User:James J. Lambden/sandbox/2017 Evergreen State Protests

Day of Absence Campus tradition since the 1970s https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-college-excuses-student-protesters-from-homework.html

Minority students don't attend class Meet off campus to discuss racial issues Inspired by Douglas Turner Ward play in which black residents suddenly vanish from a segregated Southern town Meant to highlight the contributions of minority students to campus

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/30/escalating-debate-race-evergreen-state-students-demand-firing-professor https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-college-excuses-student-protesters-from-homework.html http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Polarized-Campus-Struggles/240260 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/theater/day-of-absence-review.html

As of 2017, approximately 25% of Evergreen students belonged to racial minorities. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/

Change This year the school requested that white students and faculty leave campus for the day https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ http://www.king5.com/news/education/washington-state-lawmaker-seeks-to-pull-funding-from-evergreen-state-college/445296938 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/ Workshops for on-campus students included lectures such as: "Decolonizing Gender", "Can White People Ever Be Woke", and "Cultural Genocide" http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college

Weinstein Weinstein objected to the proposal and refused to leave campus https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college

Weinstein hadn't objected previously objected previously https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/30/escalating-debate-race-evergreen-state-students-demand-firing-professor

but said in response to the change "There is a huge difference between a group or coalition deciding to voluntarily absent themselves from a shared space in order to highlight their vital and underappreciated role [...] and a group encouraging another group to go away,"

"The first is a forceful call to consciousness, which is, of course, crippling to the logic of oppression. The second is a show of force, and an act of oppression in and of itself."

"On a college campus, one's right to speak -- or to be -- must never be based on skin color." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/30/escalating-debate-race-evergreen-state-students-demand-firing-professor http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-college-excuses-student-protesters-from-homework.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/06/01/lawmakers-seek-to-strip-public-funds-from-evergreen-college-over-racist-protests.html http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Polarized-Campus-Struggles/240260 http://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Professor-Who-Roiled/240267

Background Weinstein had previously objected to a recommendation by the college's Equity and Inclusion Council that all future faculty hires require an "equity justification/explanation" https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/30/escalating-debate-race-evergreen-state-students-demand-firing-professor https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/

Tension on campus from previous incidents. In 2015 when Olympia police shot two African-American men And May 2017 when two African-American students were woken at midnight by campus police and detained over an argument involving racism

Students protested against alleged racism, in one incident which the student newspaper reported students disrupted a ceremony to welcome the town's new police chief with the chant “F— cops!”

http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Polarized-Campus-Struggles/240260 http://kuow.org/post/evergreen-state-college-shut-down-after-telephoned-threat https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article153150894.html http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/discord-at-evergreen-state-simmered-for-a-year-before-it-boiled-over/

Disruption On May 23 a month after the email http://q13fox.com/2017/05/31/evergreen-state-college-professor-says-a-mob-came-after-him-after-he-spoke-out-against-coercive-segregation/ http://college.usatoday.com/2017/06/05/evergreen-state-cancels-days-of-classes-due-to-external-threats/

approximately 50 protestors disrupted his class, shouting and accusing him of racism http://q13fox.com/2017/05/31/evergreen-state-college-professor-says-a-mob-came-after-him-after-he-spoke-out-against-coercive-segregation/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/ http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article153150894.html

and confronted administrators in videos showing shouting and expletives. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-college-excuses-student-protesters-from-homework.html http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/06/01/lawmakers-seek-to-strip-public-funds-from-evergreen-college-over-racist-protests.html http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/discord-at-evergreen-state-simmered-for-a-year-before-it-boiled-over/

Campus police were called http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article153150894.html

and Weinstein was forced to move his classes to a nearby park when they advised him to stay off campus http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/discord-at-evergreen-state-simmered-for-a-year-before-it-boiled-over/

Weinstein said: “They imagine that I am a racist and that I am teaching racism in the classroom,. And that has caused them to imagine that I have no right to speak, and that I am harming students by the very act of teaching them." http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article153150894.html

Subsequent Demonstrations A larger group of students then occupied administration buildings http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/discord-at-evergreen-state-simmered-for-a-year-before-it-boiled-over/ http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college

At one point college president George Bridges was ordered to keep his hands at his sides https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/

"Campus police waited outside, ready to rush into the building if things became violent." http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/discord-at-evergreen-state-simmered-for-a-year-before-it-boiled-over/

Demands May 26 That Weinstein and two campus police officers be fired https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/05/college-closed-for-third-day-concerned-about-threat-after-protests-over-race/

Mandatory diversity and sensitivity training for the schools thousand employees Hiring a vice president for equity and diversity Acknowledging at the beginning of every official event that the land Evergreen State is built on was stolen from Native Americans

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ Various changes to the student code of conduct http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Polarized-Campus-Struggles/240260

That "video created for Day of Absence and Day of Presence that was stolen by white supremacists and edited to expose and ridicule the students and staff be taken down by the administration this Friday.” http://www.torontosun.com/2017/06/01/activists-demand-professor-resign-for-opposing-campus-no-whites-day-at-evergreen-state-college

According to one group of protestors: “Black trans disabled students are actively being sought out and confronted by campus police constantly, police are refusing to explain their actions and harassment” and "students of color have never felt comfortable on campus and have not been treated equally.” http://college.usatoday.com/2017/06/05/evergreen-state-cancels-days-of-classes-due-to-external-threats/

Bridges rejected the demand to fire Weinstein or any other college employees http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-college-excuses-student-protesters-from-homework.html

but agreed to diversity training for Evergreen's approximately 100 employees, with additional training for campus police https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/30/escalating-debate-race-evergreen-state-students-demand-firing-professor

June 1 (Thursday) threat, college evacuated Thursday afternoon, a threat called into Olympia police department. The caller claimed to be heading to campus with a .44 Magnum to “execute as many people on that campus as I can get ahold of. You have that, what’s going on here, you communist scumbag?” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/01/threats-shut-down-college-embroiled-in-racial-dispute/ http://kuow.org/post/evergreen-state-college-shut-down-after-telephoned-threat https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/05/evergreen-state-college-reopens-after-violent-threat-and-property-damage-on-campus/

all classes cancelled and students told to remain in dorms https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/

remained closed through friday https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/02/evergreen-state-caught-up-in-racial-turmoil-remains-closed-friday-after-threat-of-violence/

Reopened Saturday and Sunday but closed again Monday after an incident Sunday night where a group armed with sticks and baseball bats caused approximately $10,000 of property damage to the campus. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/05/evergreen-state-college-reopens-after-violent-threat-and-property-damage-on-campus/

Olympia police contacted the FBI to investigate http://kuow.org/post/evergreen-state-college-shut-down-after-telephoned-threat

It was unclear whether the threat was related to the protests http://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Polarized-Campus-Struggles/240260

Response (Weinstein)

Response (Administration)

Response (Public)

Existing Evergreen's 2017 commencement ceremony was moved off-campus because of safety concerns.