The University of Chicago The Law School

Attorneys representing a group of protesters, clergy and journalists suing the federal government over what they allege are excessive and “indiscriminate” use of tear gas and pepper spray argued before a federal judge Wednesday morning, saying the court should issue a preliminary injunction that would stop federal agents from using crowd control chemicals against protesters and others in the Chicago area.

My first intersection with anything related to Laquan McDonald was reading a couple of paragraphs about the shooting in the local papers. This was a story you’d see on a weekly basis because, at that time, Chicago police were shooting, on average, [close to] one Black person a week. The story was like, “Police see a young Black man armed with a knife, he comes at them, an officer shoots him in self-defense. End of story.

On first appraisal, the nine universities that the Trump administration singled out appeared to have no real choice but to concede to the administration’s demands. As set forth in the so-called Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, these include an oath to abide by the White House’s biological theories of gender and to show respect for “conservative” (but not liberal or centrist) values.