Campus Alert Archive
WashU

100 Arrests in 68 Minutes: WashU Used Its Emergency Alert System to Tell Students to Avoid Their Own Library

MOcivil unrestadvisoryhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On the afternoon of Saturday April 27, 2024, approximately 250 protesters marched through Washington University in St. Louis and erected a Gaza solidarity encampment on the East End of campus. WashU pushed a WashU Alert instructing students to avoid the library area as the march moved down Skinker Boulevard, then a second alert at 8:20 PM CDT confirming arrests had begun. WashU Police, St. Louis Metro Police, and surrounding municipal officers arrested 100 people — including 23 WashU students, four faculty, and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein — over four waves between 7:27 and 8:35 PM CDT.

Alerts
4
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Washington University in St. Louis
Private R1 · MO
~17,440 studentsWashUAlerts
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

4 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Student Life and STLPR coverage of April 27, 2024; the WashU Alerts archive does not retain a public log121 chars
WashU Alert: Avoid the library area due to ongoing protest activity. Police are on scene monitoring. Updates will follow.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

WashU Alerts is the emergency notification system maintained by WashU's Emergency Management office and routed to SMS, email, voice, and digital signage
Olin Library sits at the heart of the WashU Danforth Campus and the East End sits just east of Olin — both areas were within the protest footprint
WashU rarely uses WashU Alerts for non-active-threat events; using it for a protest established that the university viewed the demonstration as a campus-disruption event
UPDATESMS+55 min
Approximate reconstruction149 chars
WashU Alert: WUPD has declared the gathering on the East End an unlawful assembly. Disperse immediately. Anyone who remains may be subject to arrest.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The 'unlawful assembly' declaration is a Missouri-specific legal predicate to mass arrest — once declared, all participants who remain are presumptively guilty of the offense
WashU Police gave a 15-minute dispersal window; a second 10-minute warning was issued at approximately 5:15 PM CDT before the final warning at 7:30 PM CDT
The WUPD-led declaration is significant — many universities in spring 2024 relied on city or state police to make the unlawful-assembly determination, but WUPD did so itself
UPDATESMS+4h 45m
Approximate reconstruction125 chars
WashU Alert: Police activity continues on the East End. Avoid the area. Arrests are being made of those refusing to disperse.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Arrests were made in four waves between 7:27 PM and 8:35 PM CDT, with St. Louis County, University City, Clayton, and Missouri State Highway Patrol officers assisting WUPD
100 arrests in 68 minutes is among the highest arrest-rate-per-minute figures of any spring 2024 encampment clearance
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was among those arrested — the only declared major-party presidential candidate arrested at any campus encampment that spring
FOLLOW-UPpress-release
Verified verbatimThis weekend's demonstration (Office of the Chancellor, signed Andrew D. Martin)681 chars
Saturday was a dark, sad day for WashU. A large group of individuals came to campus intending to disrupt, do harm, and interfere with educational activities and campus life. When the group began to set up an encampment, which is in clear violation of our explicitly stated policies, we asked them to leave, multiple times. They did not leave voluntarily, so we made the decision to peaceably remove them. Unfortunately, they physically resisted. To those who plan to continue to come to campus with the intention of disrupting our education and research mission and violating our policies, please know we will respond proportionately each and every time. You will not do this here.
Chancellor Andrew D. Martin published this statement on his official Office of the Chancellor website on April 29, 2024 — the Monday after the Saturday demonstration
The closing sentence 'You will not do this here' became the most-quoted line of any spring 2024 campus chancellor statement and was cited approvingly by groups including StandWithUs and critically by the Missouri ACLU and faculty groups
The 'physically resisted' framing became central to WashU's defense in subsequent litigation; the March 2025 university report stood by the police response despite faculty and student criticism
Context

Background

The April 27, 2024 Washington University encampment clearance is one of the most aggressive single-day police actions of the spring 2024 Gaza encampment wave, with 100 arrests in approximately 68 minutes. The day began with a march of approximately 250 protesters down Skinker Boulevard toward the WashU Danforth Campus East End shortly after 3 PM CDT. WashU pushed a WashU Alert shortly after telling students to avoid the library area. WashU Police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly at approximately 4:30 PM, gave 15 minutes to disperse, repeated the warning at 5:15 PM with a 10-minute window, and issued a final warning at approximately 7:30 PM before beginning arrests. Between 7:27 and 8:35 PM CDT, officers from WUPD, St. Louis Metro PD, and surrounding municipal departments arrested 100 people in four coordinated waves. Notable arrestees included 23 WashU students, four faculty members, and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. WashU subsequently placed six faculty members on paid leave pending investigation. The university issued an official statement framing the protest as an unauthorized incursion onto private property and emphasizing Boeing campus relationships as a primary protester demand. A March 2025 internal report stood by the police response. The case is significant for this archive because it documents one of the most rapid mass arrest sequences of the spring 2024 wave, paired with active use of the campus emergency alert system to direct affiliates away from the affected area — a deliberately operational rather than ceremonial use of WashU Alerts.
Analysis

Key Findings

100 arrests in approximately 68 minutes (7:27 to 8:35 PM CDT) — among the highest arrest-rate-per-minute figures of any spring 2024 encampment clearance
WashU Police itself declared the unlawful assembly rather than relying on city or state police — a more aggressive institutional posture than at most peer universities
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was among the arrestees — the only declared major-party presidential candidate arrested at any spring 2024 campus encampment
WashU used its emergency alert system actively throughout the operation, issuing at least three distinct alerts as the situation escalated
Six faculty members were placed on paid leave pending investigation; a March 2025 university report stood by the police response despite faculty and student criticism
Outcome
100 people arrested in approximately 68 minutes, including 23 WashU students, four faculty members, and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. WashU subsequently placed six faculty members on paid leave pending investigation. A March 2025 university report stood by the police response despite faculty and student criticism of the use of force. The encampment was dismantled the same evening; no follow-up encampment was established.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Over 100 arrests made during police crackdown on pro-Palestine encampment (Student Life)
    studlife.com
  2. News
    Police arrest over 100 at Washington University protest decrying Gaza attacks (STLPR)
    stlpr.org
  3. Official
    Statement regarding campus protest (The Source - WashU)
    source.washu.edu
  4. Official
    WashUAlerts System (WashU Emergency Management)
    emergency.washu.edu
  5. News
    Police arrest over 100 at Washington University protest (KBIA)
    kbia.org
  6. News
    WashU: 100 arrested on campus during pro-Palestine protest (First Alert 4)
    firstalert4.com
  7. News
    Report: WashU stands by actions to disperse anti-war protesters (STLPR, March 2025)
    stlpr.org
Tags
civil-unrestgaza-encampmenteast-endwashu-alertswupdjill-steinwashington-universitymissouriprivate-r1mass-arrest
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion