Marquette students protest Kenosha shooting, call on university to add more Black students, faculty and staff.
Several dozen Marquette students participated in an hourslong protest Thursday, decrying the police shooting of Jacob Blake and asking the university address demands they say have been pressed for years.
The protest began around 11 a.m. when members of Marquette’s Black Student Council and other student allies marched into the middle of Wisconsin Avenue near 16th Street, blocking traffic for more than 40 minutes, chanting Blake’s name and “Stop the violence.”
“They grabbed him by the shirt, like he was a (expletive) animal, shot him in the back,” Breanna Flowers, Black Student Council president, told the crowd. “And they expect us to go to class and be cool about it?”
Marquette University police closed the street to traffic during the demonstration. Police did not try to stop the protest; no one was ticketed or arrested.
The students then began a march across campus to the university’s administrative building, where they chanted and asked to speak with university leaders. The university locked the building doors to stop more people from entering, though students let each other in and livestreamed portions of the protest.
Several members of Marquette’s men’s and women’s basketball teams were in attendance, including Greg Elliott, a senior studying corporate communications.
“It’s time for change,” Elliott said. “Over time, you can say as much as you want, but if you’re not really standing up for the cause then what are you doing.”
University President Michael Lovell arrived on campus to speak with the students.
The demands included the creation of a “no tolerance” hate speech policy in Marquette’s student handbook; the creation of an annual full tuition scholarship for 30 Black Milwaukee Public Schools students and other student recruitment initiatives; the creation of a Black Student Communal Space; mandatory training for students, faculty and staff on how to work with and support Black students; the recruitment of more Black faculty and staff; and other funding for Black student life.
The students had Lovell write down their demands and asked that the university enter into a legal contract with the Black Student Council to make sure their demands are met.
University leaders agreed to meet with the students again to discuss the demands on Sept. 3.
Lioneal Clay, a junior studying sociology, Africana studies and peace studies and a board member of the Black Student Council, was one of the leaders of the march.
“It shows an internal neglect on what’s going on,” he said.
University spokeswoman Lynn Griffith said the university supported the students right to demonstrate and that Marquette is committed to continuing to work with students.
“We are proud of our students who have taken an active and vocal stance for racial justice,” she said. “Their actions, which we fully support, are necessary to affect change on our campus and in the broader community.”
Students told the Journal Sentinel they were tired of hearing the words “we understand” and were looking for concrete change and commitments. Many called on Marquette to do more to serve the communities of color that surround it, noting that only about 4% of its students are Black.
“We shouldn’t have to provide them with a list of things we need that’s been asked for for decades,” Flowers said.