A memo sent from Evergreen State College Vice President for Student Affairs Wendy Endress reportedly described the actions of student protesters as “criminal.”
Almost two months following the conclusions of the student protest effort, an Evergreen administrator has reportedly described the behavior of protesters who trapped faculty in the library and forced professor Bret Weinstein to move his classes off campus as “criminal.” She added that future occurrences of the same kind of protest behavior may result in criminal charges.
In May, students disrupted professor Bret Weinstein’s classes after he argued against a school initiative in which all white community members were asked to leave campus for the day. Writing in the New York Times, columnist Bari Weiss called Evergreen’s “Day of Absence” a day of “racial segregation.”
Friday’s memo from Endress reportedly addresses two specific incidents. First, students blocked law enforcement officers from responding to the chaos that ensued outside of Weinstein’s seminar, where student protesters shouted and demanded his resignation. The other incident involved student protesters trapping Evergreen staff in the library during negotiations over what the students had alleged was poor leadership on behalf of the administration.
On May 23 a sizable group approached the classroom where faculty member Bret Weinstein was leading his academic program, Hacking Human Nature. The group interrupted the program and others held in the same building, shouted for Weinstein to resign, and blocked Evergreen law enforcement officers who were responding to a call about the situation.
On May 24 some Evergreen employees working in the Library felt trapped in the building due to protestors blocking exits and office doors; some employees reported being stopped in the parking lot and on the roadway, questioned, and detained in their vehicles; and more than one individual reported being followed and their freedom of movement hindered.
Endress reportedly used the word “criminal” to describe both incidents. Because she claimed that student protesters may only face criminal charges if similar behavior is to persist, it seems like the unlawful behavior that took place in May will go unpunished.
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about economics and higher education for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com
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