Students will protest treatment of women

Editor,

I would like to invite students, staff and faculty to join us for a protest beginning at noon tomorrow in front of the UNM Bookstore against growing violence at UNM.

This protest coincides with International Women’s Day in order to bring attention to the recent violence targeting women on the UNM campus. In addition, UNM is witnessing a growing threat to free speech and assembly.

Some UNM students were violently attacked last week for exercising their freedom of speech in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Students who were seated and peacefully reading a statement in support of the Palestinian people were attacked and physically assaulted.

An undergraduate student became an immediate target of violence, ostensibly because she is a woman of color and was wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. Attackers singled her out and screamed anti-Muslim racial slurs as they threw punches that caused her to lose consciousness.

Other students who were with her were also targets of bodily violence, with one woman suffering a concussion. These students have been met by indifference by both the UNM police and administration offices.

The University has not only condoned violations of free speech, but also actively participated in repressing people’s freedom to express themselves. Later that week, an alumna, a Civil Rights lawyer and two UNM students were arrested at Yale Park when they tried to participate in a weekend of teach-ins about colonization, white privilege and growing economic disparity.

(un)Occupy Albuquerque, which had organized three days of teach-ins, was denied access to Yale Park by UNM police. On Sunday afternoon, a member of Occupy Santa Fe who arrived to attend the Occupy Wall Street Statewide General Assembly sat in the park as an act of civil disobedience and got arrested.

UNM police, who became increasingly aggressive, then arrested three bystanders, charging one student for obstruction after he was hit by a police car and another for not moving back to the sidewalk as she was documenting the event on her phone.

As members of the University community, we are deeply disturbed by the growing incidences of intolerance on campus. UNM has not only failed to address these issues, but has actively participated in violating people’s rights to a peaceful assembly. We cannot abide by a university that condones hate crimes and assault against women and against those who are exercising their right to peaceful protest. Bring signs for the protest to show solidarity with UNM students, staff, faculty and community members who have been victimized by UNM’s repression of freedom. Please dress in red and black, international strike colors, and consider making a sign to reflect the following messages:

· UNM must offer equal protection to all students.
· UNM must not condone violence.
· We reject the authority of a university that condones woman-beating.

Natalie Avalos Cisneros
Daily Lobo reader