As graduate students and teaching assistants in the University of Wisconsin Department of Communication Arts, we join others in expressing our outrage at the UW Police Department’s actions toward Denzel “King Shabazz” McDonald.

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The disruption of a classroom and disrespect shown to the Afro-American Studies professor are both exemplars of the reasons for distrust of police among communities of color and an insult to every instructor on this campus who works so hard to cultivate a positive and open environment for their students.

In our classrooms, we teach students to speak publicly, to think and write critically; we teach them to analyze communication and public discourse and to produce their own media. We take it as an imperative of our teaching and learning to take a stand for justice at UW campus.

In photos: UW students march throughout campus, protest Denzel McDonald’s arrest

We stand with King Shabazz, professor Johanna Almiron, Mike Davis and all others facing harassment and abuse for their willingness to stand up for what’s right. Students and community members have come out with demands to repair the harm of this incident. We stand in solidarity with these demands; they are repeated here:

1. The District Attorney dismiss the case against King.
2. UWPD return King’s items to him immediately.
3. King’s status as student is not jeopardized and he is able to graduate.
4. Officers and administrators involved in arrest of King should resign.
5. Implement community control over UWPD, including a faculty, staff and student-led review board that would have control over hiring, firing and training accountability measures. This is in line with the shared governance policy that encompasses literally every other aspect of the university.

The Afro-American Studies Department has also come out with demands to move us toward positive action regarding the campus climate. We stand in solidarity with these demands:

1. That UW makes a firm commitment, supported by resource allocation, to meeting the mental health needs of students of color. This means providing extra access to support services during this time of crisis and following through on the chancellor’s recent promise to hire two counselors with primary training in race and diversity.
2. That the administration operates with transparency and consistency in dealing with issues of student discipline. This means taking incidents of verbal, physical and sexual harassment seriously and responding in ways that actively address the underlying issues and problems.
3. That UW commits to making the ethnic studies requirement meaningful. This means requiring the ESR to be fulfilled within the first two years on campus through courses that focus on diversity in the U.S. and involve face-to-face contact with instructional staff and other students. We understand clearly that this will entail a significant shift of resources, and we know that the budget is tight for everyone. But the fact is that faculty and instructional staff in Afro-American Studies, Asian American Studies, Chican@ and Latin@ Studies and American Indian Studies at UW are experts in this area and know how to teach courses that make a difference. UW needs to move beyond rhetoric and demonstrate that its commitment is real.

As students and instructors at this university, we refuse to remain silent in the face of increasing incidents of racism on the individual and structural levels. Our endorsement of the demands listed above is in line with our commitment to a university that fosters the learning and support of all students on this campus.

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We also recognize that students of color, especially black students, are disproportionately affected by the recent incidents on campus and would therefore like to extend a gesture of emotional, mental and academic support during this time. Please know that you have allies here in the communication arts department.

Finally, this letter is still open for signatures; we welcome any and all graduate students and teaching assistants in the communication arts department to sign their names in solidarity. We also invite graduate students in departments across the UW campus to publish their own letters of support.

Signed,

Shereen Yousuf, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

KC Councilor, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Caelyn Randall, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Hana Masri, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Leland Pan, Communication Arts 100 Teaching Assistant, Graduate Student Worker

Marissa Fernholz, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Meg Rooney, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Alex Harwood, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Timothy Brayton, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Whitney Gent, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

James Alex Bonus, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

April Bethea, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Trace Palmer, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Cuixia Zhu, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Tony Tran, Department of Communication Arts, AOF Fellow

Liz Barr, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Matt Connolly, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Laura Stephenson, Department of Communication Arts, AOF Fellow

Wan-Jun Lu, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Kevin Musgrave, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Sarah Murray, Department of Communication Arts, Research Fellow/Graduate Student Worker

Fangjing Tu, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Emily Sauter, Department of Communication Arts, Fellow/Graduate Student Worker

Amanda Friz, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Nora Stone, Department of Communication Arts, Graduate Student Worker

Brandi D. Rogers, Department of Communication Arts, Lecturer/Graduate Student Worker