Fire Marshal's 'Catastrophic Loss of Life' Warning Triggers Dawn Clearing of Month-Long Michigan Encampment

Ensuring that the campus is safe – for students, faculty, employees, university visitors, and protestors – is a paramount concern, which is why the university has provided 24-hour security for the encampment over the past four weeks. Following a May 17 inspection by the university fire marshal, who determined that were a fire to occur, a catastrophic loss of life was likely, the fire marshal and Student Life leaders asked camp occupants to remove external camp barriers, refrain from overloading power sources, and stop using open flames. The protesters refused to comply with these requests. That forced the university to take action and this morning, we removed the encampment. The disregard for safety directives was only the latest in a series of troubling events centered on an encampment that has always violated the rules that govern the Diag – especially the rules that ensure the space is available to everyone. In late April and early May, individuals in the encampment replaced Diag bricks with concrete and painted over the Block M on the center of Diag. Spray paint graffiti was found on walkways, on the Michigan Union sign and on the fountain outside the League. These actions were not free speech; they were destruction of property. A protest outside the University of Michigan Museum of Art descended into violence on May 3. Participants in the encampment helped organize the protest and issued calls on social media for others to join them.