Students for a Democratic Society Hold Protest over Former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan Visiting UW-Milwaukee Campus

While former Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spoke to an audience of students, faculty and community members at UW-Milwaukee’s Ballroom Thursday night, noise could be heard outside the Student Union where the UWM Distinguished Lecture Series discussion was taking place. The student organization – Students for a Democratic Society – held a scheduled protest outside the Student Union, directly below the Ballroom in response to Ryan’s visit.

Outreach Chair for SDS Trenton Houck, a freshman student at UWM, had a message for Paul Ryan that he said encapsulated the protest’s purpose.

“Paul Ryan you are not welcome here,” Houck said. “You are a threat to public education, and you are a threat to marginalized communities.”

The protest began around 7 p.m., the same time as Ryan’s Feb. 23 event.  The protest managed to draw more than a dozen attendees, some of whom voiced their disappointment of UWM administration for platforming Ryan and took aim at the former speaker himself.

“We think it’s very ironic that UWM’s administration will platform someone like Paul Ryan who has done so much harm to public education, both in Wisconsin and nationally,” Trenton said.

Trenton also mentioned that another reason for the protest against Ryan is that one of the main objectives the SDS constitution states is that the organization strives “To organize our communities against sexism, racism, heterosexism, economic injustice, and all other forms of oppression engendered by the capitalist political economy.”

“Especially at a time when affirmative action and education cases are being heard in the supreme court, we think that Paul Ryan poses a threat to both these things and we think it’s really wrong that they’re platforming someone who spreads such hateful rhetoric and has had such a negative impact on the education system both statewide and nationally,” Trenton said.

While in Congress, Ryan advocated for reducing discretionary spending and often targeted student loan and Pell grant programs as possible areas to cut spending. Ryan currently sits on the board of directors at Fox as well as being involved with several other firms and businesses.

The topics discussed by Ryan at the event, according to the UWM events page, included the former speaker reflecting on his leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ryan also offered insights on the fiscal and economic challenges facing the country.

On the UWM Student Involvement page, the Paul Ryan event is listed as being part of the UWM Distinguished Lecture Series, which the university began in 1990 to highlight prominent speakers who tackle national topics and current events. Previous Distinguished Lecture Series speakers include Jane Goodall, Bill Nye and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar.

Patricia Fish, a sophomore transfer student who serves as the Recruitment Chair for SDS, spoke about the struggles the organization has had this year in organizing protests due to issues SDS has had with the Dean of Students office and the weather.

“We haven’t been able to hold many protests this semester because of the weather, but we’re still out here, despite how cold and snowy it is right now,” Fish said. “My car got stuck in the snow on the way here but I’m still here.”

Regarding demonstrating or organizing an event on campus, the UWM website states that, “UWM respects and supports each individual’s right to free speech and to engage in peaceful protests and demonstrations.”

“A lot of the time we’ve done protests in Spaights Plaza, and we’ve gotten emails of reprimand, but we’ve just kind of ignored them because it’s a protest, that’s the nature of protests, you’re not supposed to get permission to do them otherwise it wouldn’t be a protest,” Fish said.

The website does make note that if an event or protest is led by students, the Dean of Students office works with the organization to review campus policies and address concerns.

“Adam Jussel, the Dean of Students, usually sends us an email saying that we need permission to use Spaights Plaza and that he could help us with that, but we know how to do that, we’re an organization and we know that the essence of the protests would be ruined if we were to ask for permission,” Fish said. “You wouldn’t really feel it if you’re asking for permission to protest.”

Fish also raised concerns about a potential police presence at future protests if they were to comply with the requests from the Dean of Students office.

“They’ve mentioned wanting to have the police be there for our protests, but we think that having police at protests makes them a lot less safe because they put black and brown communities and other marginalized groups at risk and we want our protests to be safe place for everyone,” Fish said.

SDS describes itself as a “Resilient political organization serving as a focal point for student activism on campus with the goal of educating students, faculty, and community about a wide array of history and people’s struggles around the world to promote a global perspective that will achieve its goal through direct action and other forms of protest.”

It serves as the UW-Milwaukee chapter for the national organization of the same name.