Vandals Target Home of University of Washington President

I don’t even have to say why the vandals did this. There’s a 99% chance you’ve already guessed.

University of Washington (UW) President Ana Marie Cauce’s home and car were vandalized and damaged Wednesday night, a spokesman confirmed to MyNorthwest Thursday afternoon.

“Several masked perpetrators did significant damage to President Cauce’s home and car, including slashing her car’s tires and painting pro-Hamas symbols,” university official Victor Balta reported in his emailed statement.

Balta went on to note that making threats against a public official like Cauce with the intent to intimidate is a crime. He noted multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation “due to the nature of the threats in the vandalism and in the perpetrators’ social media posts claiming credit.”

The specific creeps responsible haven’t been arrested yet but we know the type. Naturally, they were proud of this so they filmed themselves doing it and sent the video to likeminded folks who posted it on Instagram.

The caption made it clear this was not a one-off but an ongoing threat. [emphasis added]

This morning, Ana Mari woke up at her residential home in Lake City to red paint splattered on her front door and a message on her car, declaring “Ana Mari Funds Genocide”. In the lead-up to today’s UW Board of Regents meeting, members of the community wanted to send a strong reminder to Ana Mari of her complicity in the genocide of Palestinians. In addition, flyers listing campus demands and quotes exposing her loyalty to Boeing-primary supplier of weapons for the zionist genocide – were wheatpasted on her house and left in her neighbors mailboxes.

Cauce does not get to live a comfortable life or have a positive reputation while snuggling up to war profiteers. While Ana Mari and the Board of Regents use the bureaucratic process in an attempt to stall out the movement for Palestinian liberation, we will not be deceived or demobilized. Our movement will continue to escalate until the demands for cutting ties with war-profiteer Boeing and divestment from zionism are met.

Until UW ends their relationship with Boeing and academically and materially divests from zionism, we will continue to apply pressure on Ana Mari and her accomplices, in all aspects of their life. The power of the people far outweighs the power of blood money from Boeing and other arms of US imperialism. To Ana Mari and the rest of the Board of Regents: you will not know peace until you meet the demands of our movement. The clock is ticking…

UW students had set up a tent camp on campus last semester but it was taken down by an agreed upon deadline in May.

The deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to clear the lawn at the University of Washington was 3 p.m. Monday and the vast majority of the people appear to have obliged. 

As the tents come down, the protesters remain hopeful their message was heard. 

“Despite the liberated zone disbanding, we’re not done. We’ll never be done until Palestine is free,” said UW graduate student Juliette Majid.

And they really weren’t done. In September, activists disrupted a Board of Regents meeting at the school.

“Shame! Shame! Shame!” shouted pro-Palestinian students in response to a Jewish speaker during public comment at the meeting. The pro-Palestinian students want the school to divest from Boeing and other companies that support Israeli Defense Forces.

Video of the activists chanting to disrupt the meeting.

The UW Board of Regents ordered its meeting room cleared after many interruptions – UW Police officers evacuating Regents to safety. @komonews pic.twitter.com/lHTDH1YIqy

— Denise Whitaker🏃‍♀️ (@deniseonKOMO) September 12, 2024

The fact that the board disruptors in September and the vandals last night have the same agenda to force divestment suggests they are a) the same people or b) working together. Law enforcement is working on this but I’m not hopeful. So long as members of the group refuse to talk, there may not be much to identify the individuals responsible. Unless a camera caught someone’s unmasked face, I’m not sure how they can build a case against these creeps. Even if police do catch a break, will charges happen? I’d love to be wrong but there’s a long track record in the pacific northwest of vandals just getting away with it.

Finally, here’s a local news report on the vandalism.