Statement by WGSS

We in the WGSS program want to register our distress and outrage at the administration's response to the Gaza demonstration on May 1, and our solidarity with the students and faculty who were arrested or otherwise harmed. The President invited police onto campus to a peaceful demonstration, apparently with no limits on their treatment of the group.  We are particularly horrified that a SWAT team, complete with guns and a police dog, were summoned to the campus—we note the tragic irony that this event was close to the 54th anniversary of the Kent State massacre.

We are sure that many were mistreated, but we know for a fact that our dear colleague, friend, and WGSS co-chair Annelise Orleck was thrown down by the police, with her hands painfully tightly zip-tied behind her.  When she asked the police to loosen the ties, they refused and mocked her.  She is still in pain today.  It seems like a kind of allegory of the new relations between the administration and the rest of the College that large men in riot gear attacked a white-haired woman who is co-chair of this particular program. As one of our students wrote us, this incident makes clearer than ever how important our intellectual work and our solidarity will continue to be. We demand the reversal of campus bans and legal charges against all arrested students, staff, and faculty.

Melissa Zeiger for WGSS