Nine students involved in the March 4 education rights protest on the U. Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus have agreed to a settlement, university spokesman Tom Luljak has confirmed.
As part of the settlement, the university has agreed to drop nonacademic misconduct charges in exchange for requiring the students to participate in a seminar on non-violent protests. Six of the students will also have to perform community service projects on campus.
Four students did not take the university’s offer.
All of the students signing the agreement had to stipulate they would not pursue further legal action against the university, something Luljak said is “standard practice.”
Luljak said the deal does not directly resolve concurrent charges against the group of ticketed protesters – not all of whom are students – of violating noncriminal University of Wisconsin System rules governing conduct on campus property. But there are indications such charges, which largely consist of engaging in unlawful assembly, will also be dropped or lessened as part of a separate settlement with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office, which has responsibility to prosecute alleged violations of the UW conduct rules.
If students complete the terms of the university’s settlement agreement, Luljak said it is his understanding the charges being prosecuted by the district attorney will also be dropped.
While the district attorney’s office would not confirm this, Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Altenburg said his office has “closely consulted” with UWM and has “incorporated the university’s resolution” into settlement proposals with those charged. Altenburg said settlement negotiations are still ongoing.
Luljak told the Post the university has “no objection to the district attorney dropping the charges” and also said UWM has been working with the district attorney’s office “in an attempt to resolve both the university and civil charges at the same time.”
Several students have similarly described the deal, telling the Post they understand that all charges – nonacademic misconduct and unlawful assembly – will be dropped upon completion of the university’s settlement terms.
“After everything in the deal is done, all of the charges would be dropped,” said UWM student Joshua Lindquist, who, after being offered the settlement, opted to fight the charges.
Lindquist and another student, Rachel Matteson, who took the deal, also told the Post UWM’s settlement offer initially stipulated that the university would have been able to refile the charges at a later date.
“If something happened in the future, the university would have been able to bring back the charges,” said Lindquist.
Lindquist and Matteson say after students objected to this clause of the agreement, the university removed it. It remains unclear what the precise language of the initial settlement offer was or what would have triggered any refiling of charges. Luljak, UWM’s spokesperson, would not disclose whether the offer was revised, saying the university is “not commenting on the nature of the negotiations.”
UWM would not identify which students took the settlement, citing a federal student privacy law. The Post has filed multiple requests with the university under the public records law to obtain the agreements and other related documents, but has not yet received a response.