Decriminalize UW #Georgefloyd #Charleenalyles #Jtwilliams #Tommyle #Shaunfuhr #Mannyellis
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
To sign on to this letter as an individual with ties to UW: https://bit.ly/DecrimUWind To sign on to this statement on behalf of an organization (RSO, academic unit, etc) , please go to: https://bit.ly/DecrimUWorg Decriminalize UW #GeorgeFloyd #CharleenaLyles #JTWilliams #TommyLe #ShaunFuhr #MannyEllis As members of the University of Washington (Seattle) community, we call on President Ana Mari Cauce and Provost Mark Richards to take immediate action to ensure the health and safety of people on campus, particularly Black and other persons of color, by protecting them from police violence by 1) the Seattle Police Department and 2) the UW Police Department. The national Movement For Black Lives has given the UW community an invitation to uphold our values of justice, equity, and anti-racism, and immediately divest from the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to protect our Black community members. In 2011, The US Department of Justice investigated SPD and found a pattern of excessive and unconstitutional force, which forced the City into a consent decree. The City is seeking to be released from the agreement despite repeated lack of accountability for police killings of Black residents -- most recently, Charleena Lyles and Shaun Fuhr.1 We bear witness to the ongoing harms that police violence enacts against Black lives. In the interests of public health and safety, we call on the University of Washington to divest from and cease any contracts with the Seattle Police Department. Specifically, we call on UW to break all ties (both informal and formal in the form of contracts, agreements, and MOUs) with Seattle Police Department by taking the following steps: 1) Immediately stop handing over people detained by UW Police Department to SPD custody.2 1 This statement was correct when the petition launched on June 2, 2020. After 6 sustained days of protest against Seattle Police Department violence, the City withdrew its request to be released from federal oversight and reforms. See: Miletich, S, Beekman, D, Hellman, M, et al. (2020) "As complaints pour in about police at Seattle protests, city will withdraw request that could lift federal oversight." The Seattle Times, Published June 3, 2020 2 The spirit of this demand includes closing the loophole in which UWPD drives students / community members directly to King County Jail for booking. Page 1 | Petition to Decriminalize the University of Washington, Seattle 2) Stop using SPD to respond to public safety needs, including referrals for welfare checks under the Safe Campus program. 3) Stop using SPD for additional security for any events, including football games, concerts, and ceremonies. UW Seattle also has its own police force, UW Police Department (UWPD), that intimidates Black and other members of our community by patrolling with guns and dogs. The September 2016 UW-commissioned “independent investigation” described racial profiling, excessive force and a failure to de-escalate at every opportunity without recommending policy changes. While the UW Concerned Faculty group responded to this report by calling for police accountability reforms in 2016 and 2017, the administration did not act on their recommendations. Reimagining Safe Campus requires a rethinking of policing itself in ways that do not rely on state violence. This will entail the effective redesign of training, assessment, and career development programs for UW Police. Specifically, we call on UW Seattle to reimagine a Safe Campus as follows: 1) Disarm UWPD officers. 2) Ban the use of police dogs, which many communities of color in the US associate with the terror of state violence. 3) Publicly commit to not hiring former police officers with disciplinary records as UW Police Officers. The issues we raise are not specific to UW Seattle. We support all related efforts at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma to protect our Black community members. College leaders across the nation, notably University of Minnesota, have taken decisive action to divest from city police departments. We invite UW leadership to join this national movement and be on the right side of history. Signed, Faculty (including Lecturers) Kemi Adeyemi; Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Jayadev Athreya; Department of Mathematics and Department of Comparative History of Idea Rachel Chapman; Department of Anthropology Angélica Cházaro; School of Law Jean Dennison; Department of American Indian Studies Page 2 | Petition to Decriminalize the University of Washington, Seattle Megan Ming Francis; Department of Political Science Carrie Freshour; Department of Geography Radhika Govindrajan; Department of Anthropology Gillian Harkins; Department of English Bettina Judd; Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Moon-Ho Jung; Department of History La TaSha Levy; Department of American Ethnic Studies Edwin Lindo; School of Medicine Dian Million; American Indian Studies Django Paris; College of Education Rae Paris; Department of English James Pfeiffer; Department of Global Health and Department of Anthropology LaShawnDa Pittman; Department of American Ethnic Studies Chandan Reddy; Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Ileana Rodriguez-Silva; Department of History Stephanie Smallwood; Department of History Manka Varghese; College of Education Sasha Su-Ling Welland; Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Megan Ybarra; Department of Geography Dan Berger; UW Bothell and Adjunct Associate, Department of History Michelle Habell-Pallan; Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies Linh Nguyen; Department of American Ethnic Studies Maya Smith; Department of French Suhanthie Motha; Department of English Sonnet Retman, American Ethnic Studies Amy Hagopian, Department of Public Health Emma Slager, UW Tacoma (and UW Geography alum) P. Joshua Griffin; SMEA and Department of American Indian Studies Mary Hotchkiss; School of Law Ben Marwick; Department of Anthropology Ann M. Ishimaru; College of Education Cabeiri Robinson, Jackson School of International Studies Graham J. Pruss Cleo Woelfle-Erskine; SMEA Jennifer Nemhauser Page 3 | Petition to Decriminalize the University of Washington, Seattle Emma Elliott-Groves Maribel Santiago Alexandra Molnar Sarah Prager Darren Byler; Department of Anthropology Vanessa Freije, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies María Elena García; Comparative History of Ideas Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky; Department of American Ethnic Studies David Citrin; Departments of Global Health and Anthropology Ralina L. Joseph; Department of Communications Wayne Au Jesse Oak Taylor; Department of English Jessica McDade Leila Norako; Department of English Jenna Grant; Department of Anthropology José Antonio Lucero; Jackson School and Comparative History of Ideas Kathryn Bunn-Marcuse, Art History/Burke Museum Dana Nickson, College of Education (Incoming) Ulrike Peters Carol Levin Jack Turner Genya Shimkin Ken Zeichner Elham Kazemi Victoria Lawson; Department of Geography Bonnie Duran Noah Simon Kristjana Ásbjörnsdóttir Sunila S. Kale, Department of International Studies LeiLani Nishime; Department of Communications Anna Lauren Hoffmann Rachel Scott Marika Cifor, Information School Katy Pearce, Communication Maggie Faber; UW Libraries Jen Balkus, Epidemiology Page 4 | Petition to Decriminalize the University of Washington, Seattle Angelina Godoy; Jackson School of International Studies and Dept of Law, Societies, and Justice Piper Daugharty; English Maggie Beneke; College of Education Dan Paz, CHID David Katz Anthony Craig, College of Education Erin Bednarz Arianna Means; Department of Global Health Ryan Kelly; School of Marine & Environmental Affairs Nic Weber Shaneé Washington, College of Education Anjuli Wagner; Department of Global Health Amanda Phipps Kessie Alexandre; Department of Geography Emma Spiro; Information School and Department of Sociology Katie Headrick Taylor, College of Education Martín Alberto Gonzalez Celia Lowe, Anthropology and International Studies Rawan Arar; Law, Societies, and Justice Niral Shah; College of Education Emily Machado; College of Education Vince Schleitwiler, Department of American Ethnic Studies Renee Heffron, Department of Global Health Molly Shea Mathieu Dubeau, Instructor, Political Science Scott Winn; School of Social Work Matthew Weinstein, School of Education, UWT Daniel Bessner, Jackson School of International Studies Barbara Baquero, Health Services Filiberto Barajas-López; College of Education Sasha Senderovich; Slavic and Jackson School Liora Halperin, International Studies & History Jason Daniel-Ulloa Robin Minthorn, School of Education Arbella Bet-Shlimon; Department of History Peters, Nicole; English Department Page 5 | Petition to Decriminalize the University of Washington, Seattle Martha Groom, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UWB Philip Bell; College of Education Judy Lazarus, School of Nursing Jason Groves, Germanics Bobby Wilson; Department of Mathematics Phillip Thurtle; CHID Juan Guerra; Department of American Ethnic Studies and Department of English Andy Heald; Department of Mathematics Teddi Beam-Conroy, College of Education Tracy W. Harachi, School of Social Work Clara Berridge, School of Social Work Michael Freeman; The Information School Nora Kenworthy; School of Nursing and Health Studies, UW Bothell Ravi Ramasamy MD; Department of Psychiatry Meghan Eagen-Torkko, PhD, CNM, ARNP, School of Nursing & Health Studies, UWB Alice Pedersen; Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences Brukab Sisay Jessica Rigby; College of Education Christine Keating Julia Robinson,