The Minneapolis City Council voted 7-6 to approve a resolution calling for no charges to be filed against the 11 protesters arrested in the Oct. 21 takeover of Morrill Hall at the University of Minnesota.
The resolution, authored by Council Member Robin Wonsley, expressed “solidarity with nonviolent campus activism opposing war and supporting Palestinian human rights,” and urges the school to rescind all academic charges, suspensions, and evictions of student protestors.
“Whereas, campus activism and nonviolent protest are important parts of Minneapolis history and United States history, and have helped advance crucial social movements,” Wonsley’s resolution reads, “Many of which were criminalized and repressed when they used nonviolent protest to advance their goals but are now widely celebrated and praised for taking bold and necessary action to achieve social change.”
Wonsley, who is the City Council member that represents the university in Ward 2, said during the discussion of the resolution Thursday afternoon that the City Council shouldn’t be in the business of criminalizing protests, and has likened the response to Civil Rights protests that led to the Morrill Hall takeover in 1969.
“It’s incredibly troubling that we’re seeing students being faced and met with similar criminalization that students back then were also met with,” Wonsley said.
After the resolution passed the City Council’s committee of the whole on Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement that he was going to veto the resolution. Overriding the veto requires nine votes. (Editor’s note: Frey vetoed the resolution Monday, Dec. 9).
“No matter who is protesting or what their cause may be, damaging property, and endangering the safety of others are unequivocally illegal acts. I fully support the right to freedom of speech, but that right does not extend to actions that jeopardize the well-being of others,” he said in a statement. “The Council’s resolution risks setting a disturbing precedent that must apply to all groups evenly regardless of the cause they are protesting. It is concerning to me that any Council Member could view this as acceptable and I will be vetoing the resolution without hesitation.”
Council Member Andrea Jenkins, who was not at Tuesday’s meeting when the vote was 7-5, said that while civil disobedience is a “well-conceived…valid form of protest,” what happened at Morrill Hall was not that.
“Most people who practice civil disobedience understand that breaking the law means ‘I am going to have to deal with the consequences.’ And that’s what we’re talking about,” she said. “We’re not talking about the central reason why people are protesting. We’re talking about the fact that laws have been broken, and there needs to be consequences.”
After the incident in October, University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham said that while she has a “strong personal commitment” to free expression, but that the takeover and vandalism of Morrill Hall was “not a form of a legitimate protest.”
“Our University has a rich history and commitment to free expression. Under my leadership, we will continue to value individuals’ rights to peaceful protest and the expression of diverse viewpoints, in ways that are consistent with University policies and federal, state, and local laws,” Cunningham said in a statement.
“What happened in Morrill Hall was not a form of legitimate protest. Threatening behavior and destruction of property have absolutely no place within our community. These actions endanger safety, erode the fabric of our University community, and undermine the legitimacy of important causes that our students, faculty and staff care so deeply about.”
In a letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and the City Council, Melissa Lopez Franzen, the school’s executive director of government and community relations, and Tina Erazmus, the director of local government and community relations, said damage to the building was more than $67,000. The letter also included two statements from staff who were trapped in the building by protesters.
“It is incredibly frustrating and demoralizing to see some in our community insist that the Morrill Hall incident on October 21 was a peaceful protest,” one staff member wrote. “My colleague and I heard running and shouting in the hallways outside our work suite, followed by the strong odor of spray paint, which spread through the air into our locked suite. During previous protests in the building, I felt completely safe in our locked suite and often continued working in the building without an issue. But this time was different.”
Ethan Roberts, the deputy executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, said there is a throughline from the on-campus graffiti from activists that have read “Victory to the Al-Aqsa flood” and “Globalize the intifada” to what happened at Morrill Hall.
“This incident isn’t about the Jewish community but we’re paying attention to their violent rhetoric and ideology in the whitewashing of Oct. 7,” Roberts said. “This is what ‘globalize the intifada’ looks like. We aren’t surprised this happened because their rhetoric has been violent.”
The resolution said all students arrested had interim suspensions from the University of Minnesota. In an Instagram post last week from the Students for a Democratic Society chapter at the University of Minnesota – which helped organize and amplify the protest that led to the Oct. 21 building takeover, they wrote that the school’s disciplinary action found seven of eight students guilty of all charges.
“As punishment, the administration has decided that all 7 students must pay over $5,500 each in restitution and will be suspended starting January 1st,” the post read. “One student is being suspended for 5 semesters (equivalent to 2.5 years), three for 3 semesters (equivalent to 1.5 years), two for 2 semesters, and one for 1 semester.”
The post also said that the students were charged restitution payments of $5,500 each, and at least three students were evicted from student housing.
The University of Minnesota did not confirm the suspensions or fines due to privacy laws.
In addition to Wonsley, the resolution was supported by Council Members Jason Chavez, Aurin Chowdhury, Jeremiah Ellison, Jamal Osman, Council President Elliott Payne and Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai. In addition to Jenkins, it was opposed by Council Members Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw, Katie Cashman, Emily Koski and Linea Palmisano.
The resolution isn’t the first time that the Minneapolis City Council has waded into the current Israel-Hamas War. In January, the council voted on a resolution “supporting a permanent ceasefire and preventing loss of human life in the Middle East.” Frey vetoed that resolution on Jan. 31, but the council overrode the veto on Feb. 8.
Good for Mayor Ferry and Council Members who opposed. $67,000 of damage is not civil disobedience/non violent protest..
It’s appalling that the Minneapolis City Council is excusing felony criminal damage to property and trespassing. Anyone deliberately damaging property like this should be held accountable and required to pay for the damage they did.
Students pay a lot of money to go to the U of M–both for tuition and also to have needed access to all campus buildings–so enforcing the law and campus policies are exactly what the U of M should be doing! Bless the new University President for safeguarding eveyone on campus, including the workers!
I’ve been trying to get my daughter to look into U-M for her son, an honors student on the varsity tennis team in his high school. This will clinch, I’m afraid, her refusal to look at the school any further. He will have many schools to choose from and she’ll be looking to one of the schools that is more interested in having all students protected and not ones that excuse this kind of terrorist behavior. It’s disgusting and it’s antisemitic! Nothing less. If you encourage lawlessness without much in the way of consequences you will only see more of it!