Public Tribunal/Speak Out to put the University on Trial for Police Brutality, Racism, Privatization and Attacks on Free Speech

We demand:

Double Underrepresented Minority Enrollment - Onsite admissions in Detroit Schools NOW!
No Cuts to the Scholarship or Undocumented Students-Expand and Publicize in High Schools and Extend to Graduate Undocumented Students
Make UM A Sanctuary Campus for Undocumented Immigrant Students!
Stop The Cover Up of Rape and Sexual Assault! Expose and
Expel Rapists! Defend the Right of Survivors to Speak Out and Publicly Name Rapists
Drop The Charges Against UM Regents Protestors!
No Targeting of Immigrant & Youth Leaders!

On November 19th, BAMN will be holding a public tribunal to put the University on trial for police brutality, attacks on free speech, for their conscious racist and discriminatory policies, cover-up of sexual assault, and for privatization and the destruction of public education in State of Michigan, especially in Detroit. No one should have to accept racist, sexist, or any kind of abuse or bigotry in order to be at this University. This campus belongs to us and we have a right to be treated with dignity and respect and to speak the plain truth about racism and discrimination.

Last April, BAMN organized a protest of UM and Detroit students demanding an immediate increase in minority enrollment, which reached a historic low last year not seen since 1970, starting with reinstating on-site admissions in Detroit schools, the expansion of scholarships and financial aid for undocumented immigrant students, and an end to the cover-up of rape on campus. The University responded to our demonstration with police brutality. They arrested a pre-determined list of 8 protestors, including two undocumented BAMN leaders and one high school student leader who attends Detroit School of Performing Arts, the school governed by UM, banned them from campus, and is now pursuing bogus charges against them, including ‘”conspiracy to disrupt the peace.” We are fighting the charges and will be taking the University to trial if the charges are not dropped. The next pre-trial hearing will be Friday, November 13 at 9am.

The administration’s political witch-hunt against BAMN leaders is a desperate attempt to silence any real discussion of racism and criticism of the University’s privatization, and to prevent the growth of a student movement on campus. Despite these efforts, they have not succeeded in shutting down critical thought, debate and the fighting spirit of students on this campus, and in October, the University released the official enrollment numbers for this year showing an increase in underrepresented minority enrollment for the first time since 2005. This is a modest but important step forward, and it shows that the student movement has the power to make the University to do what they have been refusing to do for years.

At the public tribunal, students and community members can speak out and testify to their experiences with racism, sexism, bigotry and on campus, hear from others who have had similar experiences, draw a balance sheet of what the new student movement has achieved, discuss where to go from here and vote on a plan of action. If you are fed up with the segregation and racist inequality on this campus, if you have experienced racist, sexist or other bigotry on this campus, contact BAMN, come to the tribunal and join the growing movement for equality, dignity and freedom.