HYDE PARK — The University of Chicago has permanently banned from campus eight trauma protesters who barricaded themselves in a university building in June.
The eight non-student protesters who participated in a protest on June 3 that ended in firefighters breaking down a wall and sawing through a door to remove them said they have all been permanently banned from the university campus.
A ninth protester who was a student has not been banned.
“It turns out every moment on campus into an act of civil disobedience,” said Alex Goldenberg, one of the eight arrested and an alumni of the university. “I don’t think it will stop any of us though.”
Jeremy Manier, a university spokesman, said the protesters risked the safety of people of campus in their efforts to advocate for a trauma center at the university’s hospital, so the university is justified in the ban.
He said the protest, which shut down an exit from Levi Hall at 5801 S. Ellis Ave. for more than two hours, disrupted the university’s operations, which is a violation of the university’s statutes.
While Manier did not have an exact count of how many workers were in the building at the time of the protest, he said the protesters used a pipe and wooden board to lock some in a suite "against their will." He said others were forced to use an emergency exit to get out.
He also said they disabled two elevators in the building and made the building's main fire alarm panel inaccessible.
"The protesters failed to comply with directives from Chicago Fire Department personnel to unlock the doors," Manier said.
Protesters said they are appealing the ban and deny that university operations were so disrupted that they should be banned.
Goldenberg said protesters went through offices telling university employees what their planned action included and asked at least two of them if they would like to leave.
Nearly 80 current and former faculty members are now pushing the university to overturn the ban, saying it violates the university’s values of open inquiry and free dialogue by trying to silence those that disagree with the university.
“There certainly is a point to make and there should be an open conversation,” said Bruce Lincoln, a history professor and a lead author of the letter.
He said seven professors, including five department chairs, who signed the letter are meeting with the provost in early September about overturning the ban.
The eight protesters banned include Kelvin Ho, Greg Goodman, Victoria Crider, Caroline Wooten, Veronica Morris Moore, Alex Goldenberg, Jackie Spreadbury and Michal David.
The ban means that none of the eight cannot go on any university property, except the hospital to receive medical treatment, or will be arrested for trespassing.
Emilio Comay Del Junco, university graduate student, was not banned but faced disciplinary action.
According to faculty familiar with the committee reviewing Del Junco’s case, he was given a formal warning, the lightest punishment available.
Del Junco and the others were also charged with trespassing, mob action and resisting arrest.
Three protesters Victoria Crider, Jackie Spreadbury and Michal David have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal trespass and been given six months of court supervision and community service. The mob action and resisting arrest charges were dropped.
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