Investigative writer Caroline Krum joins host Emma Ratkovic to discuss the evolution of student protests and activism at the U.

Hello and welcome back to Uncovered the Daily Utah Chronicle's Investigative Podcast. I'm your host, Emma Ratkovic. And on today's episode of the podcast, I'm joined by investigative writer Caroline Krum. Caroline recently wrote a story about the U's history of student protests and activism for the January print edition of the Chrony.

Okay, the club set up shanties, or wooden like hut structures near the Union. Why had these shanties been built up and what had happened after the setup?

So the club set up the shanties and stated that they'd be building kind of like a shanty town, putting up multiple all over campus, and they use these to advocate for black rights in South Africa. And then sometimes even camp inside the shanties. Students said that they did this specifically to dramatize the plight of South African blacks and that they were going to keep these shanties up until the you divested from the companies that were funding apartheid. Very

interesting. So what actions were organizations and students at the U requesting from the U, so

the main thing they were calling for was what they called divestment, which was kind of pulling out investments. But it was the name given calling the U to pull out of there and to pull their investments into companies funding South African apartheid out the U claimed that these investments were only business related, and that they weren't politically motivated, say that, like they had kind of nothing to do with the apartheid but students claimed that they did not support the university that they paid for to fund apartheid in South Africa.

And can you highlight the incidents that were committed by movement opponents?

Yeah, so there were counter protests and flyers and information, but the main conflict occurred when opponents threw a fire bomb at the shanty, and it was filled with student protesters. So it happened during night, but no one was harmed. But it does show the extreme viewpoints that some people are willing to harm other students in order to get their points across.

Yeah, wow. That's definitely a big deal. So after the demonstration, did the U make any changes? Yeah,

the U passed a resolution in support of South Africa. And they stated that they would now only be investing in companies that they felt like we're making progress.

So the topic of racial minority rights has been prevalent at the U. As you know, you wrote that students who identify as Chicana are more likely to experience difficulties in higher education. What exactly does it mean to be Chicano? And where's this term derived from?

So can you elaborate on the statistics on the Chicano population at the U? So

Wow. Is the U's Chicano Student Association still in existence in 2024? If so, what is their current mission and how has the Chicano population changed over time at the U?

So there's things that the Chicano Student Association work to when they were around that are still here. One of those is the Chicano Scholarship Fund, which still exists nowadays. But the actual club itself doesn't exist. But the U does have the Latinx Student Union, which is new since then, and also Mecha, both of which were created to advocate for black and brown students, as well as provide a community and resources for Mexican-American students.

And then going along with that protests at the U erupted in response to racism and prejudice towards black students. You mentioned some of the most notable figures of the protests. What part did Charles Nabors and Ronald Coleman play in the protests that had taken place? Nabors

and Coleman helped to organize the protests against race based discrimination, both of these faculty members discussed their personal experience with racism at the U, since they were both black men. And they were faculty that could kind of help guide students on how to go about having protests and organize them and put them together for students.

And how did Black students and faculty support the cause? And what actions did they take?

So black students created the Black Student Union, which actually is still around today, and is an official club at the U. They held protests, they started boycotts, they participated in sit-ins, they hosted anti war rallies, but they also protested against housing discrimination and the severe racism that they were experiencing.

And then you didn't mention in your story that black faculty members and students confronted racism in the LDS church. How exactly to think about that.

Very interesting. So what exactly is Mecha? And what protests did they hold in 2023. So

Mecha has had a couple of different protests. In April, they held a protest against YAF's. transphobia during Pride Week, they put up a couple of posters that offended a lot of people in the transgender community. They protested a YAF event again this November, when the club attempted to hold a screening for the film Damaged, which is a film about the detransitioner Chloe Cole. They had a couple of protests calling for the free Palestine movement. And then they had a protest or a sit-in to reinstate their sponsorship and to also call on the university to meet their list of demands.

And what was the response and course of action followed by U students and faculty when Mecha lost their group sponsorship,

so Mecha lost the sponsorship in response to violating the university's free speech policy, and the university claimed that protesting the YAF event and not allowing the other event to take place Mecha had infringed on YAF's free speech rights, or the rights of another club, so then they would have their sponsorship taken away. As a result. The university also stated that Mecha was being reprimanded for not being cooperative with the university and violating clubs sponsorship policies.

And your story you mentioned that the area behind the union was supposedly changed to prevent people from congregating there. Can you describe how that changed?

Yeah, so the Union back patio used to be a really flat grassy area and if you view University photos from like the 60s, you can still see students sitting in this sort of open field but now the Union back patio is filled with trees, small hills and multiple concrete paths. So with this happening during a time when the space was being used for demonstrations. There's a kind of widely held belief that this was done to discourage students from using this space for protests and Rachel and MJ write an investigative piece on this that everyone should read on the website.

Oh, yeah, definitely. So in the wake of student demonstrations against South African apartheid, What actions did the U's Institutional Council take? Well, according

And then Caroline, in your own words, how can employees and students at the U safely demonstrate for their rights?

I think peaceful, nonviolent protest is always the safest way to avoid individual harm or repercussions. It's also always a good idea to notify U staff in advance that you will be holding a protest because that prevents the U from being able to completely shut it down. That's one of the issues that Mecha ran into this year of having to notify faculty of their protests. But it's also super important that you know your rights, you should know what you can or can't say, know what you can or can't do know when you are or are not being detained know what you have to tell police and what you don't have to tell them, etc. So I think being well informed is the most important.

Do you have any final thoughts or comments? Yeah,

I think protesting is super important. And I think it's a natural part of democracy. I think it's also natural that major institutions like the U would supposedly oppose student protests. But as long as they don't harm people or property, they are always protected. You have every right to protest. And if you see injustice happening, I strongly encourage you to learn your rights and take to demonstrating.

All right, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. Caroline.

Thank you for having me.

And I'm your host, Emma Ratkovic. And thank you so much for tuning into this episode of Uncovered make sure to listen to our future episodes.