UMN Divest Coalition rushed to plan the encampment the previous day and did not expect the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD) to shut the encampment down so quickly, Rahman said.

“We knew what we were doing,” Rahman said. “We knew that there would be a police response to our encampment. But we also knew that whatever consequences we faced would be worth it.”

Calvin Phillips, vice president for student affairs, said the University created the protest response framework based on feedback from faculty, staff and students for University officials to interact with protesters before police officers.

Police officers have always been the first to respond to protests at the University and have helped students understand policies before making arrests, Phillips said, but the new president wants to take a different approach.

Sending a University official out first is “just a different person going out saying (the policy violations),” Phillips said.

Later in the afternoon of April 23, Regent James Farnsworth said it was “time for strong, swift leadership” in a message to Brian Steeves, the Board of Regents executive director, in response to a gathering of about 700 people outside of Coffman Union protesting the arrests, according to email records obtained by the Daily.

UMPD had a “large number of personnel” covering the subsequent protests, and many officers were “on overtime and working outside their regular patrol shift,” UMPD Chief Matt Clark wrote in an email to Ettinger on April 24.

Phillips, who has served in his role as vice president since March 2021, said he does not “believe in second-guessing what the leadership did at the time because that was a decision that was not in my hands at that point in time, and it’s kind of hard to speculate what we could or should or would do.”

Enforcing violations like the 100-person limit is “not that simple,” Phillips said, and the University will consider health and safety factors when considering its response under the new framework.

The outline is implemented “as safety allows,” and would not apply if a fight broke out, a building was damaged or other similar violations happened, Phillips said.

“It’s a balancing act that we are being asked to do, and we realize that that’s part of what our responsibility is, making sure everyone has the right to freedom to express their viewpoints,” Phillips said.

Gene Policinski, a senior fellow for the First Amendment at Freedom Forum said the First Amendment is “not a shield” against criminal conduct and that “ignorance of the law is not a defense.” 

Encampments were not common until protests on economic issues 20 years ago, Policinski said.

“New variations often provoke overreaction, and then a resetting of those reactions to a more legitimate position,” Policinski said.

Promises fulfilled, meetings unproductive

The University committed to consider divestment, explore an affiliation program with Palestinian universities, disclose holdings in public companies and more as part of an agreement with encampment organizers on May 2 to end another encampment on Northrop Mall, according to Students for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) vice president, who requested anonymity for his safety and ability to travel to Palestine in the future.

Members of SJP and the broader UMN Divest Coalition are frustrated with the lack of progress made toward commitments the University set forth as a part of the negotiation in dismantling the encampment last spring, according to SJP’s president, who also requested anonymity out of fear for her safety and ability to travel freely.

Leadership from the UMN Divest Coalition has been meeting bi-weekly with administrators, with Cunningham joining once a month. SJP’s president said these meetings have been unproductive, in part because of the lack of communication between the administration and the Board.

“We came to realize that they’re not even giving this information to the Board of Regents,” SJP’s president said. “They have no clue of what’s going on.”One of the coalition’s six goals was to establish a connection between the University and Palestinian universities to sponsor students whose home universities have been destroyed as a result of the ongoing war in Gaza. 

The University said it would connect student advocates with Harvey Charles, the vice provost for international programs and senior international officer, to “identify the process to explore a program affiliation with one (or more) Palestinian universities.”

According to the president and vice president of SJP, SJP worked with nonprofit organization We Are Not Numbers to collect application materials for 14 displaced students from Gaza. When presented with these applications, SJP’s vice president said the University offered to cover the $55 application fee. 

“We told them, we don’t want their waiver fee covered,” SJP’s president said. “We want full tuition and full ride.”

Without written confirmation from the University that it allocated funds for the 14 students, SJP cannot move forward with We Are Not Numbers in the sponsorship process. 

According to Phillips, the University has “been continuing to have that dialogue with our students to explain the process and how you could do that.”

 A University spokesperson said the displaced students identified a University faculty member to reach out to a Palestinian university and discuss an affiliation, but the faculty member’s name was not provided. 

The University also agreed to set up a meeting between UMN Divest Coalition and Career Services leaders to discuss ways to educate students on potential employers, rather than banning weapons manufacturers from career fairs, Phillips said, but it has not happened because student representatives did not attend a meeting scheduled during the summer.

According to SDS member Emily Chu, working with University administration to advocate for change has left student protesters feeling dissatisfied and unheard.

“It’s like trying to talk with an interviewer from a company who’s slowly ghosting you,” Chu said. 

University President Rebecca Cunningham said she “will refrain from commenting publicly on the vast majority of global issues, unless they are directly tied to the University of Minnesota’s mission, its work, and its identity,” in a statement emailed to the University community two hours before the pro-Palestinian march on Sept. 5.

Chu said SDS believes the University’s position of neutrality related to its investments was designed to target the pro-Palestinian movement, “giving them the opportunity to say that, because divestment is a political issue, we can’t act upon it.” This is corroborated by student leaders from SJP. 

According to Chu, SDS members are skeptical of the administration’s motives for scheduling the special meeting at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday just before the first week of classes.

“Students weren’t on campus,” Chu said. “We believe this was entirely intentional.”

Chu said SDS considers President Cunningham responsible for calling for the special meeting, though a University spokesperson confirmed the University president does not have the power to call a meeting or set the agenda. 

SDS is revising demands based on the University’s response, set to launch in the coming weeks, Chu said.