The editorial board of BlackBoard Magazine would like to express our solidarity with and support of NU Community Not Cops in their efforts to abolish NUPD. As an organization that serves as an open forum for student expression and acts as a symbol for a unified Black community, we see this movement as essential to affirming the lives of our classmates, contributors and readers. As an executive board of all Black women, we recognize this movement as a matter of collective liberation for us and the Black community worldwide.

We condemn President Schapiro’s myopic, self-serving and harmful response to ongoing student anti-police protests. His response demonstrates that he does not take the demands of Black students seriously and is willing to justify police retaliation against protesters. At the time of writing, it has been 141 days since NUCNC sent the university its demands. If President Schapiro truly wanted to “recognize the many injustices faced by Black and other marginalized groups,” he would have engaged meaningfully with NUCNC when the group first asked for a conversation. Instead, a response from the president was not forthcoming until he felt personally challenged, upon which he delivered a tone-deaf diatribe that demonized student protesters and dismissed their concerns. 

While we are not surprised, we are nonetheless outraged. Northwestern University purports to be a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment for all students but is, in fact, complicit in racial violence. This is a call to all student organizations and students in general: we urge you to support this movement in any way you can. Donate, show up to protests, participate in email and phone zaps and raise awareness of abolition and transformative justice. This is a fight we can win if we all come together.