Damian Almeida Baray
Mamayan Jabateh, whom UCUP formerly identified as “Student B.,” speaks about their December 11 arrest by CPD and subsequent eviction from University housing.
Members of UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP), Southside Together, and the Fight Back UChicago Campaign held a briefing on the arrest and eviction of two UChicago undergraduates on Wednesday afternoon. At the briefing, UCUP identified fourth-year Mamayan Jabateh as one of two students arrested by CPD in connection with the October 11 UCUP protest. Previously, UCUP had referred to Jabateh as “Student B.”
Jabateh said that four CPD officers approached and handcuffed them at Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons. According to Jabateh, no resident heads or resident deans were present at the arrest.
Jabateh said they were in custody for over 30 hours, from approximately 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11, until 11 p.m. on Thursday, December 12.
According to documents obtained by the Maroon through a Freedom of Information Act request, CPD identified Jabateh with assistance from University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) investigators.
Jabateh spoke about the October 21 arrest of an unnamed Arab student, “A.” According to UCUP, Student A. was placed on an involuntary leave of absence and removed from on-campus housing, with no plans for reinstatement.
“That is what the University of Chicago does. When a student is arrested, as they claim, by the Chicago Police Department, without being proven guilty, their response is to strip them of their communities, their source of income, and their education, while simultaneously investigating to further prosecute that student,” Jabateh said.
The second speaker was Stephanie Curry, a Woodlawn resident who was evicted from her apartment near the Barack Obama Presidential Center in September. She spoke on the University’s role in displacing Black students and residents on the South Side.
After a fire destroyed her apartment, Curry said she was moved to a unit in her building with smoke and water damage, mold, mice, and a hole in the ceiling that “sometimes leaks discolored water.” After multiple 311 calls to report the issues went unanswered, Curry withheld rent until building management took her to court and evicted her, the Sun-Times reported in September.
Uday Jain, a member of UChicago Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine and a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the Committee on Social Thought, was the event’s final speaker.
“This arrest and eviction of a queer Black undergraduate student continues a pattern of structural anti-blackness that the University of Chicago has perpetrated for decades,” Jain said.
The briefing concluded without the opportunity for news outlets to pose questions to UCUP or the three speakers.
Since October, UCUP has not responded to repeated requests for comment made by the Maroon through email and social media, and by phone.
When the Maroon asked for UCUP’s press contact at the briefing, the event moderator refused.
Following the briefing, the Maroon contacted UCUP by phone for comment. “We’re not talking to the Maroon,” a press contact said.
Previously, after UCUP rallied in front of Harper Memorial Library on October 29 to demand that University administrators reverse the eviction of “Student A.,” the Maroon reached out to the organization for comment. In response, UCUP indicated that it would no longer provide press releases or comment to the Maroon unless an article covering the arrest of a student at the October 11 protest was taken down.
Zachary Leiter contributed reporting.