Campus police removed a sign that said “lynching a nigger today?” from a student-organized protest ahead of Troy Davis’ execution last Wednesday.
Police entered the plaza area shortly after 2 p.m. and were allegedly taking photographs of the protesters, who were chanting and collecting signatures for a petition. When Chief Overton and Officer L. Hill attempted to remove the sign, protesters questioned them.
“We’re in Massachusetts, not Georgia. With a student body of 15,000, someone may be offended,” Hill said at the scene.
The officers then removed the sign and exited the plaza area.
Grace Ejiwale, a protester who said she made the sign, claimed the officers were “hiding behind their badge.”
“They specifically sent out the African American cops to stop the social movement against killing Troy Davis,” she said.
Eijwale said she made the sign with the n-word “because that is what we are to them,” referring to those who support the conviction of Troy Davis.
According to Ejiwale, Hill didn’t ask her to take the sign down before removing it himself.
“He believed it was defacing school property. Isn’t that why we’re here at school, to help push these movements forward? They were just ripping down the sign and being blindly disrespectful not only to the UMB students, but to the entire Troy Davis movement,” Ejiwale said.
Christopher Morill, one of the protesters, said that students didn’t violate any policies.
“The Board of Trustees has a protest policy,” Morill said. “They have guidelines for what is an acceptable protest. It states that protests aren’t allowed in academic buildings, but in places where students normally congregate, to express and debate their views on issues will be encouraged and allowed. The plaza area is not directly in violation of the policy. And we were specifically not using the megaphone during class hours.”
“We were told to quiet down,” Morill continued. “In my view, this is an attempt to silence student voices and our ability to express issues like the Troy Davis movement, fee increases, anything.”
According to the guidelines for responses to demonstrations on university property, which are posted on the university’s website, violations of university policies and regulations include “material disruption of or interference with instructional activities, other university business and campus events.”
Director of Student Activities, Shelby Harris, said that the protesters took a table from the campus center without permission. She did not comment on any other aspect of the Wednesday’s incident.
A poll of 52 students, conducted by The Mass Media, found that 38 of them agreed with campus police actions, while 14 said police shouldn’t have removed the sign.
Among the students polled were Sophia Farooqui and Erik Anderson. She said she agrees with police actions.
“Having the sign up is causing another problem. It takes away from what people come here to do. This is school, not a political forum,” Farooqui said.
Anderson had a slightly different perspective.
“I understand why they would use the sign to get people’s attention, because if someone sees it they’re going to stop and read it. It doesn’t offend me, but if it offends others I feel like they should’ve removed it,” Anderson said.
When asked to comment about the removal of the sign, Chief Overton instead referred The Mass Media to the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Patrick Day. Day said he was happy to see students engage with current events, but that their choice of words could distract from their message.
“To use that sort of language without giving proper context runs the risk of hurting people and making them feel uncomfortable. We have to respect the various cultural histories and heritages people have on our diverse campus,” Day said.
According to Day, police came to the scene because of a complaint from someone on campus.
“[Campus police] response to the sign was guided by policy. A sign was put up without permission and there was nothing on the sign saying who it belonged to and police have to respond to that,” he said.
Troy Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail and was sentenced to death. His lawyers and supporters sought to prevent the execution, claiming that seven of the nine witnesses against him have recanted or contradicted their testimony. He received a stay of execution four times over the course of his 22 years on death row, but multiple legal appeals failed to prove his innocence in court. His execution was set to begin at 7 p.m. but was delayed to 11:08 p.m. after the US Supreme Court rejected an appeal.
