Chicago City Wire

Ira Weiss, an economics and accounting professor at the University of Chicago (UC) said he was “shocked” at the Chicago Police Department’s refusal to aid university police in clearing the encampment protests despite the university’s request for aid. 

“I am beyond shocked that the Chicago Police Department and Mayor Brandon Johnson refused to assist the University of Chicago to help clear the encampment at our school,” Weiss said in a post on X. “If this report in the New York Times is true, then what is going to happen when thousands of protesters show up in our city for the DNC convention this summer?   

Student protests at the University of Chicago campus began on Monday, April 29. Pro-Palestinian protesters set up over 40 tents at the beginning of their protest on the quad, saying they would stay as long as it took to stop the war between Israel and Hamas. 

Similar protests are occurring at campuses across the country, including at the University of Illinois at Champaign, and at Northwestern. 

The goal of the protesters at U of C was to have the University divest from any institutions that support “the Gaza genocide and Israeli institutions” as well as disclose any investments that might benefit Israel, according to ABC News Chicago.

“I believe the protesters should also consider that an encampment, with all the etymological connections of the word to military origins, is a way of using force of a kind rather than reason to persuade others,” University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos wrote on Tuesday, April 30. “If necessary, we will act to preserve the essential functioning of the campus against the accumulated effects of these disruptions.”

University police broke up the encampment before sunrise on Tuesday, May 7. A New York Times article detailed the event, which resulted in no injuries and no arrests. The Chicago Police Department did not assist in the action, despite University of Chicago spokesman Gerald McSwiggan saying the school “made the Chicago Police Department aware of our operation well in advance."

"We requested their support, however, they declined,” he said. 

Ira Weiss is a Clinical Professor of Accounting and Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business where he teaches advanced MBA courses. Weiss earned his bachelor's from the University of Illinois, and went on to Chicago Booth for his MBA and PhD. He previously held positions at Ernst & Young and at Coopers & Lybrand.