People head to the upper floor of Straub Hall in search of an overflow viewing room or alternate entry for Angela Davis’ speaker event on March 6, 2024. Hundreds of people gathered in Straub 156 to hear Angela Davis speak “on apartheid, prisons, and capitalism” at an event organized in collaboration with the UO’s Multicultural Center and ROAR Center. The lecture hall has an official capacity of 520, which overfilled within minutes of the doors opening, leaving would-be listeners—some of whom traveled hours to attend the event—to find other ways to see and hear Davis’ talk. (Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
Police officers were called to a civil rights speaking event March 6 in response to the overflow of attendants exceeding expectations and building capacity.
Angela Davis, a prominent political activist, spoke at an event aimed to discuss “apartheid, prisons and capitalism.” During the event, the University of Oregon Police Department arrived despite an alleged prior agreement between UOPD and the event’s organizers to prevent UOPD presence inside the event.
“They called the cops on students of color who were waiting outside, trying to listen to Angela Davis speak,” an attendee yelled from the front of the room. “While every single one of us in here has the privilege, they called the cops.”
Roughly 2,000 UO students and community members, ranging from individuals from the Yakama Indian Reservation and graduate students from Portland State University, lined up outside Straub Hall to hear Davis’ speech.
The official capacity of Straub Hall 156, UO’s largest lecture hall and the location of Davis’ talk, is 520 people. The Radical Organizing & Activism Resource Center and the UO Multicultural Center, the organizers of the event, established an “overflow room” with a capacity of 100 individuals who would listen to the talk virtually.
According to Max Jensen and Mae Bracelim, organizers from ROAR, there was an alleged agreement between ROAR, MCC and UOPD that university police would not be present inside the event if organizers brought in a de-escalation team.
However, UO spokesperson Angela Seydel said that ROAR was not involved with MCC and UOPD’s support plan, and that UOPD was asked to be at the event to support the de-escalation team.
According to Seydel, “UOPD was not notified of any agreement among organizers that they would not be present.”
Several de-escalation team members unaffiliated with UOPD were present to assist with crowd control and potential counter protesters, according to Jensen.
UOPD Police Chief Jason Wade was seen inside the event assisting in crowd control efforts. Wade called for backup due to the high volume of people, which resulted in the presence of two additional UOPD officers. As the crowd thinned out “and a safe venue was restored,” according to Seydel, the officers left.
“It appears that [UOPD] acted in violation of that agreement and removed students from the upper balcony and from the lower floor area without the permission of the Multicultural Center or the ROAR Center,” Bracelim said. “This [is] something we think, especially considering the themes of the presentation given by Dr. Davis, is completely unacceptable and community action will need to be taken.”
According to UO spokesperson Angela Seydel, organizers from the event contacted UOPD on March 4 requesting UOPD presence.
Seydel said that the agreed upon plan with event organizers and UOPD was for Wade and Director of Community Engagement John Johnson would be present at the event and that a UOPD car would park outside of Straub to provide “support for event safety.”
Many attendees expressed their frustration toward the lack of communication from event organizers and the lack of crowd control.
“Communication was terrible,” UO student Nkem Mekkam said. “I came here at 5 [p.m.] and it was hot as hell, people were pushing me to get to the front. People were trying to get masks, it was a f—king mess.”
Additionally, there were allegedly no accommodations made in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Luna Fera, a UO student who uses a wheelchair for mobility, said that she was unable to access the wheelchair ramp because of the large volume of people.
“I come in to find that the whole ramp is taken over. So I’m stuck there. I can’t get in even if I wanted to,” Fera said. “There’s nobody making space and then we’ve come to find out that they’re using the accessibility seats for the media and other able-bodied people.”
Jensen said the ROAR Center and MCC felt a lack of support from the scheduling department.
“I feel like things have been exacerbated by the lack of support that we got leading up to the event from Scheduling [in EMU], who didn’t know who the f—k Angela Davis was until a week ago,” Jensen said.
The event was organized in two parts: Davis spoke for approximately 50 minutes and then held a Q&A discussion with members of student organizations.
During the presentation, Davis said that people of color and low-income white individuals are put into the criminal justice system due to the U.S. economy. Davis also spoke on the Israel-Hamas War and the prison industrial complex.
UO Black Male Alliance President Desi Acuay, UO Black Student Union treasurer Simone More and UO Jewish Voice for Peace founder Gabriela Moreno conducted the Q&A with Davis, discussing topics ranging from campus activism against genocide in Palestine to establishing hope within individuals.
The event carried on as planned after the crowd size thinned and UOPD left.
Editor’s note: This article has been edited to include further statements from Angela Seydel, UO’s spokesperson. Seydel said that ROAR was not involved in any agreements with UOPD, and that UOPD was unaware of any agreements made between organizers to not be present at the event. UOPD Chief Wade called for backup due to the rising number of attendees, and, according to Seydel, left once the event returned to a “safer” crowd size.
A person stands with their ear pressed to the side door of the Straub lecture hall to hear Angela Davis speak after being denied entry to the event on March 6, 2024. Hundreds of people gathered in Straub 156 to hear Angela Davis speak "on apartheid, prisons, and capitalism" at an event organized in collaboration with the UO's Multicultural Center and ROAR Center. The lecture hall has an official capacity of 520, which overfilled within minutes of the doors opening, leaving would-be listeners—some of whom traveled hours to attend the event—to find other ways to see and hear Davis' talk. (Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
