“It’s going well. We were occupying the lobby of the President’s office. We didn’t let business-as-usual go on. We moved down to the main lobby and about 30 students joined us,” Sarah Knispel, a student part of an ongoing occupation at Macalester College, a private liberal arts school in St. Paul, Minn., told Mint Press News.
Students are protesting the college’s relationship with Wells Fargo, a national bank with more than $1.4 trillion in assets, which has come under fire following the 2008 financial collapse and the subsequent economic downturn that wiped out $11 billion in personal savings and resulted in more than 10 million home foreclosures.
A mortgage fraud civil lawsuit, filed last October in the U.S. District Court of New York, accuses Wells Fargo of fraudulently approving government-backed mortgages while simultaneously collecting government insurance when debtors defaulted on loans. Students at Macalester have cited these issues and others as they take over an administrative building to protest their school’s relationship with the bank.
After administrative staff vacated the area, students expanded their occupation to encompass the entire building, reportedly concentrated on the first floor.
Students have called upon the small liberal arts college’s administration to end the school’s banking relationship with the financial institution and what they call its “negligent and immoral practices during the ongoing foreclosure crisis.”
When Macalester President Brian Rosenberg refused to capitulate to student body demands, 12 students began an occupation Tuesday morning in an effort to re-establish dialogue and persuade the President to sever ties with the bank and begin a new one with Sunrise Community Bank. Wells Fargo is the currently the largest bank in Minnesota.
Dozens of fellow students held a rally Tuesday, voicing support for the cause. Celeste Robinson expressed her anger in an interview with The Uptake, saying, “[Wells Fargo banks] run for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers, they profit off student debt, use predatory lending … They are not a good neighbor, not a good community member and we don’t think we should bank with them.”
The occupation follows a year of intensive demonstrations, petitions and talks with Macalester administrators. Knispel and other student leaders have taken up residence and have no plans to leave until the administration agrees to cut the school’s relationship with Wells Fargo.
“We have been talking to administrators but not about the contract or the banking relationship. We are not going to leave until the President sits down with us. We don’t want to hear his excuses. We won’t leave until he discusses cutting the contract,” Knispel said. “We have really amazing support. Friends, staff members and community organizers have come in with toiletries and food. We are in really good shape.”
It is unclear how much the banking relationship is worth, but Macalester currently relies upon Wells Fargo for their P-card system. Much like a debit card, the P-card allows students and clubs to make purchases.
The President’s office did not respond to Mint Press News’ request for comment. Rosenberg is in Chicago for a two-day trip and has not reached out to speak with student leaders about this issue since the beginning of the sit-in. “I think it’s embarrassing that he left the school in this time of crisis,” Knispel commented.
Knispel reports that Macalester alumni sympathetic to the student occupation may try to speak with Rosenberg while he is in Chicago: “We were contacted by a bunch of alumni in Chicago who are supportive and want to confront our President.”
“[Minneapolis-based rapper and activist] Brother Ali has offered to come perform on Thursday, if we are still here,” Knispel said. “We will have to escalate further if the president doesn’t sit down and talk about cutting the contract.”