During the protest last Monday, demonstrators occupied the bridge providing access to the AUC campus. Ultimately, five activists were arrested and taken into police custody.
The lecturers express serious concerns about this escalation in their letter. ‘We demand that AUC stop calling on the police out of concern for the safety of students to whom we have a duty of care’, they write. The board should refrain from involving the police in future incidents. They assert that criminalizing protest actions does not contribute to a healthy and safe learning environment.
Instead, AUC should provide more space for teach-ins, public lectures, and events addressing Gaza and other relevant issues. ‘We need to support our students, who are responding to atrocities, oppression, and inequality, and we must give them both the time and space to do so safely on our campus,’ the letter states.
Additionally, the lecturers oppose the disciplinary measures previously taken by the AUC administration against six students involved in a previous protest. The AUC student council previously initiated a petition against these measures and called it abuse of power by the board.
The letter has been signed by 23 lecturers so far.