Chancellor Mnookin message following agreement to resolve Library Mall tent encampment
The following message was sent to all UW–Madison students and employees on Friday, May 10 following the resolution reached earlier in the day.
Dear Campus Community,
I am pleased to share that we have reached an agreement with Students for Justice in Palestine to end its encampment on Library Mall, which is being cleared now. Further details can be found in the announcement below, as well as in the agreement itself.
I appreciate the hard work, engagement, and careful listening I have seen on display in our community over the last 10 days. I want to thank the members of my leadership team who led the dialogue process over the past week. I also want to thank the SJP student leaders and their faculty liaisons for their constructive engagement as we searched for a mutually acceptable path forward.
I especially want to thank the great many in our UW community and in the broader community – with an enormous diversity of viewpoints about both substance and process – who have shared their views, their worries, and their hopes with me.
One of the most fundamental missions of a university is and must be to foster engagement and dialogue across what can often feel like intractable differences. As we have navigated this past week, I have endeavored to listen to the concerns of the many people we have heard from and the many perspectives that have been represented.
Now, as we join together to celebrate and honor the Class of 2024, I am hopeful that we can move forward together with a deep commitment to making this campus, for which we all share such pride and affection, a place where all can flourish. As we do so, we must hold on to our commitment to free speech, which does and must include our adherence to the rules, laws and policies that ensure that the space of dialogue is open to all. And we must continue to work to find ways to see each other, to listen, to understand, and to recognize our shared humanity.
Sincerely,
Jennifer L. Mnookin
Chancellor
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The following information was shared to the campus community and public at 2 p.m. Friday, May 10.
On Friday, May 10, campus leaders and student representatives from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) reached a resolution to end the encampment on Library Mall.
With the agreement, SJP will clear the encampment today and has committed that it will not disrupt this weekend’s graduation ceremonies or other campus functions, nor reestablish an encampment on our campus. In addition, SJP has committed to following UW–Madison rules in its future activities. We appreciate reaching resolution with SJP and acknowledge the support they received from their faculty liaisons.
This has been a difficult period for our campus, our nation and the world. We want to be clear that UW–Madison supports peaceful student protest, fully respects the First Amendment, and has done so throughout this year. We appreciate that the encampment, named by SJP the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, although in violation of Chapter 18, was motivated by understandably passionate feelings about the devastation in Gaza, and was a source of community for many participants.
We also understand that the encampment made others in our community, especially portions of our Jewish community, feel uncomfortable and unseen. We reiterate our strong condemnation of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hate and bigotry in all its forms, and we recognize the costs of war and displacement on so many across the globe.
In the agreement below, campus leaders have committed to addressing concerns of encampment organizers: facilitation of access for SJP to meet with decision makers to discuss disclosure and investment principles and enhanced engagement with and support for scholars and students impacted by war, violence and displacement.
UW–Madison leaders will provide additional information to campus and look forward to celebrating Commencement activities with our community this weekend.