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At Wash U, Some Boos for Chancellor, But Little Talk of Palestine

Published

1 year ago

May 13, 2024

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Loud booing and chanting punctuated some of the speakers at the commencement for Washington University this morning — most often Chancellor Andrew Martin, who has become the focal point of anger from activists after mass arrests on campus April 27.

Administrators had ordered a temporary encampment erected on campus that day to disperse, and when protestors refused to do so, 100 were arrested, including 23 students and at least four faculty members.

Martin later begged students not to protest at this year’s commencement and presided over fencing going up around campus. In recent weeks, anyone entering the Danforth Campus has had to produce university-issued ID.

As a result, protests were mostly limited to the streets around campus, although some students at commencement booed, others stood to protest and some even walked out, as St. Louis Public Radio reported:
Graduating students at @WUSTL protest and walk out of Chancellor Andrew Martin’s graduation remarks. The university has been under fire for its response to campus protests against the war in Gaza. Stay tuned for more from my colleagues and I at @stlpublicradio. pic.twitter.com/UV5cq5my4v— Brian Munoz (@brianmmunoz) May 13, 2024 And even beyond the boos that could be heard during the ceremony, there were also references to the recent unrest — some more direct than others.

Alejandro Ramirez, who was wearing a Keffiyeh, took the stage as the university’s undergraduate speaker and cheers erupted at the end of their speech as they expressed their support for the Palestinian people, and Pro-Palestine protestors beyond the fence, saying: “Today, I stand in solidarity with my peers, faculty, and community members who have experienced hardship during this last semester, who found their why and used it to express solidarity with the Palestinians around the world.”

As for the keynote speaker, actress Jennifer Coolidge, she danced around the topic of protests, saying she is proud of the young people for using their voices and rolling comments of “war and famine” into calls for action about climate change, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights. She did not say the word “Palestine.”

Coolidge made jokes about her manager trashing parts of her speech before commencement. She read part of what they told her to delete saying:

“When I think about your generation and I see all the wonderful things you’re doing, and how passionate and vocal you are and engaged you are about your futures — our future actually — it makes me feel so happy, because this is progress. Seriously, in all seriousness, we need you. And we need your strength, we need your truth.”
click to enlarge KALLIE COX Police keep a close eye on protestors near Wash U’s campus on the morning of commencment, May 13, 2024.

Protesting Outside the Fence

Ironically, during the ceremony Martin welcomed the class of 1974 to commencement as they celebrated their 50th anniversary. The majority of these students would have been freshmen in 1970, when Washington University became a flashpoint in protesting the war in Vietnam after students burned its ROTC building on May 5. (That act led to felony charges — and one activist going on the lam for years.)

Protesters this morning relied on speech, not fire.Dozens gathered on the four corners of the intersection of Big Bend and Forsyth just outside Wash U’s campus on Monday morning. Hundreds of cars and pedestrians passed them as they made their way to the ceremonies.

The activists were on the outside of the temporary fence enclosing the campus, but that didn’t stop them from raising their signs high above the barricades and calling on the university to divest from Boeing and disclose its financial ties with the company.

The protestors chanted and handed out fliers to those walking past, using megaphones and speakers while they held homemade banners and posters.

“Kill yourselves,” one passerby shouted at them while laughing and shoving a phone in their faces while walking with a group of parents and other students. “Bomb Palestine,” one man screamed from the window of his car before peeling off. The activists ignored them.

A little over an hour into commencement, police threatened to arrest protestors using voice amplifiers as commencement began, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reporter Monica Obradovic reported from the scene. One person who was driving by and honking was detained.

Sarah Nixon, one of the protestors, tells RFT that in addition to divesting from Boeing, Wash U needs to disclose where its investments are going, and drop the charges against all of the protestors who have been arrested.

“I think some are like, ‘Why can’t you let us enjoy our graduation?’” Nixon says. “To that I say, ‘We wish that this is a moment that everyone can celebrate but we know that all 12 of Gaza’s universities have been destroyed, over 6,000 university students killed, over 100 professors — these were future aid workers, doctors, artists, who had every hope of getting to celebrate […] like our Wash U community, but instead they’re fighting for their lives.”

Earlier today, Democracy Now reported that the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 35,000 people, including more than 14,500 children.

Local News

Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

Published

1 year ago

May 22, 2024

Natural Bridge

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

Published

1 year ago

May 21, 2024

Natural Bridge

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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