In the early hours of the morning of May 7, under cover of darkness and while protestors and members of the university community slept, the University of Chicago Police Department supported by the Cook County sheriff’s office began a raid of the encampment on the main quad of the University of Chicago. UCPD, in riot gear, forcefully blockaded the main quad off from protestors demonstrating in support of the pro-Palestine camp. Protestors were threatened with arrest. Paul Alivisatos, President of UChicago, and Michele Rasmussen, Dean of Students in the University, have shared a number of communications during the period of the encampment with the university community that dishonestly and gutlessly appeal to “safety hazards,” “policy violations,” and “serious disruption” as justification for the university’s aggressive clearing of the camp, theft and destruction of personal property, and disturbance of the feeling of safety that members of the campus community are entitled to when non-violently expressing their views.
Staffed entirely by students of the University of Chicago, from the Undergraduate College to Graduate programs, Chicago Review stands resolutely in solidarity and community with our friends, colleagues, teachers, and students that have been exercising their right by demanding that our university do better. Chicago Review rejects the cowardly rhetoric of the university administration and affirms the right to protest that members of the university have been exercising. The intimidation and threats of violence to the camp and pro-Palestinian protestors by counter-protestors, the university, and UCPD were perpetrated against the non-violent community established within the encampment.
On behalf of Chicago Review, the editors wish to express joy at the life that was given to our university by the presence of the camp and regret at the attempted destruction of that energy. We echo the calls of the protestors for the university to disclose its investments and to divest from the genocide in Gaza. We are proud of the energy shown by protestors and ashamed of the actions taken by our university in the name of protecting us. We expect that protests that call for the liberation of Palestine will continue, and we sincerely hope that they do. We join them.
—The Editors, on behalf of Chicago Review, 05/08/2024
for “I love you” say fuck the police / for
“the fires of heaven” say fuck the police, don’t say
“recruitment” don’t say “trotsky” say fuck the police
for “alarm clock” say fuck the police
for “my morning commute” for
“electoral system” for “endless solar wind” say fuck the police
don’t say “I have lost understanding of my visions” don’t say
“that much maligned human faculty” don’t say
“suicided by society” say fuck the police / for “the movement
of the heavenly spheres” say fuck the police / for
“the moon’s bright globe” for “the fairy mab” say
fuck the police / don’t say “direct debit” don’t say “join the party”
say “you are sleeping for the boss” and then say fuck the police
don’t say “evening rush-hour” say fuck the police / don’t say
“here are the steps I’ve taken to find work” say fuck the police
don’t say “tall skinny latté” say fuck the police / for
“the earth’s gravitational pull” say fuck the police / for
“make it new” say fuck the police
all other words are buried there
all other words are spoken there / don’t say “spare change”
say fuck the police / don’t say “happy new year” say fuck the police
perhaps say “rewrite the calendar” but after that, immediately
after that say fuck the police / for “philosopher’s stone” for
“royal wedding” for “the work of transmutation” for “love
of beauty” say fuck the police / don’t say “here is my new poem”
say fuck the police
say no justice no peace and then say fuck the police
—Sean Bonney (1969–2019)