Clark University stole thousands of dollars worth of supplies from a mutual aid group this week. Student Leadership and Planning greenlit the raid, and the facilities department carried it out.
This comes after the administration has implemented draconian freedom of speech rules (which were later overturned). This comes after the administration refused to disarm Clark University Police Department. This comes after the Menstrual Equity Alliance, who provide tampons and pads, has been denied the funding they need to continue their operations.
This comes after so many instances of our administration showing us exactly who they are; classists, sexists, and racists. Clark often styles itself as a “socially progressive institution”. Make no mistake, the institution is not socially progressive, we the students are.
Our administration is continuing to prioritize a positive cashflow over starving students.
On Saturday, November 23, all of the goods and resources belonging to FIRM were removed from the club’s space in Dana Commons by the facilities department. FIRM were given no advanced warning to the raid. Their signs were torn down, tatters remaining on the walls, showing what once was.
The Scarlet interviewed a member of the Food Insecurity Resistance Movement (FIRM) about their ongoing operations, the raid, and where they go from here. Herein, they will be referred to as “the representative”. The representative preferred to remain anonymous due to past administration retaliation against student leaders.
According to FIRM, the administration has always had a “tense” relationship with FIRM and fellow mutual aid group, the See You Collective (SYC). The representative said: “Historically, it has been very aggressive, very hostile…There has always been mistrust, from both sides”
FIRM and SYC leaders believe that the university has targeted them due to a false idea that they deceive potential donors into donating to their groups instead of the university. The university has a longstanding conflict with mutual aid groups SYC and FIRM.
The November 23 raid is not the first direct action taken against FIRM by the Clark Administration.
This summer, FIRM announced that they would no longer have an on campus food pantry. Instead, they would partner with local addiction recovery and nutrition center Jeremiah’s Inn. Jeremiah’s Inn has specific hours when Clark Students experiencing food insecurity can come to get food.
This change from having an on-campus food pantry to a food resource three quarters of a mile away was not one that FIRM was in support of, they were forced into this. “FIRM did not want to partner with Jeremiah’s Inn; in fact, FIRM wanted to stay on campus” Said the representative.
FIRM was included in the discussions to switch from an on campus food pantry to partnering with Jeremiah’s Inn, but their concerns about access and their on campus pantry were not heard by Administration, who wished FIRM to disappear from campus. “We [FIRM] were definitely included, but it was not a conversation; it was a drawn out telling us that we were going to go there, telling us that we were not going to be on campus anymore” said the FIRM leader.
The representative did say that Jeremiah’s Inn’s mission is “amazing”, and that FIRM holds “a lot of love” for Jeremiah’s Inn. However, they said: “it is despicable that Clark University is pushing off their issues of food insecurity to a community partner who cannot actually sustain the influx of students.” FIRM is also concerned that the University was not financially supporting Jeremiah’s Inn enough.
In the past, FIRM had a full pantry in the University Center. In the academic year 2022-2023, they were forced out and sent to Dana Commons. Over the summer of 2023, they were relocated to Jeremiah’s Inn, with no food pantry for campus. Now, the scraps FIRM has managed to keep have been stolen by those who claim to help us.
The items stolen from the room include thousands of dollars of textbooks, commissioned artwork, as well as “items that were invaluable” to the club and its history. A conservative estimate is that $6,000 worth of supplies were taken from the FIRM space. This estimate assumes a value of $20 per textbook; an actual appraisal value would likely put the figure much higher.
Clark has repeatedly targeted FIRM, with the representative stating: “We have gotten not even the bare minimum that other clubs get.” They went on to speculate that “A lot of this targeting has to do with the fact that we make the university look bad by existing, by existing, FIRM critiques the university.”
It is worth noting that the raid on FIRM’s space disproportionately affects the BIPOC community at Clark. Although the representative of FIRM did not say the Administration was targeting black and brown students, “They are targeting a resource that is used by majority black and brown students.”
This raid directly goes against the promise the university made to keep Dana Commons space as accessible and safe for the BIPOC community at Clark. “The fact that this kind of carelessness happened in Dana Commons, that’s scary to me” said the representative.
From here, FIRM’s future is somewhat hazy. “We don’t have clear next steps, and we have yet to hear from the university.” Although they will be continuing their work with Jeremiah’s Inn, the representative said: “we want our space back, and we want our items back”.
Our administration positions itself as socially progressive, but when students do anything even marginally left of center, the administration discredits them, steals their things, and tears their signs down.
As emphasized by this raid and their continued conflicts with SYC, they target resources used by black and brown students, and they target resources used by poor students, they target resources used by the most vulnerable students at the university.
K Ward ~ Nov 27, 2024 at 12:14 pm
Parent of Clark Senior with a message to CLARK Admin: RETURN THE FIRM MATERIALS ASAP! No excuses. I’m terribly disappointed in the administration. This is work the students have taken on themselves to love their fellow neighbor. Instead of punching them in the gut like this, you should be supporting and enabling their action. Allowing them space to work is literally the least you can do. Smh.
GG ~ Nov 26, 2024 at 8:57 pm
The student body will not stand by and let administration steal from us. They have trashed years of student history in this raid. We have built our own resources to survive and they continue to get in our way because they are threatened by mutual aid.
H ~ Nov 26, 2024 at 7:50 pm
Thank you for publishing this information. This is a despicable action that demands a public apology from the university and reconciliation. Hopefully the student pressure will make SLP reevaluate their stance and support actions like FIRM.