Friends,

1. Welcome to Fall 2025! As we start the new semester, by the lowest estimate, the settler colonial state of Israel has killed 63,000 Palestinians. This number is only based on identified bodies and does not include Palestinians shattered into pieces, bodies under the rubble, and those who have died from disease and famine. A peer-reviewed analysis in The Lancet journal estimated the traumatic injury deaths alone to be approximately 93,000 by May 2025. By now, The estimated number of people is at least 3 times more than 63,000. The IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) has concluded that Famine is currently occurring in Gaza. FRC states, "As this Famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed. The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay—even by days—will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of Famine-related mortality. If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies, and basic health, nutrition, and WASH services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially." We cannot allow this forced starvation and genocide to be normalized. We cannot allow business to continue as usual. We are all complicit because our university invests in Israel's genocide in Gaza. If you have been silent for two years, it is time to join the students, faculty, and staff who have been protesting to tell the administration that we do not want our tuition money, our pensions, and our tax dollars to fund this genocide. Enough is enough! Our protests DO make a difference! For example, our protests at the Board of Regents meetings and on campus, led by our brave students at SDS, have resulted in a one-year delay in the administration's contract with the Department of Defense. When we fight, we win! But we cannot stop here! We have to continue to protest until UMN cuts the contract with North Wind and DOD, and divests from genocide and apartheid permanently! See events at the end of this email and join the protests and teach-ins!
2. SEND AN EMAIL TODAY!!! UMN IS SHAMEFULLY holding a BORDER PATROL AGENT RECRUITMENT WEBINAR TOMORROW, SEPTEMBER 3RD! Please send this letter, drafted by SDS and demand that UMN protect our immigrant students, faculty, and staff. You can just cut and Paste it into the body of your email. To make it easier for you, we have also included the email addresses and the email text below. You can just cut and paste.
3. ​Support our AFSCME union workers and the Teamsters and participate in their protests and demands for a fair contract! They are the ones who make the university function. See the "Upcoming Events" section below for the librarians' protest this Thursday!

Text of the email for Border Patrol Recruitment Webinar:

To:

​upres@umn.edu​

​career@umn.edu

​snagel@umn.edu​

​rahrah@umn.edu

Subject Line: Protect Your Students, Stop Border Patrol Recruitment Webinar

Body: To Career Services and the UMN President,

I am writing as a concerned member of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities community. I am appalled by the UMN’s decision to host the Border Patrol Agent Recruitment Webinar on September 3rd. This webinar sends a dangerous message that the University of Minnesota does not support immigrants, instead contributing to the ongoing violence against those members of our community already at risk. President Trump’s recent efforts to increase DHS employment and recruitment are directly connected to the parallel increase in deportations and vagrant human rights abuses. Many of those recruited will go on to work at what amount to modern-day concentration camps.

The University has always claimed to support students on visas and in precarious situations: “International students and scholars have been and will always be an essential part of the University of Minnesota, bringing new knowledge and experiences to our University for 150 years.” Not only is hosting this webinar contradictory to this statement, but it sends a clear message of support to the federal agencies that CONTINUE to harass and terrorize immigrant families, rejecting the University’s alleged commitment to ensuring ALL students feel welcomed and protected.

I do not feel welcomed or protected with the hosting of this webinar.

It is your responsibility to not only protect those who call the university home, but also to direct UMN students to careers that better our community, NOT ones that conduct violent acts against immigrant populations and terrorize millions of people.

I urge you to consider your students’ best interests, safety, and futures, instead of opening the door to positions that have historically harmed the safety of citizens and migrants. The University of Minnesota must withdraw this tie with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency if it truly has the interests of its students at heart.
[Your Name]

Upcoming Events

NOW!!! September 2nd & 3rd All DAY LONG 🚨🚨Email-in!!! ​ ​📆 September 2 & 3 ⏰ All Day 📍 Your computer! 🚨 URGENT: UMN career services are partnering with the DHS to hold a “border control recruitment webinar” THIS WEDNESDAY. 🚨 ​ E-mail in to tell admin to cancel this webinar and cut ties with the DHS as they try to expand their forces while brutalizing our communities. ​ Email Addresses and Letter

Wednesday, September 3rd 8 PM Teach-in: learn the True Story of the University of Minnesota ​ ​📆 September 3 ⏰ 8pm 📍 Northrop Mall SDS: Happy start of the semester! Join us Wednesday the third for a second session of the disorientation teach in! ​ We’ll be talking about the TRUE history of the University of Minnesota, past the propaganda they love to spread at the start of each academic year. Learn where your tuition is really going and how university leaders really feel. ​ Snacks will be provided Instagram Post

Thursday, September 4th 12 PM AFSCME UMN Library Workers Info-Picket 📅 Thursday September 4th ⏰ 12PM 📍 Walter Library on the Northrop Mall, East Bank Campus AFSCME: 🪧 And we don’t stop comin’! ​ 📚 AFSCME UMN Library Workers Info-Picket outside of Walter Library on the 3rd day of fall semester! Not a library worker?? THAT’S OKAY! Join us anyways! AFSCME UMN is a union that shows up for one another! ​ 📢 Come and join us as library workers demand a fair contract from the University of Minnesota! ​ Instagram Post

Thursday, September 11 3 PM Rally: Your Tuition is Funding Gaza's Starvation! 📆 September 11th ⏰ 3PM 📍West side of Morrill Hall SDS: As Palestinians are being starved by Israel, the University of Minnesota has stayed committed to investing our tuition into these war criminals. Bang pots, pans, or water bottles to be loud about demanding divestment. ​ Instagram Post

Friday, September 12, 7:30 AM Rally and Petition delivery! Cut the Contract with Zen City! ⏰ 7:30AM 🗓️ Friday September 12th 📍 Minneapolis City Hall 350 South 5th Street ‼️ Pack the Rotunda‼️​ MNFPC: Rally and Petition delivery! Demand Mayor Frey Cut the Contract with Zencity! No to Israeli tech in Minneapolis! Bring noisemakers! Please wear a mask 😷 Instagram Post

Tuesday, September 16, 5:30 PM Sabra & Shatila Then. Gaza Now. Tuesday, Sept 16th @ 5:30 pm Minneapolis Fed Building, 300 S 4th St, Minneapolis​ USPCN & AWC: Sabra & Shatila Then. Gaza Now. Stop the Massacres! ​ The Palestinian diaspora will mark the anniversary of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre, but this year also marks so many deaths in Gaza. Over 63,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in the past two years - with over 200 of them starving to death from the Israeli designed famine. ​ Gaza has become the deadliest war zone for journalists in modern history. According to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, between October 2023 and August 2025, a total of 197 journalists and media workers have been killed; 189 of them were Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. ​ Co-sponsored by the MN Anti-War Committee and USPCN MN Endorsed by American Muslims for Palestine MN, Climate Justice Committee, Educators for Justice in Palestine, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Free Palestine Coalition, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, MN Peace Action Coalition, PSL, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice & Women Against Military Madness Instagram Post