The repression and harassment that these students have faced includes getting suspended off campus, being given bogus, hefty fines and charges, and being stalked on personal social media accounts by UWMPD and UWM administrators, and much more.

Led by members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the press conference was a response to the ongoing repression and harassment of UWM students and SDS members alike. The most recent example of repression stems from the recent National SDS Convention that happened across the street from the UWM campus, where eight students and community members were targeted and cited for holding a march in solidarity with Palestine around the campus.

SDS members, both from Milwaukee and Chicago, along with community members rallied, demanding an end to the UWMPD’s and UWM administration’s attacks on students for exercising their right to free speech on campus.

Chris Van Valkenberg from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee SDS spoke on how the citations included either “amplification of sound” or “standing in roadway”, were just another example of the truly bogus attacks that the campus police and administration at UWM subject SDS members and students. Van Valkenberg mentioned that these antagonizers have worked hard to harass us and repress us for the last two years because they know when we fight, we win. As part of UWM SDS, Van Valkenberg noted the success in fighting such charges, especially as a part of the larger National SDS. Van Valkenberg stated that just like our student charges in the past for the Milwaukee chapter of SDS, the students will fight these charges until they are dropped to show that SDS does not get scared of repression; we get stronger because of it.

The next speaker was Diego Garcia of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR), who spoke about how the attacks and harassment of student activists have only made the admin and police look weak in the face of progress and student safety alike. Garcis concluded that while the students advocate for progressive change on their campus, like protesting for a free Palestine, increasing black enrollment, and preserving DEI initiatives, UWMPD and UWM administrators are deathly afraid not only of these topics, but afraid of the students leading the movement on campus. It’s up to the students like those in SDS to remind the student body who is on the right side of history.

Lastly, Ángel Naranjos from the University of Illinois-Chicago SDS (UIC SDS) made it clear that the repression against students is happening across the country. Naranjos emphasized that because of this repression, students like those in Chicago and Milwaukee have chosen to escalate their campaign strategies when it comes to defending DEI initiatives and cultural centers on campus when university administrators refuse to budge despite popular student demand for such. The popularity of demands like these and others is what has made SDS a fighting student force across the country, and why the success of the 2025 National SDS Convention just a month ago in Milwaukee was such a success.

As the Trump administration’s attacks on students continue to grow, students have felt the pressure of this through a loss of educational funding, satellite campuses, research funds, DEI programs, and overall student safety. Much of this pressure is also funneled from the administrations of universities across the country, who are willing to put profits above education at every level. These losses, combined with an increase in campus police presence and intimidation, strict campus free speech laws targeting student activism, and purposefully deregistering and suspending any detracting student organizations, are a call to action for all students on UWM’s campus to call for its administration to end its complicity with Trump’s anti-education and anti-student policies.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #StudentMovement #UWMSDS #SDS #MAARPR

Milwaukee, WI – On Thursday, November 6, students gathered at Spaights Plaza on the UWM campus, demanding that UWM and all other universities, reject Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence, which includes demands to terminate DEI initiatives, a crackdown on free speech of students and faculty, and calls for repression against student activists.

Led by members of the UW-Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (UWM SDS), the rally was also a response to the ongoing cuts to education, cuts to multicultural and inclusivity programs, and constant student repression and harassment by the UWM administration.

Students, SDS members, campus faculty and community members rallied, demanding an end to the Trump administration’s attacks on education across the country.

First, Nadezhda Young-Binter from Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke on how Trump’s compact for universities continues his agenda for using his attacks on education as tools for spreading the ruling party’s political agenda, as well as maintaining the interests of the billionaire class while restricting the working class and a diverse student population from accessing greater education.

The next speaker was Robby Knapp, a current UW-Milwaukee SDS member and co-chair of the Milwaukee Fights Back Against Trump Coalition. Knapp called out the UWMPD and the university administration for handing out bogus citations to eight different students during the National SDS Convention march just a few weeks earlier, including himself. Knapp pointed to the continued repression he and other student protesters have been facing for the past two years from campus administration and campus police, and the repression that immigrant communities have faced from ICE.

Trey Bores of UW-Milwaukee SDS emphasized the importance of the DEI initiatives that the Trump administration is cutting. They explained that by taking away funding for cultural and inclusion centers, like those for queer and trans youth, Latino, Muslim, Black and Asian students, the Trump administration and campus administration take away different cultural perspectives, which makes students less knowledgeable about the world. Bores also pointed out that while Milwaukee County is 40% Black, the current campus administration is not doing enough with its unacceptable 6% population of Black students, and with Trump’s attacks on non-white students, that percentage, along with the percentage of international students, would plummet.

UWM SDS has ben fighting consistent attacks on and harassment of its members by the university administration. Students fighting for university acknowledgement of the genocide in Palestine have been suspended, banned from campus, put on disciplinary probation, stalked by administrative officials, and harassed daily by those same officials.

As the Trump administration’s attacks on students continue to grow, students have felt the pressure of this through a loss of educational funding, satellite campuses, research funds, DEI programs, and overall student safety. These losses, combined with an increase in campus police presence and intimidation, strict campus free speech regulations targeting student activism, and deregistering and suspending student organizations, are a call to action for all students on UWM’s campus to call for its administration to end its complicity with Trump’s anti-education and anti-student policies.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #StudentMovement #SDS #UWMSDS #MFBAT #FRSO

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 Thursday, September 14, UW-Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and supporting community organizations rallied together to demand justice for Déjah Welsh. Welsh is a Black former student who attended UWM in 2013. Like many students, she was struggling with mental health issues, and while having a mental health crisis, UWM police officers attacked her and nearly suffocated her to death. They only stopped when she said, “I don’t want to end up like Derek Williams.” Williams was suffocated to death in the back of a Milwaukee police squad car in 2011. Once they stopped, they put her in a mental health facility.

When she tried to return to campus, UWM administration gave her the runaround, and basically prevented her from re-enrolling by forcing her to miss deadlines. Years later, she is trying to enroll at a different university to continue her education, but UWM will not release her transcripts to her.

Unfortunately, Welsh’s experience with campus police is not unique. Many Black students have been targeted, harassed and brutalized by UWM PD. It’s no wonder that Black enrollment is so low.

“It’s important to keep these stories alive because often the Black people that this happens to don’t get to tell their story or more importantly don’t receive the justice they deserve. So often we hear about the Black UWM students who faced similar things in their classrooms, in the dorms and with administration,” Welsh said during the rally.

After the rally, nearly 20 protesters marched through campus to Chancellor Mone’s Fall Address to make their demands known. They protested outside the venue before going inside with signs that read “Justice for Déjah!” and “Increase Black enrollment!”

“When we went inside, there were about five campus cops and a staff person who told us we couldn’t stand up, we had to sit down,” says SDS member Patricia Fish. “It’s clear that Chancellor Mone knows UWM made a huge mistake, and they were doing damage control.”

During the address, Mone showed a video tokenizing a Black student, and spoke about opportunities available to Black students, but he could barely look in the protesters’ direction.

SDS demands that UWM administration and police department apologize to Déjah Welsh for what happened, release her transcripts, forgive her student loans from her time at UWM, and give her a grant to return to school. Welsh should not owe any money to an institution responsible for traumatizing her and barring her from higher education!

“It’s time to come forward and fight back,” says Welsh, “I’m not the first and I'm definitely not the last student this has happened to. I encourage any other Black and brown students at UWM who have faced similar racism to come forward and seek justice.”

People can sign the petition to demand justice for Déjah here.

#MilwaukeeWI #IncreaseBlackEnrollment #SDS #UWMSDS