Holden Hindes | Student Life

Students walk between classes in Simon Hall Monday.

Many students went on an academic strike Wednesday, skipping class or attending remotely if given the option, as Chancellor Andrew Martin continued to remain silent on the Islamophobia and other racism that spread on social media following senior Fadel Alkilani’s removal of 9/11 commemorative flags from Mudd Field Saturday.

The Students for Black and Palestinian Liberation group organized the strike, circulating resources including a form to help Muslim students and students of color find rides or walking partners to campus and a hotline for students to receive security updates.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences Feng Sheng Hu wrote in an email to faculty and staff Tuesday night that the administration expected faculty to teach Wednesday and that there was no need to excuse absences for students who participated in the strike. Some professors canceled class or moved in-person classes to Zoom, while others still required students to attend.

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Anna Gonzalez said the Washington University Police Department worked with “outside partners” to assess that none of the online threats, several of which involved plans to travel to campus, posed a credible threat to students.

“We know there have been numerous posts in the past several days that have caused concern in our community,” a Tuesday night email from Washington University Law Enforcement to the community read. “We are actively investigating these posts and at this time there is no reason to believe that there is a credible threat to the university.”

Gonzalez cited the lack of a credible threat and a desire to avoid causing more fear as the main factor why professors were not mandated to excuse absences.

“Knowing that there was no credible threat, we didn’t want to amplify the rumors or say things that would add to the areas of anxiety of our community,” Gonzalez said. “If I were to say ‘yes, you can miss class,’ that would mean that there are credible threats, and that we should stay home out of fear.”

For senior Max Camp-Oberhauser, fear was less of a concern in his decision to strike than his desire to show solidarity with affected students. Camp-Oberhauser also expressed disapproval of Chancellor Martin’s official statement regarding the flag removal, which stated that “[Alkilani] has access to campus resources that are regularly available to students as he navigates the consequences of his actions, both on campus and beyond.”

“It just felt really cold, considering that the consequences of those actions, on and off campus, have been really undeserved,” Camp-Oberhauser said. “I feel like nobody deserves to receive death threats and be doxxed and harassed by hundreds of people on the internet and to have to go into hiding and not come to classes. Then the Chancellor sort of implied that those consequences were deserved in some way.”

The Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) released on Wednesday afternoon the first public University-wide statement addressing the recent dramatic increase of Islamophobia directed at students, three days after the removal of the flags went viral.

“[We] want to acknowledge the fear of harm experienced by many of our students,” the statement read. “These experiences threaten the mental and emotional health and safety of our community as it is informed and supported by a history of harm targeting minoritized identities in our country.”

The CDI provided a “decompression space” at its office in the Danforth University Center Wednesday midday and a “walk and talk” event in partnership with the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement late Wednesday afternoon. The “walk and talk” session encouraged students to discuss prompts such as “What role does power play in the interpretation of symbols in the context of the United States?” and “If you protest, how do your various identities impact your ability to engage in protest?”

“Today, we actually didn’t have a ton of students, and I think it was really because they were protesting,” Student Engagement Coordinator at the Gephardt Center Colleen Smith said. “So we’re thinking of reusing the same questions next week, when there might be more foot traffic.”

Camp-Oberhauser agreed that the CDI’s statement and programming were steps in the right direction, but added that “I think what’s clear is that it was students who first took action and not the University.”

Gonzalez maintained that engaging in dialogue is more effective than striking and not attending classes, detailing how many professors chose to facilitate discussions about free speech, Islamophobia and the meaning of the American flag during their classes.

“I believe that that kind of increased dialogue and understanding is what is needed,” she said. “The reality is that that’s a lot to ask for students. So I am asking students to do that… I understand that’s hard, and I will also understand if they’re not ready for it on all sides, but that’s my value. I believe we should listen and we should learn.”