Pro-Palestine protesters delivered a petition to the Office of the Dean of Students on Tuesday, urging the University to reverse the involuntary leave of absence on which a student was placed after being arrested at the October 11 protest. After being placed on leave, the student was ordered to immediately vacate student housing in accordance with the University’s involuntary leave of absence policy.
The rally, led by UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP), began at approximately 11:40 a.m. with around 40 protesters gathered outside Harper Memorial Library. It started with chants of “Free, free Palestine!” followed by speakers reading the petition aloud, referring to the student as “A.” to protect his identity.
“October 11 was A.’s first time going to a protest at UChicago. Now the university has forced him out of his home, threatened him with arrest if he returns to campus, and cut off his access to his meal plan—imposing an unjust, unlawful sanction on this student in violation of its own policies and state law,” the petition read.
The Maroon has verified that the petition to reverse the involuntary leave of absence gathered over 1,500 individual signatures, including students, faculty and staff, community members, and various organizations.
During the rally, speakers demanded that the student be permitted to return to campus and resume his education immediately. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” a speaker said, which was followed by cheers from the crowd.
According to University policy, the decision to place a student on involuntary leave of absence is up to the discretion of the dean of students. The student may request a review; however, once the dean reaches a final decision, it is “final and unreviewable within the University.”
Four University of Chicago Police Department officers, eight Allied Universal Security officers, and two deans-on-call were present at the protest.
At approximately 11:52 a.m., the protesters entered Harper. The group continued chanting, “Hey deans, what do you say, how many kids did you bomb today?” and “UChicago loves investments, UChicago hates its students,” as they moved toward the Office of the Dean of Students.
The protesters gathered briefly in the hallway outside Dean of Students Philip Venticinque’s office, where the speakers reiterated the petition’s demands. The rally ended at approximately 11:56 a.m.
The Maroon later confirmed that the protesters handed the petition to Patricia Maloney, the executive assistant to the dean of students in the College. They also posted a copy of the petition on a bulletin board outside Dean Venticinque’s office.
In a statement to the Maroon, the University wrote “The Office of the Dean of Students in the College received the petition. We don’t have any other updates beyond the statement we shared last week.”
UCUP declined a request for comment.
Eva McCord contributed reporting.
