The University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate condemned the police violence against protesters at last May’s pro-Palestine encampment during a packed meeting Monday, with proponents arguing the demonstration was non-violent and the police disproportionately harmed students and faculty of color.
In a resolution that passed 79 to 52 with 10 abstentions, the Faculty Senate condemned the police violence and called for the restoration of two advisory protest oversight bodies not included in UW-Madison’s current protest policy adopted after the encampment.
During the encampment, which started April 29 and ended May 10, hundreds of UW-Madison students and community members pitched tents on Library Mall to call for UW-Madison’s complete “financial and social” divestment from Israel. Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin authorized law enforcement to raid the encampment on May 1, enforcing a state law against camping on university grounds. As officers attempted to take down tents, multiple demonstrators and police members were injured. Police arrested 34 protesters, with four later charged with felonies.
“Police violence is not appreciated, not warranted, horribly, it [puts] the whole institution in a different framework,” said UW-Madison professor Samer Alatout, who sustained a gash to his forehead during the takedown in May. Alatout said his support of the resolution was one against police violence, not a condemnation of Mnookin or other administrators.
The resolution said the “disproportionate use of law enforcement in a peaceful protest” highlights the need for shared governance, specifically taking aim at the Expressive Activity Policy adopted in August, which drops previous mentions of shared governance and oversight groups.
Under the previous protest policy in place during the encampment, UW-Madison required a Protest Decision-Making Team (PDT) to convene before responding to protests as well as a Protest Administrative Review Team (PART) to review university responses to protests.
While the updated policy lacks mention of PDT and PART, they remain “intact and operational,” Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Nancy Lynch said. Lynch, who is a member of both, said the fact the groups aren’t referenced doesn’t diminish their role, and PDT actually met earlier Monday.
However, multiple faculty members pointed out the groups weren’t consulted in the creation of the Expressive Protest Policy, which restricts “expressive activity” within 25 feet of university facility entrances, the constitutionality of which has been questioned by legal experts.
“What was troubling about this to me is that it was crafted during the summer and then communicated to the entire campus community in the beginning of the faculty contract year so that the Faculty Senate did not have a chance to play even the advisory role that it is prescribed,” Professor Avril Laines said. “As a result, trust between many faculty members and campus leadership has eroded, so I offer this resolution as a path to begin rebuilding some of that trust.”
The resolution would assert that faculty have a role in all future revisions and policies concerning expressive activity and or political expression, Laines said.
Resolution wording, current protest climate debated
The wording of the resolution, particularly the use of the word “peaceful” when referring to the demonstrations, drew objections from some faculty, who argued protesters injured four police officers and the resolution “condemned violence selectively.”
Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine Lee Ekhart argued the resolution relied on a “selective recounting of events,” challenging the resolution's assertion that Mnookin’s decision to deploy police came “despite student offers to negotiate.”
“The interpretation that the police intervention was the first event is incorrect because there were several significant warnings,” Eckhart said. “What's missing here is the administration, including the chancellor, offered good-faith efforts to negotiate the illegal encampment multiple times [before May 1].”
University officials said on April 29 they would meet with student groups once tents were taken down and protesters comply with state laws banning camping on university grounds.
Sociology Professor Chad Goldberg said Students for Justice in Palestine, which organized the encampment, lacked moral credibility because they were a pro-war “hate organization,” drawing a fierce rebuke from Alatout.
Goldberg also disputed the claim that women and people of color were disproportionately harmed by the police and said the timing of the resolution was “irresponsible” given the current political context.
“We the faculty need to support our chancellor at this extraordinarily challenging time, not make her job more difficult,” Goldberg said, referencing the havoc wrought across higher education following President Donald Trump’s executive orders and related agency directives. “Now is the time to circle the wagons and not to form a circular firing squad.”
But some faculty said the current national climate made a resolution condemning police violence necessary.
Trump has threatened to cut all federal funding to universities “that allow illegal protests” and some students have been deported or faced legal consequences after participating in pro-Palestine protests.
“Maybe you might not agree with the political aims of the protest, or maybe you weren't on the political side of the students in this case, but you might be next time, and the precedent that we set here is going to have tremendous implications for what happens the next time and then the time after that,” said Leigh Senderowicz, assistant professor of gender and women’s studies and obstetrics and gynecology.
The Faculty Senate’s condemnation joins a list of campus groups that condemned the police’s violence, including the Associated Students of Madison, the Teaching Assistants Association, and The Union Council Executive Committee of the Wisconsin Union, who all released statements last May.
Gavin Escott is the campus news editor for the Daily Cardinal. He has covered protests, breaking news and written in-depth on Wisconsin politics and higher education. He is the former producer of the Cardinal Call podcast. Follow him on X at @gav_escott.
