Emory University faculty gathered on campus to express concerns about the violent arrests that took place on campus Thursday, with tenured professors calling for the university's president, Gregory Fenves, to step down over the decision to call in state and local police to clear out the protesters.
Around 200 members were present in person for the emergency meeting of the school's College of Arts and Sciences faculty leaders, and another 200 attended on Zoom. The attendees overwhelmingly passed a motion that would call for a no-confidence vote for Fenves, urging him to step down.
Philosophy Professor Dilek Huseyinzadegan spoke to the crowd and said that a police officer pointed a "machine gun" at her head and she was threatened with arrest while she was trying to listen to a student give out the phone number to call her mother.
Huseyinzadegan added that she "does not feel safe enough to return to campus for the rest of the year," and may not return at all.
Noelle McAfee, the university's Philosophy Department Chair, also spoke at the event and received a nearly minute-long ovation. McAfee was among those detained during Thursday's protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. She was not charged and was released on the scene with a citation, she said.
McAfee told CNN she was at the scene to act as an unofficial observer of law enforcement officers when she was detained.
"This university has let down our students and I think the faculty is super motivated to express to our students our solidarity with them and to help them flourish as human beings in the world," McAfee said.
The motion will be sent to the entire Emory College of Arts and Sciences faculty next week, and they will all be able to vote electronically.
This post has been updated with additional information about the meeting.