University leadership including academic deans worked with student designees of the protesters and faculty to explore possible paths to an agreement within the University’s principles. All agreed to respect the confidentiality of those discussions. Unfortunately, the requests of the protesters were inconsistent with the University’s principles and discussions were suspended.
There are material inaccuracies and mischaracterizations in the information being shared on social media. In particular, the Scholars at Risk program is an existing initiative at the University of Chicago and other leading universities and colleges. The program is open to scholars throughout the world. All scholars impacted by this conflict are being encouraged to participate. In addition, UCPD presence on the Quad has fluctuated based on needs and circumstances and at no point did we reduce – or agree to reduce – the security presence based on negotiations.