Wesleyan University students holding a sit-in at the university’s investment office were reportedly removed from the area by police. The students were protesting to demand the school divest from companies involved in the Israeli war in Palestinian territories.
A post on Instagram by UConn Divest with video that reportedly shows the incident said the students were arrested.
According to the university, the students were removed after “impeding administrative business.”
“Wesleyan’s Public Safety and Student Affairs team asked that the students leave and informed them that they were violating the student code of conduct by disrupting University operations,” the university statement said. “While some students voluntarily left, five students remained in defiance of repeated warnings. Middletown Police arrived and restated the warnings, offering to let the students leave rather than be arrested. After discussion, the students agreed to leave the building. Students will face internal disciplinary action as a result of the disruption. ”
The university said involving police “has always been a last resort” and the relationship between protestors and administration has been more cooperative than at other Connecticut universities. No arrests occurred last year during pro-Palestinian protests and President Michael Roth allowed the tent encampment to remain until the parties reached an agreement and the encampment was removed.
The students were protesting ahead of an expected vote on divestment at the Board of Trustees meeting this weekend. On Aug. 21, Wesleyan University’s Committee on Investor Responsibility submitted a proposal to the board to divest the university endowment from companies that support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The vote was promised as part of an agreement between Wesleyan Students for Justice in Palestine, Wesleyan Palestine Solidarity Encampment and the administration that brought an end to a 20-day encampment with around 100 tents on the campus in the spring.
The Wesleyan administration disclosed that, as of Dec. 31, 2023, 2.1% of the endowment was invested in Aerospace and Defense companies or Israeli software companies. None of the companies, according to Wesleyan President Michael Roth, were directly involved in the manufacture of weapons or on the list of complicit companies provided by student protesters.
The agreement included other initiatives beyond disclosure and divestment, including amnesty for student protesters, termination of study abroad relationships with Israel and efforts to bring Palestinian artists, scholars and students to the university.
According to the students who organized the sit-in Friday, a lack of transparency about whether the board would vote on divestment at the Sept. 22 meeting prompted the protest.
The protest also was held in honor of 10-year-old Tala Abu Ajwa, a Palestinian child who was reportedly killed by an Israeli airstrike while roller skating during Wesleyan‘s first week of classes.
