Who is Lauren Meyers? U of M student leader urges peers to ‘make life hell’ for Minnesota cops with fake calls
A University of Minnesota student government leader urged her peers to "annoy the s**t" out of campus law enforcement by calling in fake incidents, a report said. "Make their lives hell. Annoy the s**t out of them," the student leader was caught on video telling fellow student government members in order to disrupt the lives of the police officers by placing bogus calls for help.
The footage of this call which was up on Reddit first but taken down soon was received and shared by @CrimeWatchMpls on their Twitter account. Since then there has been a number of people who commented asking for student leader Lauren Meyers' arrest.
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Here it is. We received a copy of the video that was deleted from Reddit.#UMN Student Association Rep Lauren Meyers advocates disrupting #UMPD police to "make their lives hell, annoy the sh*t out of them, use up their resources, make their officers show up to something." #MN pic.twitter.com/DxQD4b0aDE
— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) April 27, 2021
Who is Lauren Meyers?
Lauren Meyers is the chief financial officer of the Minnesota Student Association and the co-chair of the Office for Student Affairs Mental Health committee. What she was addressing in the video was a letter sent to school president Joan Gabel last week from students calling on University of Minnesota Police Department Chief Matt Clark to resign.
The letter stated, "Matt Clark has repeatedly and unequivocally disregarded student demands, failed to increase campus wellness and safety for students of color, and allowed the utilization of UMPD as a physical arm of the oppressive state to subjugate and silence community members both on and off-campus." The letter went on to threaten direct actions if "our demands are not met."
Meyers in the call was allegedly directing students to "use up" campus resources in an effort to pressure the department's chief to resign. "When you say disrupt UMPD, what exactly do you mean by that?" one student asked Meyers which prompted her to instruct students to "make their lives hell."
Minnesota Police calls for an investigation into Meyers
Meyers' comments didn't settle well with police union groups including the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association and Law Enforcement Labor Services which demanded an investigation into whether the student leader violated the college's code of conduct.
“We’re frustrated that elected student leaders would purposefully choose to stir further division to make the campus less safe,” said Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association executive director Brian Peters. He also noted that calling in with false emergencies and crimes is prohibited by State Law.
“Actively planning to thwart UMPD by generating false calls for help is insulting to the overwhelming majority of the campus community that rely on public safety services. MSA leaders should be ashamed — and apologize to the campus community and victims of crime on campus," Peters said. The statement warned using emergency calls to report a fake emergency or crime is a felony punishable by 10 years imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of $20,000.
Members of the Minnesota Student Association denounce Meyers' comments
Students Andrew Knuppel and Morgan McElroy said, "We are two members of the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) Executive Board and we wholeheartedly denounce the comments that were made during the April 14, 2021 Executive Board meeting regarding police interference on campus."
"We call upon our fellow student leaders who have stayed silent over the last 72 hours to denounce the comments made in the clip that's been widely circulating in the media. To achieve any progress on critical campus issues such as police reform and campus safety, elected student leaders should strive to engage with administrators and campus law enforcement collaboratively," they added.
"The public comments made by our colleague, unintended or otherwise, have cast a dark shadow on what should be a constructive dialogue among elected student government leaders, the student body, administration, and other stakeholders," the statement read.