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Prepare to ‘Unzip Your Regalia’ at Commencement

Published

1 year ago

May 9, 2024

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There is a clear undertone of tension on the campus of Washington University as students finish finals and prepare for commencement, Sylvie Raymond, a senior who is graduating this coming Monday, tells RFT.

“I’m a little nervous to see how everything plays out and what measures the school takes,” Raymond says. “And obviously, there’s always the thought in the back of my mind, like, are they going to cancel graduation?”

Some schools that have seen student protests have canceled their main commencement or split it into smaller ceremonies, including Columbia University and the University of Southern California. Emory University moved its ceremony.

“The culture of fear and fear of getting suspended, doxxed, and just generally having repercussions for voicing your political beliefs is very palpable,” Raymond says. “And that is definitely troubling for a university that ostensibly should promote the free transmission and expression of ideas.”

After protests roiled the campus on April 27, Wash U moved swiftly to suspend the students involved and bar the faculty members from campus. At least one student swept up in the mass arrests told the Post-Dispatch her degree is being withheld while her case makes its way through the criminal justice system, though she will be allowed to attend commencement.

Wash U has also sent students additional guidance on what to expect for its commencement ceremony May 13. Now, among other precautions, graduates will be subject to inspections of their regalia.

In an email sent to people attending the university’s Law School Recognition Ceremony and subsequently shared with RFT, the university tells students, “Please be ready to unzip your regalia before and during the All-University Commencement and Law Recognition Line-ups.”

The university will also require tickets to attend the Arts & Sciences undergraduate ceremony this Sunday and the university-wide commencement on Monday, according to updated guidance on the university’s website. These tickets were sent directly to graduates to distribute. Chancellor Andrew Martin has begged students not to protest at the ceremony.

Wash U hasn’t responded to several emails from the RFT seeking further clarity on what the administration planned to check for at commencement, including whether graduating students would be allowed to wear keffiyehs. The traditional Palestinian headdresses have become a symbol of solidarity and resistance adopted by protestors as Israel’s attacks on Gaza continue. In response, people wearing them have been detained in France and Germany, and elsewhere targeted with violence, including the shooting in Vermont of two Palestinian students wearing them, according to Reuters.

The university has also fenced off the campus and, on May 6, added tarp around some of the fencing, supposedly “in order to ensure pedestrian safety and keep the area clear while crews are setting up a stage and other structures associated with the post-Commencement celebration.” University-issued IDs are now required to enter the Danforth campus.

Raymond says that at first she thought the fence was some kind of joke, but then she began to see it as a wall.

“It’s very troubling,” she says. “ I think it really flies in the face of this idea, or this notion that Wash U builds up about them being in St. Louis for St. Louis. I think this is very blatantly showing that that is not the case that this campus was never for the Greater St. Louis Community.”

In the days leading up to commencement, activists plan to have a standing protest at the corner of Lindell and Skinker in Forest Park just across from campus. These “Post-Up for Palestine” demonstrations will begin at 3:30 each afternoon and will include teach-ins and art builds, Resist Wash U has posted on social media.

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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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