May 16, 2023

Dear Emory University,

We write to you as alumni to denounce the Atlanta Police Foundation's plan to destroy 170+ acres of Weelaunee Forest to build a $90 million+ police training facility, known as “Cop City.” We stand in solidarity with the student organizers who occupied the quad, calling on the Emory administration to act in alignment with its mission “to create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.” In the face of ecological collapse and rising rates of police brutality, this project will only worsen the environmental and social crises our Atlanta community already faces. 

We stand unequivocally in support of the recent student actions to protect Weelaunee Forest and stop the construction of the Atlanta Police Foundation's police training facility. We are encouraged and inspired by the courage, passion, and dedication to community demonstrated by the coordinated student protests at Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta College, Spelman College, Agnes Scott College, and Georgia State University. We applaud the students who took a stand against the injustices of Cop City and called on their universities to take action to protect Weelaunee Forest and stop Cop City.

We join them in denouncing the project and affirming the University's responsibility to take action on this issue.

We uplift the student demands that: 

• The City of Atlanta immediately cancel the lease granted to the Atlanta Police Foundation.
• Attorney General Carr, District Attorney Boston, District Attorney Willis, and Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council Chair Mosley drop all baseless charges against political prisoners meant to repress political activity.
• Emory levy no repercussions in any way against those who participated in the student led protests starting on the 24th of April.
• Emory publicly denounce Cop City and condemn any and all groups involved with its construction, first and foremost the Atlanta Police Foundation.

• President Fenves step down from the Atlanta Committee for Progress Board in protest of its support for "Cop City" and urge others to join him.
• Emory medical doctor Douglas A. Murphy step down from the board of the Atlanta Police Foundation.
   

Additionally, we add these demands as alumni: 

• Emory use its institutional power to call on Woodruff Foundation (the largest private funder of Cop City) and Brasfield & Gorrie (the lead contractor and a major funder of Cop City) to cut ties with the Atlanta Police Foundation and divest from Cop City, and commit to not working with Brasfield & Gorrie again until they cut ties with APF and divest from Cop City.
• Emory issue an apology to students for calling the Atlanta Police Department to campus to evict the student occupation, which endangered students' well-being and flew in the face of Emory's values of advancing justice and community engagement.
• Emory call upon James Cox Kennedy to live up to the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters Emory recently bestowed upon him by divesting from Cop City and ceasing any fundraising for it. President Fenves said: "For Jim, it isn't enough to simply do well. He must, in all things, do good and help others. Which is why, as chairman of the James M. Cox Foundation, Jim brings an unwavering commitment to improving the world. The foundation supports conservation, and the environment," and yet, Cox Enterprises remains a prominent donor to the Atlanta Police Foundation, and Cox CEO Alex Taylor personally leads fundraising efforts for Cop City. We find this stark contrast concerning, especially when the same award was given minutes later to Anthony Ray Hinton for his work to "use his platform to help others and to expose the injustice and racism that have led to the wrongful imprisonment of so many across our nation. ... and shed light on the inequities of the criminal justice system," all problems which Cop City will actively exacerbate.
   

The Atlanta community has so clearly expressed dissent to the expansion of police power and militarized training at the expense of Black and brown communities & our local ecosystems, not least by voicing its opposition at City Hall on May 15 with the longest in-person public comment period in civic Atlanta history, doubling the previous 2017 record with 288 people registering and 100 more cut off that wished to speak.

In this letter of solidarity, we join many others who have spoken out against Cop City, including Emory doctors​, academics from across the nation​, human rights organizations, and the thousands of people and 600+ organizations who signed on to petitions demanding this project be stopped. The movement to stop Cop City and protect Weelaunee Forest is directly aligned with Emory's values of sustainability, service to community, and "thinking beyond oneself." We demand Emory use its voice and institutional power to stop Cop City. 

We, the undersigned alumni, pledge to withhold any further donations to Emory until these demands are met, and hope that you as the University will make us proud. 

Sincerely,

Alumni