This is a video of the incident Reed administrators have described as "harassment" and "breaking and entering." This conversation is the basis upon which admin issued no contact orders against RAR members, some of whom were not present for the conversation, and threatened police intervention.
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According to the Reed anti-racism statement, it is “our responsibility to continuously learn about and disrupt systems of privilege, inequality, and oppression.” John Kroger himself said he had the power to sign our contract, committing to changing to a more ethical bank, and would not. RAR has invited a response contract, which has not been presented, nor has a response to any of RAR’s other demands. Kroger also has said he does not believe prison slavery, as is funded by our operating bank Wells Fargo, is of emergent concern. He has had weeks to respond and negotiate with protesters.
Thus, after 23 days of sitting in the Eliot 3rd floor hallway and president John Kroger’s office lobby with little to no response to our demands, as well as retaliatory sanctions and slander, RAR has entered Kroger’s inner office in order to add pressure on him to take action. Our actions are not for our own well-being, but for the well-being of those most impacted by Wells Fargo’s investment in the prison industrial complex, immigrant detainment, racist predatory loans, and the Dakota Access Pipeline.The administration chooses to focus all their energy on the methods of our protest and retaliatory sanctions against protesters, while completely failing to address our concerns and demands. In doing this, they are showing they prioritize the power and capitalist efficiency of the institution to carry out business as usual over the emergency of our complicity in modern day slavery. John Kroger himself insisted that if we disagree with the morals of the institution, we should leave. But we are not leaving. When those in power in this institution fail to do so, it is doubly our responsibility as Reedies to disrupt systems of privilege, inequality, and oppression. Today we vacated one of the administrative offices we were occupying as a compromise with Mike Brody.
Dean of Faculty Nigel Nicholson threatened us publicly in the aforementioned office with a Judicial Board case. He also accused us of breaking into the office and had the locks changed, even though the door was ajar when we entered, with a "come in" sign hanging. Several students have received no contact orders (NCOs) since this interaction. To the best of our knowledge, all of the black people involved have been issued NCOs, even though none of us have slept in the aforementioned office. Several of the white students who have slept in the office have not received NCOs, even some of those who have slept there every night. John Kroger is the person who ultimately has the power to change the bank, so we will continue to occupy his office. |
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