#POLICEFREECAMPUS

In yet another wake of widespread violence against everyday Black people, especially those most recent victims of police brutality and citizen vigilantism in Glynn County (#AhmaudArbery), Indianapolis (#SeanReed), Louisville (#BreonnaTaylor), Minneapolis (#GeorgeFloyd), Sikeston (#NinaPop), and Tallahassee (#TonyMcDade), Black organizers in cities across the United States and elsewhere are refusing to be silenced. Over the weekend, countless marches, demonstrations, virtual teach-ins, and other acts of civil disobedience were undertaken to hold accountable the racist, anti-Black institution of policing. As news reports detail, many frontline protestors were met by police in riot gear – many of whom escalated tensions with violence – in effort to protect property instead of people. The #policefreecampus campaign is our collective response to the ongoing inequities and conditions made worse by the presence of police, particularly on campus and in our nation’s schools.

NATIONAL CALL-TO-ACTION FOR SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, AND UNIVERSITIES TO IMMEDIATELY DIVEST FROM POLICE

The Scholars for Black Lives collective is issuing this open letter and petition to teachers, school administrators, college and university faculty and staff, higher education leaders, and education policymakers regarding the ongoing relationship between police and our institutions. We offer this petition in solidarity with those on the frontlines of resistance work needed to bring an end to policing. We also offer this letter in support of our Black students who routinely experience the violence of policing in the classroom, on-campus, and within the broader social world. And, finally, this letter is an affirmation of our collective commitment to research, teaching and learning as liberatory practices through which we attempt to change society. 

If you are interested in supporting a world without police, please share assets in this digital media toolkit on social media using the #policefreecampus hashtag. In addition, please consider signing your name on the official roll using the form below. We will be collecting signatures on an ongoing basis unless otherwise noted in official communication from the Collective.