MILWAUKEE — While tent encampments filled with students protesting the Gaza war are removed from Universities across the country, including at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tents remain staked and occupied at UW-Milwaukee.
Meanwhile, high-ranking state and city government officials including Governor Tony Evers and Mayor Cavalier Johnson are closely monitoring the situation, hoping the protests remain peaceful so there is no need to intervene.
620 WTMJ’s Julien Johnson, Jack Graue & Dylan Hunter Carter contributed to this report.
UW-Milwaukee tells students they will not intervene, but they won’t hold their breath.
A conglomerate of UW-Milwaukee student organizations and independent protestors are holding out within their campus on Milwaukee’s east side.
Ameen Atta, a member of UWM’s Popular University for Palestine Coalition (PUPC), told WTMJ that the University has informed protestors they do not intend to force protestors to leave their campus like on the Madison campus. However, student protestors are ready for that reality to change quickly.
“If that does happen we are ready,” Atta said. “We have a huge community behind us that is waiting for our call to mobilize and show up to the encampment. Aside from that, students are well.”
Despite watching as protests and tent encampments are torn from the ground at major institutions like UCLA, Columbia University and UW-Madison, Atta told WTMJ it’s been business as usual for Milwaukee-based protestors.
“Students are in good spirits,” Atta said. “[They are] waking up and going to class, eating breakfast. We are closely watching the situation in Madison.”
The encampment began on Monday, following a march within the UWM Campus. Atta says they “answered the call to the National Students for Justice in Palestine movement.”
Protestors have made a list of demands of the university that they say must be met before they end the encampments. UWM has released a statement responding to their demands.
Gov. Evers & Mayor Johnson are fine with protests, so long as they’re peaceful.
Both Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson made comments Tuesday regarding the Pro-Palestinian protests at UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison.
Governor Evers said he’s been keeping a close eye on what’s happening on the UW campuses.
“I have staff that are keeping me posted almost hourly, so I’m aware of what’s going on. Even throughout the night, I had some calls at 2 o’clock [Tuesday] morning” he said. “We’re adequately connecting with leadership on both sides and will continue to do so.”
Evers said he understands that college students across the United States have the right to protest.
“Protests are fine… We have to do it in a way that is not breaking any laws or any policies of the university,” he said. “We’re looking forward to a peaceful solution with both Madison and Milwaukee. There’s lots of conversations going on.”
Mayor Cavalier Johnson agreed with the Governor.
“It’s important to make sure that people who have diverging views on this have their voices heard… We know obviously there’s suffering that’s happening in Gaza and people are speaking up about that,” he said. “However, there’s also policies and procedures and laws that must be followed.”
Both elected officials said they do not want to situation to escalate further than it needs to.
“Hopefully, there’s not a need to have civil disobedience that we’ve been seeing [across the country at colleges],” Mayor Johnson said. “We want this to be peaceful and to see for students at universities across the state be able to have full access and use of their universities.”
In regards to potential police involvement on campuses, Mayor Johnson said he’d like to avoid that.
“I think policing ought to be the last resort. We shouldn’t automatically go to doing that, however, at the same time though, there are laws. There are policies that are at the university. There are rules,” he said. “At some point… [the protests] will have to come down, but as long as things are safe… that’s what we want to see.”
Governor Evers shared the same sentiment, and he said so far there have been no conversations about bigger military presence, such as the National Guard, coming onto Wisconsin campuses.
“We’ve had conversations all during the several days that this has been happening, and we’ll continue to do that and have peaceful resolution,” he said. “I also say that we have to make sure protestors are [demonstrating] peacefully, thoughtfully, and, frankly, not making some of their classmates feeling uncomfortable… which is happening somewhat, but that’s just a warning.”
Evers said he has his own experience with protesting while being a college student.
“I’ve been involved in protests in 1969 when I was a freshman at UW-Madison. You do it in the proper, and you can make some progress,” he said.
Evers expressed they know they may have to take down the encampment tents on the UW campuses if they have to, especially since they violate campus rules.
“Yes, it’s an issue, and we will eventually take action if we have to, but we believe that everyone is in good faith here,” he said. “[We believe] people will get sick of camping outside and [will] go back to their dorm rooms or their houses.”
This is a developing story. An update and/or follow-up may be issued if further details are revealed.
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READ: Pro-Palestinian college protests, tent encampments come to Wisconsin
