DePaul students plan to continue protesting against the University’s connection with the Chicago Police Department
Entrance to the DePaul University Quad, where the DePaul Socialists staged their protest
In the wake of George Floyd’s and Breonna Taylor’s murders, protests have swept across Chicago. This call to defund the police has spread across the city, including university campuses.
The DePaul Socialists are one of the core groups protesting against the University’s connection with CPD. On June 10, The DePaul Socialists helped organize a protest against DePaul’s ties with the Chicago Police Department (CPD). Included on the Socialists’ list of grievances was tuition discounts for CPD officers and special programs for CPD officers. These programs also help place officers in CPS schools.
Loyola University, Northwestern University, DePaul University and other local institutions of higher education have programs that directly work with the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.
“DePaul’s connection with the CPD and their scholarship of current or future officers reflects a deliberate denial of evidence of corruption and racial profiling within the CPD and FOP and further perpetuates that corruption and racial bias by feeding into their membership,” said Maddie, a member of The DePaul Socialists.
In response to The DePaul Socialists’, DePaul University issued a “Response to Calls to End All Programs with CPD.” In the response DePaul’s interim provost Salma Ghanem expressed understanding to the calls to cut ties with CPD. But the provost insisted on keeping the University’s affiliation with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) saying, “We also know education can be part of making the change we all want to see in police departments. We support all who are working to make police reform a reality.”
Included in Ghanem’s response was an email sent to the school by an anonymous Latina CPD officer who pleaded with protesters to support her and the police. The officer said, “I hope and pray that these students get to know our stories and our side. Besides wearing the uniform I proudly wear, I will always be a Latina, who was once a high school dropout, young mother, and here I am today proudly serving and protecting our city."
Despite DePaul’s response to the protesters, The DePaul Socialists in collaboration with other campus groups have held multiple protests against the University. They are still outraged at the University’s response to their demands.
“It’s typical for the administration to cynically use the identity of an unnamed Latina police officer involved in the FOP cohort to justify why DePaul’s catering to police officers is actually a good, progressive thing. The administration has a long history of issuing empty statements … When DePaul pays for police officers to get their degrees, they are acting directly counter to that call for justice, not supporting it,” said Quinn, another DePaul Socialist.
DePaul University declined to comment on the protests.
Apart from the DePaul Socialists, other campus groups have protested DePaul’s connection with CPD. The University’s Center for Writing Based Learning (UCWbL) was successful in striking and petitioning against the school’s connection with FOP. However, “the UCWbL did not officially sever ties with the FOP—our labor action has only guaranteed that our UCWbL administration will begin to clarify policies that ensure tutors do not have to participate in unsafe tutoring situations,” according to Patricia Haney, a member of the organization’s leadership team.
Despite DePaul’s current stance and policies, campus organizations will continue to protest until their demands are met. When asked if The DePaul Socialists were planning more protests and demonstrations against the University, the organization answered with an unequivocal “Absolutely.”
For more information about The DePaul Socialists on their Facebook page.