Today on the National Day of Action to End State Violence Against Black Women, Girls and Femmes, we, DePaul Students for Black Lives, support calls to save CSU (Chicago State University) and to deny Dante Servin pension for the murder of Rekia Boyd.

As students at a university that claims to uphold Vincentian values, we believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all people. We are a community of DePaul students, who embody varying social identities. We remember Rekia, we know that her life matters, and we believe in her right to live with dignity. While Dante Servin violently took that right away from her, he gets to walk away with his dignity.

This week, just two days before the Chicago Police Board was finally scheduled to begin a hearing to determine whether Servin should be fired, he abruptly resigned. By doing so, he evades accountability and will continue to receive a pension. The unsurprising truth is that everyday Police inflict harm on Black and Brown communities without institutional accountability.

While Servin walks away unharmed, Chicago State University, whose students are mostly Black and mostly women, will be forced to close its doors. Even though the Chicago Police Department costs 4 million dollars a day to operate, the state will not fund an academic institution that only costs 5 million dollars a month to educate. In a state that already disproportionately incarcerates Black bodies, we will not let institutions cause more violence by eliminating educational opportunities.

We urge our fellow DePaul students and community members to follow Black organizers’ demands for the immediate and full funding of CSU and the revoking of Dante Servin’s pension. We call on Chicago City Council, who claims to lack funding, to prohibit Servin from receiving a pension.

 

Signed,

DePaul Students for Black Lives:

 

Feminist Front

MEChA de DePaul

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

Community Peacemakers

DCSA (DePaul Community Service Association)

Movimiento de Estudiantes Indocumentados de DePaul (MEID)

Amnesty International – DePaul Chapter

Trans*(formation)

Political Activists VIA Engagement (PAVE)

Building Communities, Ending Violence

Black Student Union

S.T.R.O.N.G. DePaul