Free Muzzles Included with Every Student ID Card!
A Fight Against Political Repression On The UMN Campus.
By Jay Walker
From the Gaza Strip to the good ol’ US of A, Israeli Slime Minister Yahoo’s kill count grows by the hour: killing both countless Palestinians, and as it turns out, the freedoms and rights of Americans.
Unrelenting since October, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and several other student organizations to chip away at the Palestinian genocide currently underway. But the University of Minnesota’s big wigs have placed the local chapter of SDS on academic probation abruptly on February 28 in a seemingly clear-cut attempt to repress their constitutional rights to speech and protest.
When asked for SDS’ side of the story, a representative from the organization named Natalie concurred with that assessment, stating, “This came with no warning and with little to no reasoning… We see this as a targeted attack on the student movement.” She then went on to explain that a reason the University provided was related to SDS violating their poster and flyering policy, a rather innocuous and minor infraction to place this group in specific on probation for. Not to mention, it likely being an excuse to penalize them for hitting the University where it hurts most: its blood-stained wallet. Natalie was quick to describe the sheer pointedness of the decision by explaining that SDS is the only group being penalized over this type of offense.
Around the time University Vice President Rachel Crook was playing hopscotch with Israeli Consul, Attila the Hun, SDS was scheduled to meet with UMN administration to reevaluate the academic probation. However, the meeting was canceled about an hour before it was scheduled to occur, according to one activist I spoke to at an SDS action on Monday, March 18.
In a pinned statement on UMN SDS’ instagram account (@umnsds) regarding their academically fruitful repression reads, “This comes after multiple instances of admin demanding to meet with us to discipline our organization.” So which is it, UMN leadership? Do you want to meet or not? These rat-faced bastards sure as hell wouldn’t allow some scheduling conflict to get in the way of their ass-kissing session with Baron Von Nazi now would they?
When asked of the effects these setbacks have had on troop morale within SDS, Natalie remarked, “We don’t let it get to us,” even adding, “it just fuels our fire.”
Following the backhanded meeting with the Israeli diplomat, SDS had an emergency protest at the Student Union, which only allowed the larger UMN administration to invent new reasons to bitch about SDS’ cause.
Another body of the administration, the Student Building Association, or whatever the hell it’s called, raised concerns in a meeting with SDS on March 18 of them blocking accessibility entrances, saying several die-ins by SDS violated ADA accessibility rules. All things considered, this newfound interest in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act is refreshing given the countless buildings throughout the campus that are not accessible in the slightest. Half of the dust-filled dumps on campus require hailing a cab to find the damn wheelchair accessible entrance, assuming it is a building that has one.
Student building management was also quick to mention that the loud noise could have been disturbing to some people, even hurt someone’s ears just a little, which begs another question entirely: do the sounds of bombs detonating and tank fire colliding with concrete bother Palestinian children? That is, the ones who still possess ears.