CHICAGO 6/6- The Trauma Care Coalition today concluded a powerful week of action timed to coincide with the University of Chicago's Alumni Weekend. The Coalition led a 150-person rally and die-in on the main quadrangles at UofC, where an alumni lunch was being held.
This rally followed a morning of smaller actions, including a banner drop and the disruption of an awards ceremony, that aimed to draw the alumni's attention to the need for an adult level-one trauma center on the South Side of Chicago.
Early this morning, the Coalition strung up a banner spelling out "Trauma Center Now" across a building on the main campus, and disrupted an award ceremony at which President Robert Zimmer was speaking. At 10:45 a.m., around 20 Trauma Center Coalition protesters disrupted President Zimmer's speech at the Annual Alumni Awards. The protesters held a banner in front of Zimmer that read: "U of C does not think black lives matter". They chanted demanding that UofC open a trauma center and that President Zimmer meet with the Trauma Center Coalition. Instead of agreeing to a meeting, however, President Zimmer left and cancelled the event, forcing the ceremony to end early.
"I was disappointed that President Zimmer would rather end his ceremony early than agree to meet with the Trauma Care Coalition," said University of Chicago student and trauma center organizer Natalie Naculich, "Nevertheless, we believe President Zimmer's response shows we are successfully putting pressure on him, and that we are closer to a trauma center."
After the disruption of Zimmer's speech, a group of 150 protesters marched across the University of Chicago Main Quad where Alumni Weekend activities were taking place and staged a die-in inside of the tent where an alumni festival was occurring.
The die in was meant to materialize the urgency of the issue, which the Trauma Center Coalition says is a literal matter of life or death for countless residents of the South Side who are directly affected by the lack of a Trauma Center. "We are dying-in today to represent the community members that have lost their life because of the lack of a Trauma Center, while UofC administration have done nothing" said JCUA member Molly Schneider.
Trauma Center Coalition activists are confident that their actions today will push the University of Chicago administration towards their demands. "Today we showed the University that there are many students and alumni who stand in support of a trauma center," said Fearless Leading by the Youth leader Veronica Morris-Moore, one of the protesters released from jail yesterday, "Business will not go on as usual at the University of Chicago while black lives continue to be lost on the South Side."
The Trauma Center Coalition is demanding that the University of Chicago open an adult level-one Trauma Center, raise the age of their pediatric trauma center to 21, include community input in the trauma care feasibility study they are currently conducting, and agree to a community benefits agreement.
Today's actions are the culmination of a week of actions focused around disrupting Alumni Weekend at the University of Chicago, starting with a sit-in on Wednesday, when nine activists, including five alumni, were arrested. All 9 were released 45 hours after their arrest and will appear in court in mid-June to face three misdemeanor charges. Trauma center activists will continue to pressure UofC to drop the charges.
Because of an ongoing legal investigation, the Trauma Center Coalition has no further statement at this time about reports of an incident where an individual attacked protesters. They also request that supporters not let this incident distract from this week's display of support for a trauma center from UofC alumni, students, and community members.
The community's demand for trauma care was sparked by the death of Woodlawn youth leader Damian Turner, and is led by the Woodlawn-based Fearless Leading by the Youth, along with the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, Students for Health Equity at the UofC, National Nurses United and many faith groups including the United Church of Christ.
The South Side is currently a trauma desert for adults, meaning that victims of shootings and other serious injuries must be taken over ten miles away, to the Near North Side or south west suburbs. The call for trauma care is also supported by a new study by the Illinois Department of Public Health which states that longer travel times to a trauma center increases the likelihood of dying, the study also states that the U of C is best positioned to expand access to trauma care, and that the U of C could further raise the age limit of their pediatric trauma center.
