May 3rd, 2019
We are closing our sit-in in President Smith’s office at the end of the workday, 4 PM, today. We began yesterday to physically demonstrate the gravity of her upcoming decision regarding fraternities and to hold President Smith and the College accountable to us, students harmed by fraternities and the violence of fraternity members. We sat in to show President Smith how many students are counting on her to take moral action to make our campus safer and more just.
Despite our commitment to peaceful protest, we were met with violent and forceful attempts to end the sit-in, both enacted and directed by College officials. We will be providing clarifications on the nature of these events very soon, and respond to misrepresentations by the College, but they included: physical force by Public Safety officers, actively locking a bathroom door, verbal intimidation, and discussions of arrest warrants being signed. We need accountability from the College and individuals for the cruel and shameful treatment of these 11 student protestors and everyone else who experienced and witnessed such mistreatment.
President Smith received the final recommendation from the Task Force today. We have relocated fraternity relics, almost all of which were stolen by fraternity members, to this administrative hallway to symbolize the College’s responsibility to finally end the era of unchecked fraternity violence, harm, and exclusion. We hope the right decision comes soon, and that it realizes each of our demands, including reallocating the spaces to students most marginalized by the fraternity’s 100+ years on campus (QTPOC and especially Black and Indigenous students).
We are leaving both due to our belief that we have succeeded at our goals and our want for our movement to have time to heal from the pain of yesterday and return, stronger and with even more conviction. We will continue to keep the community updated.
Come help us hold administrators accountable for their actions on Thursday, May 2—actions that put students’ safety on the line, such as calling the police on peaceful protestors.
