On Wednesday, over 100 students and approximately 12 faculty members at SUNY New Paltz started an encampment protest on campus, protesting the contract that SUNY New Paltz has with the company Siemens (a company that has contracts with Israel). The students had a list of demands for SUNY New Paltz as part of the protests, including:

·         Disclosing all contracts, investments, and donations.

·         Severing contracts, withdrawing investments, and ending all 

·         Adopting an ongoing position of nonengagement with all companies named by the Palestinian BDS Movement.

·         Dropping the charges and academic sanctions placed on students due to participation in the encampment.

·         Absolving all faculty members who have been put under investigation for speaking out about Palestine.

Along with these demands, the protesters agreed to:

·         Not sharing the identity of those participating in the protest.

·         Keeping the protest peaceful.

·         Cleaning up after themselves.

·         Respecting others and the land they are on.

The protest did in fact remain peaceful, however, when leadership staff at SUNY New Paltz and students couldn’t reach an agreement, SUNY New Paltz President Darrell P. Wheeler escalated the situation by involving dozens of law enforcement officers with batons and K9s to remove the students and community members protesting. Officers were captured on camera using excessive physical force by dragging peaceful protesters, aggressively pulling them, and putting their weight on top of them when arresting them. It was reported that one protester was kicked in the mouth, another one was choked, others were beaten into unconsciousness and concussion, and that there were widespread injuries among students. Even after this, President Darrell P. Wheeler put out a statement to defend his decision to involve law enforcement officers – this statement had no mention of the injuries sustained by protestors. These actions have sent the message that President Darrell P. Wheeler does not care about the voices and well-being of students on campus and that he is not fit to be president at SUNY New Paltz. Consequently, this petition is being created to demand the removal of SUNY New Paltz President Darrell P. Wheeler from his position as President of SUNY New Paltz.