The walk out and march involves more than 25 student groups and is part of the “Resist from Day One” protest
Minneapolis, MN- A group called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is organizing a walk-out and march to protest the inauguration of Donald J. Trump on Friday. MN Schools involved in the protest include the University of Minnesota, Augsburg College, UMN-Morris, and Macalester College.
As Alpha News has reported, Minneapolis will see several protests as part of the “Resist From Day One” protests.
Students for a Democratic Society, in coalition with the Resist from Day One Coalition MN will be organizing a campus walkout. Walkout/meetup @ Humphrey School on the West Bank at 1pm. We will have a short rally and then march to converge with the BLACK SNAKE RESISTANCE MARCH. From there, we will all march to attend the larger Resist From Day One! Mega-March and Rally and then converge on city hall at 5pm.
According to the Facebook event announcement, the UMN students believe they have “been dealing with a Trumpster administration for years:”
“Under Eric Kaler, we’ve seen known sexual assaulters hired and eventually paid off, we’ve seen racist and xenophobic attacks on campus declaring a need to “build the wall,” calling Muslims “ISIS” and Palestinians terrorists, which all came with the president’s seal of approval of free speech, and, as a contradiction, seen progressive activists arrested and aggressively charged and fined for speaking up. Under President Kaler, we’ve seen intrusions into the student government’s decisions on whether to divest from Israeli Apartheid, investing university money to union bust against faculty and student worker unionization efforts, the valuing of research profits well above the cost of human lives, and allowing the mental health of students to go almost entirely unsupported amidst constant backlash and tragedy. We’ve seen the pockets of overpaid and unneeded administrators growing increasingly thick with the skyrocketing tuition of working class students and students of color who have to bust ass everyday just to be at our university in the first place.”
The students’ intended goals for the march is to send a message to UMN President Kaler and to in-coming President Trump by hitting “these streets and show them what we think of their racism, their xenophobia, their sexism, transphobia, homophobia. We’re going to dare to struggle, and dare to win.”
Their demands include that the university be declared a sanctuary campus, radical pay cuts for administrators, lowered tuition and a tuition freeze, and that Kaler resigns as UMN President.
Credit: Pioneer Press, Jaime DeLage
One of groups involved in the march is the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC). As Alpha News reported last fall, MIRAC was one of the groups involved with the violent protest that occurred during the August Trump fundraiser in Minneapolis. Other groups involved with the walk-out on Friday include the radical groups, Students for Justice in Palestine, La Raza, and Queer Devil Worshippers for a Better Future (UMN Morris).
Another group that is endorsing the march is the Augsburg Day Student Government. The Augsburge Day Student Government is the governing body of the Day Student population at Augsburg. It is tasked with:
“It advocates for ideas, concerns, needs, and activities of the Day Student Body.
Day Student Government is officially responsible for allocating and spending the Activity Fee and Green Fee, recognizing student organizations, fielding student concerns and bringing them forward to appropriate College officials, among other responsibilities.”
The full list of groups involved:
Feminist Student Activist Collective
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP UMN)
La Raza Student Cultural Center
UMN Medical Students for Choice
Queer Devil Worshippers for a Better Future @ UMN Morris
Feminists in Action – Students Together Against Rape and Sexual Assault (FIA-STARSA) at Macalester
Augsburg Day Student Government
Brotherhood of Successful Scholars – BOSS
Black Feminist in Media
Students for Racial Justice Ausburg College – SRJ
International Student Organization
Muslim Student Association (Augsburg)
Queer Indigenous + People of Color
Augsburg Asian Student Association – AASA
AISA – Augsburg Indigenous Student Association
Augsburg Latin American Students – ALAS
Augsburg’s SMART – Sexual Misconduct Awareness-Raising Team
Augsburg College Queer Pride Alliance
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Andrea Mayer-Bruestle
Andrea Mayer-Bruestle is a former writer for Alpha News.
