One hundred and eighty-three UGA faculty members signed a petition asking UGA President Jere Morehead and other top administrators to dismiss the immediate suspensions of students who were arrested Monday in a campus protest. That petition was delivered via email Friday afternoon. The students were among 16 protestors charged with misdemeanors after refusing to relocate their activities to designated protest areas on campus.
The letter says UGA has the right to bring in the police and enforce campus free speech policies but calls the suspensions unwarranted and antithetical to the university’s mission. Associate Professor Janet Frick told the Athens Banner Herald that there are different perspectives about the tactics and content of the protest but the signed faculty are concerned about the punitive nature of suspending the students. The university acknowledged receipt of the letter but declined further comment.
