University of Washington students confront board of regents, demand divestment and protections for immigrant and trans students

Seattle, WA – On March 12, around 50 students and workers gathered to confront the University of Washington Board of Regents and demand no ICE on campus, divestment from Israel, and the protection of transgender students. The board had cancelled its original full meeting but kept a scheduled committee meeting at the same time, which included a vote on divestment from Israel.

UW Students for a Democratic Society, WFSE Local 1495, and the Western State Carpenters gathered and delivered speeches in front of Dempsey Hall. Paula Lukaszek, the president of WFSE Local 1495, said “one of the reasons I’m here is I’m supporting the people at the encampment.” Lukaszek continued, “the university promised them things if the university would remove their encampment, and they didn’t.

We need to hold the university accountable to what they said.” Asha Viswanathan, a member of UW SDS, drew connections between the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil in New York and the response of the University of Washington: “Columbia administration instructs students to call campus security if they see ICE on campus, just as Cauce instructed us,” she said, referring to the president of UW. “We are here demanding know-your-rights trainings for UW employees and residential advisors, demanding divestment and demanding that this university protect its students.”

Once word had come that the board of regents was assembled and their meeting was beginning, the crowd went inside to make their voices heard.

After entering the building, students and union members waited outside the entrance to the regents’ meeting. There was a heavy police presence, and the chief of the UW Police Department, Craig Wilson, told protesters to move out of a hallway. Protesters asked if the regents saw students as a threat to them; the police chief said no, then again said that students would not be allowed to be near administrators as they entered the meeting.

SDS members then found the vice president for campus safety, Sally Clark, who controls the police department. A community member asked if UW should be a sanctuary campus. Sally Clark rejected the demand, claiming that because the city of Seattle was already a sanctuary city, the University of Washington did not need to do anything further.

SDS members proceeded to fill the board of regents meeting, holding up handmade signs. Despite the administration calling State Patrol and placing cops at every entrance to the building, students were not intimidated. As the board began its discussion of divesting from Israel, SDS members held up a banner demanding divestment as the crowd in the room angrily protested the regents’ excuses against divestment. In the end, the regents voted against divestment, claiming it would be too divisive.

At the end of the meeting, SDS members raced to find the president and provost walking out of the building. As students questioned what administration was doing to protect immigrants and trans students, and why it was moving to lay off grad students, President Ana Mari Cauce remained silent as police escorted her to a car.

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