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Newsrooms across the state were giddy yesterday as the well-financed and organized ‘organic’ student demonstrations finally spread to the state of Wisconsin.
Apparently there had been a backlog in the green tent and Keffiyeh supply chains. In any event, the aging activist professors and the petulant kids in Madison and Milwaukee predominate today’s Key Reads.
The ‘encampment’ at Columbia University sprung up on April 17th. In the days that followed copycat demonstrations took place at Emory, USC, George Washington and elsewhere.
Noticeably absent from the list was the University of Wisconsin.
Fortunately for the hive journalists in our state, things changed yesterday. By Monday, April 29, 2024 the protests finally arrived at Madison and Milwaukee’s campuses.
Despite warnings, defiant pro-Palestinian supporters establish encampment on UW-Madison campus | Isthmus
UW-Madison officials warned students on Friday that encampments were forbidden by university and state policy. But come Monday morning, pro-Palestinian student demonstrators risked discipline and legal consequences as they set up tents on the Library Mall, mirroring protests that have roiled campuses across the country, including Columbia University and the University of Southern California.
Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students have protested often on the Library Mall since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which has killed 1,136 people, according to Israeli officials, and the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the latest numbers from health officials in Hamas-controlled territories of Gaza. But the encampment and divestment protest, led by Students for Justice in Palestine-Madison (SJP-Madison) and Young Democratic Socialists of America, is an effort by opponents to increase the pressure for an end of the war in Gaza.
At Columbia and USC, protesting students have faced expulsion and arrest. Police officers have arrested more than 800 students nationally since an April 18 police intervention at Columbia, where administrators requested that the New York Police Department break up an encampment.
The Hamas terror attacks that sparked the current war occurred on October 7th. Six months later, conveniently just before final exams, protests are spreading across American campuses. Hamas is not the target of the protests, however. No campouts and singalongs in opposition to paragliding into a music festival, raping and killing hundreds and kidnapping others, including Americans. No, these protests are targeting Israel and their military efforts against the terrorists.
UW to pro-Palestinian protesters: Take down tents, then we’ll talk | The Cap Times
Protesters calling for the University of Wisconsin-Madison to cut any ties with Israel filled the campus Library Mall on Monday and set up tents, ignoring the university’s warning that camping there is against state law.
“Disclose. Divest. We will not stop, we will not rest,” protesters chanted, as some assembled the tents and others formed a circle around them, linking arms.
University police officers tried to approach the tents in the morning but backed away as the group grew tighter around the encampment. Police kept their distance throughout the day and as night fell, despite rumors and warnings among protesters that arrests were imminent.
…The UW Hillel Foundation, a nonprofit that supports Jewish students on campus, issued a statement saying it was “closely monitoring” the protest out of safety concerns.
“These protests are part of a pattern that is emerging at campuses across the country — some of which have led to threats and harassment toward Jewish students,” the Hillel Foundation wrote, and added: “When a cause aligns with terrorist organizations taking pride in the protests and actions, and when language calls for violence against an entire identity, religion and people — it becomes hate and discrimination.”
…Late Monday evening, roughly 10 hours after the first tents were put up, university leaders issued a statement that said they’d discuss the protesters’ demands only after they removed the encampment.
The tents are “in clear violation of Chapter 18 of the UW System Administrative Code,” according to the statement. Once the tents are removed from campus property, then “we, as campus leaders stand ready to meet with campus-based organizers to discuss their demands,” according to the statement signed by Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, Provost Charles Isbell and others.
Not to be left out, the radicals at UW-Milwaukee had to get in the act. Imagine the sadness of local reporters there who had to cover the JV protest in their back yard instead of heading up to The Show in Madison.
Students hold pro-Palestine rally on UW-Milwaukee campus | Fox 6
Protesters set up tents at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Monday, April 29 to protest the situation in Gaza. The university warned that those break state regulations.
Dozens of tents were set up by protesters – and then those protesters roped off the area.
…Earlier, the protesters marched from the Golda Meir Library. That is named after Israel’s first woman prime minister. She graduated from the teacher’s college that later became UWM.
The group then marched on the streets around the block to the encampment. Protesters have several demands. They say the school should condemn Israel for deaths in Gaza.
We have a prediction, UW-Milwaukee hates being considered the little sibling of UW-Madison. It would, therefore, not be surprising if protestors there amped up not just the rhetoric, but the physicality. They appear to be spoiling for a fight, and apparently using state property to defend themselves from their illegal assembly on state property.
Pro-Palestinian protesters use folding tables to protect from police | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
As UW-Milwaukee pro-Palestinian protest leaders heard that police might arrest the crowd, which didn’t happen, the group used folding tables as protection. [See the video at the link, above.]
In non-protest news, despite a huge influx of cash thanks to this month’s referendum, the Milwaukee Public Schools leadership is warning of potential cuts. But will they actually happen?
MPS’ proposed position cuts not necessarily people cuts | The Center Square
Milwaukee Public Schools are proposing a new budget that would cut nearly 300 positions and spend hundreds of millions of dollars less.
MPS’s superintendent unveiled his budget for the 2024-2025 school year recently.
“This budget positions MPS for long-term success. We are maximizing resources to enhance student achievement; providing more direct support to schools through increased per-pupil funding; reorganizing district offices to place more staff in schools; and reducing spending to close a budget gap,” Superintendent Keith Posley said in a statement.
The proposed 288 position cuts are getting most of the headlines.
Nearly half of those positions are teaching positions. The others include:
● 44 educational assistants
● 27 food service assistants and eight food service managers
● 27 administrators
● 13 school nurses and nine health assistants
● 11 clerical and secretarial workers
● nine social workers and three psychologists
But those announced cuts are for positions, not necessarily people.
Posley said some of those 288 positions are already vacant, and he added that anyone who loses their job will be allowed to apply for another job inside the district.
And Quinton Klabon, an education expert with the Institute for Reforming Government, said MPS has a habit of proposing things that don’t actually come to fruition.
“[The current] 2024 budget bore no spending or staffing resemblance to what actually occurred,” Klabon wrote in his budget analysis.
While Klabon said the proposed MPS budget would spend just more than $200 million less, he said teachers are in- ine for a rather large raise.
“[The number of] teachers slashed, despite 8-figure real increases in salary/benefit spending,” Klabon added on social media.
Per-student spending is also up in the new budget.
“[MPS is proposing] $22,279 per student at 66,000 students,” Klabon wrote. “[MPS will be] likely 17th nationally in spending of the 200 biggest districts.”
That’s the latest example of needing to go beyond the headline to find the actual truth.
Well, it’s back to the real world where we go to work and school and take care of our responsibilities. We’ll monitor the little camping stunts and bring you any breaking news should the Universities decide to actually enforce state law that prohibits camping on university property.
And, we will be back with another round up of Key Reads tomorrow.
