Wash U Bans 6 Faculty Members From Contact with Students After Mass Arrests

The professors have been relieved of their job duties and told to refrain from contact with students or colleagues

Apr 29, 2024 at 3:41 pm

Six faculty members received emails from Washington University banning them from returning to campus, or speaking to students or their colleagues off campus. ZACHARY LINHARES

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Six faculty members from Washington University — four of whom were arrested at Saturday’s protest — are not only banned from campus, but are forbidden from speaking with Wash U staff and students even in off-campus settings.

The university administration refused to provide comment on the bans.

A total of 100 people were arrested on campus Saturday, including 23 Wash U students and at least four employees, according to Chancellor Andrew Martin. The students and staff have now been temporarily barred from campus at a critical point in the semester.

An adjunct faculty member, who has asked to remain unnamed, shares that they were one of the recipients of the ban and they have been forbidden by the university to meet with students even off campus.

The adjunct shared that they weren’t in the encampment when they were arrested and were instead filming the arrests of other students and staff.

In response to questions from RFT about the bans and what they mean for those who are employed by the university, a university spokesperson wrote in an email: “We don’t comment on specific student conduct or personnel matters, so I don’t have any information to share about that.”

The email the adjunct received and then shared with RFT says they have been placed on paid administrative leave while the university investigates whether they stayed on campus following orders to disperse at the protest.

“You are relieved of all job duties and are not authorized to engage in further work activities or to otherwise represent or act on behalf of the university. Because you have been relieved of your job duties, you are expected to refrain from contact with students or work colleagues while on leave. You will not have access to university systems during your leave,” the email from Provost Beverly Wendland says.

As shared on social media by Aldermanic President Megan Green, who attended the protest but was not arrested, arrestees were made to sign an agreement that they were barred from campus and would be arrested if they returned.

Previously, more than 100 outraged faculty, staff and students at Wash U sent a letter to the administration criticizing the university’s response to recent student protests.

Following Saturday’s protest and the arrests that followed, faculty penned a second letter to the administration.

“The heavy-handed authoritarian measures of the university administration have become appalling and threatening to the physical and mental health of our community,” the second letter says.

It is unclear how the suspensions and campus bans will impact graduation and finals at the university.

“These blanket suspensions, even if temporary, come at a particularly critical moment in the academic calendar and are likely to cause students irreparable harm,” The National Lawyers Guild of St. Louis said in a statement following the arrests.

This story has been updated to reflect that as of 6 p.m. the adjunct still had access to their university email.