Make Marquette U a cop-free zone.
Via Campus Reform
Dozens of Marquette University faculty and staff have signed a petition to the school to protest the removal of a mural which depicted a Black Panther convicted of murdering a police officer.
The mural, featuring Black Liberation Army leader Assata Shakur, was swiftly removed from the Jesuit school’s Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) in May after a political science professor discovered it.
“Our university’s senior leadership just became aware of a mural that was created and displayed in a remote area of campus,” a statement from the university on May 17 said. “This is extremely disappointing as the mural does not reflect the Guiding Values of Marquette University. It is being removed immediately. We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the mural and will take appropriate action.”
But the removal of the mural—and the departure of GSRC director Susannah Bartlow—has angered more than 60 Marquette faculty and staff who signed onto a petition to the university to participate in discussions on race and how to make students feel “whole.”
Bartlow left her directorship position at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin school two days after the removal of the mural; university officials have declined to say whether she was fired or resigned.
“[T]he racial politics of the erasure of the mural were not considered with care. A group of black women students asks for a space to self-educate and explore,” the petition states.
“Or was their initial request, that for space to invest in the representations of black women on campus, simply denied and stripped away?” it asks. “Where is the care for our students, their desire to engage in serious and difficult conversations?”
Dr. John McAdams, an associate professor of political science at Marquette, published the petition and the letter sent to faculty and staff asking for signatures on his blog, The Marquette Warrior. According to the post, the petition was sent to faculty and staff by Stephen Franzoi, professor emeritus of psychology.