Three members of an environment-related protest were arrested at University of Mary Washington last week.
Three members of an environment-related protest were arrested at University of Mary Washington last week.
Two of the protesters, Noah Goodwin and Adam Wander, are students at the University, while the third protester, Nina Angelini, is a local resident and political activist.
The protest is alligned with the national movement called Divest, an environmental and political group dedicated to weaning the world off of fossil fuels.
On their website the group states “If it is wrong to wreck the climate, then it is wrong to profit from that wreckage. We believe that educational and religious institutions, governments, and other organizations that serve the public good should divest from fossil fuels.”
The Divest UMW members had been protesting via a sit-in in front of the office of University President Rick Hurley for 21 days.
At 5 pm on Wednesday a letter signed by Vice President for Student Affairs Doug Searcy and Vice President for Administration and Finance Rick Pearce was released telling the protesters to leave and remove all of their belongings or they would be considered trespassing.
At 6:30 pm UMW chief of Police Michael Hall entered the hallway and warned the 40 chanting protesters that if they did not leave they would be arrested.
All of the protesters, save Goodwin, Wander, and Angelini, left. The three who remained were handcuffed and escorted out of the building.
“After 21 days of nonviolent protest, students are being arrested,” said Divest UMW co-founder Zakaria Kronemer to a crowd that gathered outside of George Washington Hall during the arrests. “These are your students being arrested by your administration. We have a statue of James Farmer right here on our campus, a leader of the civil rights movement. We must unite as students to have our voices heard.”
In a release from the University, they claim to support the students’ rights to freedom of speech and assembly but cite health and safety concerns which forced them to act.
“The increasing volume of material possessions in the hallway—food, clothing, electronics, etc.—as well as ongoing encroachment upon the public walk space and freedom of ingress and egress created a safety hazard and unreasonably interfered with the functions of George Washington Hall,” the statement said.
It has also been noted that some of the protesters did not shower or maintain hygiene over the course of the 21 day sit-in.
All three of the arrested protesters were taken to Rappahannock Regional Jail where they were released Wednesday on $1500 bond. All three have been charged with a class-one misdemeanor for trespassing and have a hearing scheduled for 8:30 a..m on April 30 at the Fredericksburg General District Court.
