Milwaukee, WI – On November 21, the UWM Popular University for Palestine (PUP) Coalition took bold action to rename the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library. As part of the National Students for Justice in Palestine’s International Strike for Palestine, students hand-delivered a petition signed by over 500 students, alumni, faculty and community members. The petition, denounced UWM’s dehumanizing language and policies toward Palestinians, and was brought to Chancellor Mark Mone’s office. The protest ended in a banner drop at the campus library, and a call for renaming the building to Electa Quinney Library.

Coalition member organizations including Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Muslim Student Association, and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) - led the campaign to put an end to UWM’s continued financial and academic ties to the genocidal state of Israel and to challenge the ongoing repression of Palestinian and pro-Palestine students on campus. 

Fed up with repeated dismissals of their demands by the administration, students taped the petition to the chancellor’s office’s doors at Chapman Hall before continuing their march to the library. The banner drop came after months of frustration with UWM administrators, who repeatedly dismissed student demands against the admin’s support of Israel as it carries out an ongoing genocide. Students also decried the library being named after a Zionist former prime minister of Israel, Golda Meir. 

The PUP coalition demands that UWM rename it to the Electa Quinney Library. Electa Quinney is Wisconsin’s first public schoolteacher and an indigenous woman from the Stockbridge-Munsee band of Mohicans. The demand represents the future that students want for UWM, “Just as countless institutions have removed the names of figures tied to oppression, UWM must take responsibility and rename the library,” said student organizer, Ameen Atta.

Over the last year, Muslim, Palestinian and pro-Palestine students have faced attacks for standing with Palestine, while the university administration does nothing but pay lip service. 

“Over the past year, UWM has undermined the safety of its Palestinian and Muslim students, and in many instances, put us directly in harm's way. Having a library named after someone who's basically denied the existence of Palestinian people only puts us in even more danger,” said Students for Justice in Palestine president, Waleed Nassar. “We’ve attempted literally all conventional means of communication with admin to address this issue of student safety, but all we are met with are empty promises and words of ‘sympathy.’” 

Despite the constant repression faced on campus, students and allies remain steadfast in their demands. The PUP coalition continues to fight for UWM to sever all ties - academic, financial, and social - with the state of Israel.

#MilwaukeeWI #UWM #SJP #SDS #UWMSDS #PUP #YDSA #InternationalStrikeForPalestine #GoldaMeir #FreePalestine #BDS #CulturalBoycott #AcademicBoycott #Israel #ElectaQuinney #NativePower #IndigenousPower #Mohican

Milwaukee, WI – On February 26, five members from the UW-Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) met with UWM administration to demand they cut ties with Israel.

Kayla Patterson, Samia Saeed, Sania Syed, Audari Tamayo, and Robby Knapp represented SDS as they raised the campaign demands. The campaign to divest from weapon manufacturers, end study abroad trips to ‘Israel’, and rename the Golda Meir library has the endorsement of the 63-organization Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine (WCJP).

The meeting came as a result of the sit-in on February 9 where students occupied the UWM administrative building, Chapman Hall, for six hours, and five students were violently removed and issued citations with bogus charges. The office of UWM chancellor Mark Mone released a statement denouncing the sit-in as ‘unlawful’. Still, the chancellor was forced to concede to meet with the students in two weeks.

At 9:45 a.m., nearly 40 student and community activists gathered outside the Golda Meir library in preparation for the 10:30 meeting. Police presence began early with cops entering the library before the start of the event. Police were also sent to Chapman Hall, just in case.

Unfazed, the activists rallied and marched through campus into the Student Union, making their way to the meeting room. The UWM administration security detail was visibly shaken by the turnout. They had bizarrely closed off the neighboring MLK Lounge (which the students later found out to be the Chancellor's escape route), had police guarding nearby doors, and required identification of the five students who were meeting with the UWM administration. A blackout curtain had been set up in front of the glass doors where the meeting was held, stifling transparency. A UWM police officer was present, showcasing the measures UWM administration is willing to take to suppress dissent. The students entered the meeting room as “Free free Palestine!” chants from 40 student and community activists reminded the administration that a curtain would not stop them from holding the university accountable.

“The meeting was only scheduled for 30 minutes, a spit in the face of the Palestinian people, students, and all who support a free Palestine,” said Audari Tamayo, one of the students who participated in the meeting. “After 140 days since the Israel Occupation Forces escalated the genocide upon the Palestinian people, UWM administration thinks discussing the university’s blood-stained relations with the settler colony is worth less than their lunch break.”

UWM administration had no intention to listen, much less fulfill the popular demands brought forth by the students. Hypocritically claiming to care for students and student voices, they made no mention of the fact that they sicced the police on the students. No mention that five students were violently restrained, even with three of the five arrested being present at the meeting. UWM must be held accountable for its ties with genocide and for repressing pro-Palestinian student protesters.

When confronted with the ever present racist reality of the shamefully named Golda Meir library, Chancellor Mone claimed he had only “recently heard that she said some things that were that way.” Mone later said that no students had ever brought forth concerns about the naming of the library after the Zionist, Golda Meir. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UWM initiated the calls to rename the library years ago. Recently at a university sponsored Israel-Palestine discussion this fall attended by Mone, the call for the library to be renamed was raised again to unanimous cheers.

“It is clear the so-called leaders of the school lack connection to the student body they claim to represent. Unlike SDS and the 63-plus organizations backing the campaign, Mone does not speak for anyone but those with ties to the settler-colonial Zionist state,” Tamayo said.

When confronted with the egregious research relationships between UWM and universities in Israel, the UWM administrators doubled down, claiming “faculty have the autonomy” to conduct research with who they want. The autonomy of unethical professors who have no remorse conducting research on stolen land while Israel simultaneously destroys the educational institutions of Palestinians is not more important than the self-determination of the Palestinian people. SDS pointed out the research in question deals with water technology. Israel has weaponized water technologies against Palestinians for decades, restricting water access and contaminating water.

Undisturbed by the facts presented, Mone and crew did not commit to cutting ties with weapons manufacturers, ending study abroad trips, or renaming the library. Mone ended the meeting by telling students he would be out of town the next few days and would be unable to issue a formal response by the end of the week. He was escorted out by the UWM cop on duty.

Before Mone retreated, the five SDS representatives assured him direct action would be taken to ensure demands are met in their entirety. As SDS and those waiting outside marched and chanted through the Student Union, Robby Knapp of SDS proclaimed, “The student movement will not stop until UWM ends all ties with Israel. Dare to struggle, dare to win!”

#MilwaukeeWI #SDS #FreePalestine #UWM #SJP

Milwaukee, WI – On Monday, December 11, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), alongside other students and community members, gathered at the Golda Meir Library to launch their Divest from Israel campaign and to honor the Palestinian martyrs.

The event began with speeches from the representatives of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Muslim Students Association and Un-PAC. Then SDS representatives officially announced the launch of the Divest from Israel Campaign and congratulated the Tampa 5 on their recent victory against political repression. This was followed by a Muslim prayer.

SDS member and emcee Patricia Fish said, “Golda Meir was a Zionist known for her crimes against Palestine,” adding, “She was the prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, and SDS is here to demand that they change the name of the library.”

Apart from the demand to change the name of the UWM library, as part of their Divest from Israel campaign, SDS also demands that the university cut all ties to weapon manufacturers that are aiding the genocide in Palestine and that it put an immediate stop to all study abroad trips to Israel.

In his address to the crowd, Zaid Dahir, a Muslim Students Association leader, recognized the importance of Milwaukee student organizers holding their institutions accountable and protesting even while student organizations all around are being shut down, stating, “It is crucial to recognize that protesting and boycotting are not acts of hostility to any particular group but rather expressions of our commitment to justice, human rights, and the fundamental principles of equality.”

The attendees were then invited to write the names of Palestinians martyred by Israeli forces, some with relatives in Milwaukee, on the pillars around the library using chalk.

The very next day, starting at 9 a.m., the university admin staff began erasing the names off the pillars with water. SDS organized a response, resulting in a demonstration on December 14 that saw them project a video of the names of thousands of Palestinians who were killed from October 7 until October 20. The intent was to do something to honor the martyrs that the university couldn’t simply wash away.

#MilwaukeeWI #International #Palestine #AntiWar #StudentMovement #SDS #UWM

Milwaukee, WI – On December 6, members and supporters of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee chapter of the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a disruption of a speaking event featuring local anti-trans personality Laura Becker.

Becker is a “detransitioner” and is trying to join the small number of right-wing grifters making a buck from speaking engagements like these which attack all aspects of trans rights and expression. Becker herself is specifically focused on attacking access to gender-affirming healthcare, something which all the research and data supports as life-saving for trans youth in particular but all trans people in general.

The SDS action saw members and supporters sit in on the start of the event. Their group made up half or more of the people in attendance. While sitting in the front row, some members unfurled a large banner that read “Stop trans genocide” well in Becker's view and also ruining any pictures of the event as it was reflected in the glass behind her.

Signs all throughout the venue space and on every seat detailed proper attendance etiquette, and campus police were present to make sure everyone in the room stayed in line.

After a brief talk that railed against trans healthcare and talked of the “growing number of detransitioners” who are unhappy with having undergone treatment, a question-and-answer portion was offered. One SDS member asked about the much larger number of trans people who receive gender-affirming healthcare procedures and are happier because of it. Baker danced around the question.

Once she was finished answering, the SDS contingent stood up and started chanting “Gender-affirming health care saves trans lives!” Before the cops in the room could really get aggressive, though they did put hands on and push one of the women, the group slowly marched out as they chanted. They took the protest outside to the front of the building where they chanted a little longer. 

“SDS is committed to showing up at all events like this and making both the speaker and the attendees actually there to listen to them as uncomfortable as possible,” said Patricia Fish of SDS. “Anti-trans bigotry and other hateful ideas have no place being given a platform on campuses.”

#MilwaukeeWI #SDS #UWM #TransRights

Milwaukee, WI – Over 200 students, faculty, teaching assistants and workers rallied at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Feb. 4, in opposition to Governor Scott Walker's proposed $300 million budget cut. Governor Walker's cuts to the statewide system will force layoffs, fewer courses, the closure of departments and possibly some campuses. The proposed budget will place the UW system under the control of the governor-appointed Board of Regents instead of the elected state legislature.

“No ifs, no buts, no education cuts!” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Scott Walker has got to go!” rang out as the crowd in Spaights Plaza on the Milwaukee campus grew larger and larger.

Protesters marched into the student union after listening to students and professors speak about the harm the proposed cuts would cause, particularly to working class and low-income students. Students formed a large picket line taking over the concourse, while a group dropped a banner from the third floor stairway reading “They say cut back. We say fight back! No cuts to UW.”

“The rally for me was a small but incredibly important starting point for what I hope is a long and successful struggle against those who support these cuts,” said student protester Will Guenthner.

He continued, “Education is something I find essential to our society and its prosperity. Also, solidarity is something that honestly gives me the chills. There's nothing more powerful than unifying with your peers, especially when the consequences are as drastic as the ones we face.”

Organized by Progressive Students of Milwaukee, an affiliate of Students for a Democratic Society, there are more plans are in the works to oppose Governor Walker's austerity plans. Student leaders say they do not want to sacrifice the quality, accessibility and affordability of higher education in Wisconsin just to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

#MilwaukeeWI #ProgressiveStudentsOfMilwaukee #GovernorScottWalker #educationCuts #UWM