CSW Statement on Sit-in Protest in Murphy Hall
On February 11, CSW Director Grace Hong and the UCLA Divest/Invest Faculty Collective sent the following letter to UCLA leadership in response to UCPD activity during the sit-in protest in Murphy Hall.
As the UCLA Divest/Invest Faculty Collective, we write to express in the strongest terms possible that UCPD harassment and surveillance of Disabled Student Union, Mother Organizations Coalition, Black Student Athlete Alliance, and Undergraduate Students Association Council, currently engaged in a sit-in protest in Murphy Hall, is unacceptable and must stop immediately. The incidents that these organizations document in their 2/11/22 statement (included below) in which UCPD woke sleeping students at Murphy Hall are egregious. This statement also notes that UCPD have surveilled, stopped, and interrogated BIPOC students on other parts of campus, using the Murphy Hall protests as pretext.
That students of color are being profiled, stopped, and interrogated for documents by UCPD officers with their hands ready on their guns indicates the complete failure of the UCLA administration to address concerns about policing that have been documented, researched, and foregrounded by students, faculty, staff, workers, and community members. We can only assume that the current policing and surveillance of students and student organizations is taking place with your permission. This must stop immediately. Students have the right to engage in collective protest without police harassment. These incidents highlight that UCPD does not heighten safety for our campus, but instead creates violence and harm, and emphasizes the need for divestment from police and investment in programs that truly keep us safe.
Full Divest/Invest Faculty Collective letter (with February 11 statement from student organizations)
