Call to Action: Drop Charges Against Anti-Racist Middlebury Student Protesters

In March, Middlebury students shut down white supremacist, sexist, ableist, anti-labor far-right ideologue Charles Murray’s lecture on campus. These students now face repressive disciplinary action by the college, including suspension, for participating in this successful direct action. One group hearing is schedule for May 4 at 6PM, and several individual hearings are scheduled for next week. (Meanwhile, college administrator Bill Burger and multiple Public Safety officers remain unaccountable for the vehicular assault and life-endangerment of protestors who nonviolently disrupted Murray’s exit.)

A movement of Middlebury students and community members demands restorative justice instead of punishment. Public pressure from beyond the Middlebury community influences judicial decisions; it helped Middlebury student activists avoid suspension before.

Please call and email the college administrators and staff listed below, demanding that these students not be punished by official college discipline, and that the college instead take restorative steps. Here’s a suggestion for what you might say (of course putting it into your own words would be best):

I believe that students who protested Charles Murray should face no official college discipline. These students showed courage and determination, and they should not be punished for standing up for community values including “fostering a diverse and inclusive community,” as the student handbook states. Punishing protest is silencing dissent. Middlebury College must instead recognize and work to end its complicity in and perpetuation of systems of oppression.

I demand that instead of punishing students, you work with students towards equity and justice on campus.

Laurie Patton, President of the College

lpatton@middlebury.edu, president@middlebury.edu

Barbara McBride, Executive Assistant to President Patton

mcbride@middlebury.edu (802-443- 5400)

Dave Donahue, Special Assistant to the President and Director of Community Relations

ddonahue@middlebury.edu (802-443-3060)

Katy Smith-Abbott, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College

smithabb@middlebury.edu (802-443-5382)

Baishakhi Taylor, Dean of Students

taylorb@middlebury.edu (802-443-5575)

(This article is adapted from an article originally published in Beyond the Green, a radical Middlebury student-run newspaper. Beyond the Green has more articles about the movement on Middlebury’s campus for restorative justice, including a petition, available on the home page.)

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