On August 19, 2020, UMN medical student Daniel Michelson defaced the mural of George Floyd on Chicago and 38th Street. This vandalism can only be viewed as a highly public act of racism and hatred, and thus the consequences Michelson faces must be highly public as well. The University of Minnesota has an obligation to address such blatant acts of racism, and to take swift and immediate action. Daniel Michelson, who was enrolled as recently as this summer semester, must be expelled and barred from ever completing his degree at the University of Minnesota. 

The UMN recently created a scholarship in George Floyd’s name to support and elevate Black undergraduate students. The University cannot purport to serve Black students or honor George Floyd so long as the racism of its white students goes unpunished. The Minneapolis Uprising brought renewed attention to systemic racism in all forms, including the gross racial inequities in U.S. healthcare. The actions of Michelson are another reminder that institutions like the UMN must do more to combat racism in the medical field. Anti-racist education must be required not only for medical students, but for all UMN students, and the University must do better not to admit racist students the first place.

UMN students demand that the medical school and University as a whole condemn the actions of Michelson, hold him accountable through immediate expulsion, and use this moment to institute anti-racist education at every level of our University.