During an online meeting, a member of the Minnesota Student Association Executive Board directed others to waste police resources in retaliation for perceived injustices.
“Make their lives hell. Annoy the shit out of them,” Lauren Meyers said during a Zoom meeting. “Like, use up their resources, make their officers show up to something.”
Here it is. We received a copy of the video that was deleted from Reddit.#UMN Student Association Rep Lauren Meyers advocates disrupting #UMPD police to "make their lives hell, annoy the sh*t out of them, use up their resources, make their officers show up to something." #MN pic.twitter.com/DxQD4b0aDE
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) April 27, 2021
The tirade was prompted when another student asked Meyers to explain what she meant by directing others to “disrupt” the University of Minnesota Police Department (UMPD).
According to a Fox News report, the discussion centered around a letter sent to University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel, which demanded that Gabel instruct UMPD Chief Matt Clark to resign.
According to that letter, UMPD has not sufficiently served minority students. It accuses the school of “utilization of UMPD as a physical arm of the oppressive state to subjugate and silence community members.”
It also reportedly threatened “direct action” if the school did not meet the students’ demands, but did not detail what that means.
Falsely reporting a crime is a misdemeanor in Minnesota.
Meyer’s comments angered police and their representatives in the state.
“We’re frustrated that elected student leaders would purposefully choose to stir further division to make the campus less safe,” Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association executive director Brian Peters reportedly said.
“Actively planning to thwart UMPD by generating false calls for help is insulting to the overwhelming majority of the campus community that rely on public safety services,” he continued. [Minnesota Students Association] leaders should be ashamed – and apologize to the campus community and victims of crime on campus.”
The university also condemned Meyers’ statements.
“The University respects the autonomy of the Minnesota Student Association as an independent governance organization for undergraduate students, including the autonomy of its membership to speak freely,” it reportedly said.
“However, in this instance, the University unequivocally disagrees with the ideas expressed about disrupting UMPD’s daily work. These ideas are illegal and would directly conflict with ongoing efforts to keep our campus community safe.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Minnesota Sun and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “University of Minnesota Police Squad Car” by Tony Webster CC 2.0.
