Oh no, not that: Attendees wrote postcards to univ. president ‘demanding action’
Late last week, progressive University of Maryland students held a “sit-in” at McKeldin Mall to demand school administrators “stand up” to the Trump administration.
The Diamondback reports over a dozen student groups took part, including members of Indigenous UMD, Campus Queers and Allies, and the Anti-Imperialist Movement at UMD.
According to a statement from UMD’s 17 for Peace and Justice chapter, sit-in participants came up with seven total demands which university officials need to heed.
These include not cooperating with federal officials regarding “requests to monitor students and staff” and providing “identifiable information,” not assisting ICE and “other federal agencies targeting university community members,” and providing “institutional and financial support to university community members impacted by new policies.”
Sit-in participants “wrote postcards” to UMD President Darryll Pines “demanding action” on these and other items, held up protest placards, and chanted “Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcomed here” and “Money for jobs and education, not for mass deportation.”
(Pines is one of over 400 university “presidents, chancellors and officials” who signed a letter via the American Association of Colleges and Universities “expressing their strong opposition to political interference in higher education,” The Black Explosion reports.)
Sit-in organizer Leah Zahniser said she was “really glad” the postcards got done as it means the “administration can’t ignore us.”
“We are here today to tell the UMD administration that this is not enough,” Zahniser said. “The Trump administration will take any concession as a sign of weakness and push for more control and more assaults on our rights, because this is what autocrats do.”
Freshman Maggie Faloon, a sit-in organizer affiliated with 17 for Peace and Justice, said “As students, we have a lot of power and we can influence what our administration does.”
She added “it’s important to show the international students that we care about them. We’re not just going to let them be mistreated and let it be swept under the rug.”
Pro-Hamas students also were in attendance; Terry Goolsby, a member of UMD’s “Golden ID” program (which allows folks over age 60 to take graduate courses), claimed the “genocide” in Palestine is “a turning point across the world.”
MORE: Trump cuts funding to UMaryland terrorism center that listed peaceful pro-lifers
IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: UMD anti-Trump sit-in participants hang out at McKeldin Mall; The Black Explosion/Instagram.
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