Over 50 students protested at 4 p.m. CDT today outside Kirkland Hall in support of the 27 Vanderbilt Divest Coalition members suspended as a result of their nearly 22-hour sit-in in Kirkland Hall. The protesters called for the students’ suspensions to be “dropped immediately” and for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions referendum to be reinstated to the VSG ballot.
The protest took place in a zone that prohibits protests and demonstrations, per university guidelines.
Some of the suspended students discussed their overnight experiences inside Kirkland Hall Their suspensions went into effect at 5 p.m. CDT today. Per university policy, suspended students are prohibited from being on campus property until the conclusion of their Student Accountability process. Individual Student Accountability hearings begin tomorrow.
“Currently, there are 27 students facing suspension on this university campus — being told that they are trespassers on a university that they paid to be at, a university that they are proud to be at because of the student body and a university that they are in fact advocating for,” a VDC organizer — who is being kept anonymous for protection from professional retribution — said at the protest.
First-year Jack Petocz, who was among the four students arrested, said his conditions at the Downtown Detention Center were better than those during the sit-in.
“I had access to water. I had access to a bathroom. I had access to my friends and the ability to rest. How dare this university deprive us of basic humanity? How dare a top 20 university in this country have more inhumane conditions than that of a jail? It’s disgusting,” Petocz said.
Another VDC organizer spoke on the motivation behind the Kirkland sit-in, explaining that protesters landed on the option only after all other routes to speak with administration failed. They further criticized the university’s response to and treatment of those who participated in the sit-in. The student is being kept anonymous for protection from professional retribution.
“This is what free speech looks like and, on a campus that claims to prioritize such, they [the university] should be protecting protesters who peacefully protested, rather than punishing them and taking away their ability to even have basic humanity for 21 hours,” the organizer said.
The organizer left a message of encouragement for students who remain on campus.
“This is our campus that we have a right to be on and to speak on,” the organizer said. “So we need all of you to continue to stay out here. We need all of you to continue to put pressure on them. We need all of you to combat misinformation that has been purposefully spread while we continue to fight as we can.”
