Students at four D.C. universities protest trump’s police takeover
S. E. Anderson
Students at four D.C. universities protest trump’s police takeover
Hundreds of students at Georgetown, Howard, George Washington and American universities urged their leaders to resist the trump administration’s takeover in D.C.
The demonstrations, organized by the Sunrise Movement and Free DC, along with campus leaders at Georgetown, Howard, George Washington and American universities, mark the first time local students have coordinated a response to the police takeover.
“Young people and students have always been leading the fight, have been the moral catalyst for societies to rise up,” said Izzy Volpe, a 19-year-old Georgetown sophomore. “This is our moment. This is our generation’s test.”
Georgetown University
In March, Ed Martin, trump’s interim D.C. U.S. Attorney, demanded Georgetown Law School end its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, writing in a letter that his office would not consider hiring anyone affiliated with a university that utilizes DEI. Weeks later, the Department of Homeland Security detained a pro-Palestinian researcher over antisemitism allegations. And in July, House Republicans called in Georgetown’s interim president and two other university leaders over campus antisemitism.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) and Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) joined students as they waved signs and chanted. Speakers called on university and city leaders to resist the federalization of D.C. Some students in the crowd said they had to pass through federal agents and a National Guard checkpoint to get to class at Georgetown’s Capitol campus. Jayapal told students their protests were upholding American democracy.
As lectures ended, and other students strolled into Red Square, the crowd thinned. Some stopped to listen, others paused to snap a photo before moving on to their next class.
Howard University
In speeches in the university’s Yard, the same square where Kamala Harris conceded the presidential race last fall, students, some with the group HU Won’t Comply, told dozens of protesters they felt the fight against trump began here, with them, on that election night.
They said their ancestors at the historically Black university fought for civil rights 60 years ago, and now they wanted to follow in their footsteps. They urged Howard leaders to make the university a sanctuary campus to ensure no students are detained by immigration officers and that no federal agents were allowed at their school.
And in interviews, some expressed they had felt more unsafe leaving campus in the past four weeks, afraid they could be targeted by federal officers because they are Black. But they also said it’s more important than ever to connect with D.C. neighbors and prepare to fight back against trump.
George Washington University
As the walkouts continued into the afternoon, students at George Washington University carried signs that said, “ICE off our campus,” and, “GWU stand with DC not with trump.” In speeches, some recalled the activism of last year’s encampment, when students from colleges across the region descended on the Foggy Bottom campus to protest the Israel-Hamas war. Then a few dozen in the crowd left the square to walk to university President Ellen Granberg’s house, where they called for her to take a stand against trump and defend D.C.’s autonomy.
Mathew Reis, a 17-year-old freshman, said he was walking out because he wanted people in D.C. and across the country to know that its young people, its college students, were back on campus and ready to organize against the trump administration. And they wanted their leaders to do so, too.
“We’ve been overlooked as whiny or woke,” he said. “But we’re living here, and we want to feel safe.”
The Foggy Bottom university has sought to avoid the trump administration’s ire over the past eight months, telling its students and faculty it would do what it takes to preserve federal funding. That has led some students to criticize Granberg and her administration for curtailing pro-Palestinian activism on the campus, while others have said she has not done enough to protect Jewish students.
American University
At the day’s final demonstration, hundreds of AU students, faculty, staff and local residents gathered in a quad on the campus and walked to the school’s international studies building. There, the group was met with frequent honks from cars passing by.
The largest of the four protests, AU demonstrators echoed calls for university leaders to support student activism against trump in D.C. and refuse his demands of higher education. A professor told the crowd they were representing democracy in action. Another student said they were an essential part of the fight, urging them to keep going, to keep organizing. Speakers and the crowd also demanded that Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who recently issued an order outlining continued cooperation with federal law enforcement, stop working with the administration.
“Bowser, Bowser, you’re a coward!” they chanted. “Students have all the power!”
s. e. anderson
author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners
www.blackeducator.org
"If WORK was good for you, the rich would leave none for the poor." (Haiti)
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