College of Utah college pen letter criticizing protest response, ask for divestment from Israel

SALT LAKE CITY — Over 200 college have signed an open letter to College of Utah President Taylor Randall every week after a pair of pro-Palestinian protests led to twenty individuals being arrested on the Salt Lake Metropolis campus.

Included within the college’s many requests is a plea to halt the police presence on the protests and that the college type a committee of scholars, college and representatives from administration to look at the U.’s funding portfolio and suggest a divestment technique from these benefiting from the warfare in Gaza and grant amnesty to scholar organizers of latest protests.

“On Monday, April 29, a peaceable student-led protest on our campus was met with a violent response from police in riot gear. We vehemently object to this unprovoked and unwarranted use of power towards college students and group members exercising their proper to free speech,” the open letter states.

Final week, a day after the primary protest, the college issued an announcement reiterating its “assist of free expression” however the open letter stated some college are “deeply involved concerning the lack of regard for the protection of our college students and group.”

It went on to precise assist for scholar’s selections to arrange encampments on campus — stating how the college inspired in a single day tenting for ESPN’s Faculty Gameday in October 2023, saying “encampments are permissible when the College deems them so,” however was now deeply involved concerning the lack of regard for the protection of our college students and group.

On April 30, after the second night time of protests, Randall launched an announcement that stated, partially, “On the College of Utah, you’ve gotten an absolute proper to precise your opinion. You wouldn’t have the best to violate legislation or college coverage. It’s illegal to arrange constructions or camp in a single day on college property.”

“Peaceable protests met with police retaliation, or the risk thereof, creates a chilling impact that stifles free expression, which undercuts the College’s mission. We reject the threats of suspension for college kids and termination for college and employees, designed to discourage free expression. We urge the college administration to each settle for and embrace our campus as a democratic area of peaceable protest,” the letter continues.

The letter went on to encourage the college to determine a “protected and permissible” zone for encampment and requested transparency relating to the function college administration performed within the police response to the protest, asking for assurance that future protests will not be met with “police violence.”

As of Monday, the letter has garnered 131 named signees plus 70 nameless college, with extra signatories anticipated.

“This letter will stay open to new signatures for the close to future, at the least till we obtain a response from President Randall,” it states.