St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green says WashU lying about reason for her suspension (2024)

The Gaza protests at Washington University may have cooled, but a fight between school officials and one high-profile employee seems to be heating up.

St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan E. Green— who was suspended Monday from her job as an adjunct lecturer at the university — claims the school is lying about the reasons.

In a letter sent Monday, the school told Green she was being suspended because “you used your campus access card to allow unauthorized persons into campus buildings against the explicit orders of (the) Washington University Police Department.”

But Green is having no part of that version of events.

“That did not happen; it is absolutely false,” Green said in an interview Tuesday.

After being read the specific part of the letter about unauthorized access, Green again disputed the facts.

“They just, honestly, made that up,” she said.

The protest in question was Saturday afternoon on the school’s main campus, where the protesters gathered to call on the university to divest from Boeing Co., a major supplier of military equipment to Israel.

Police eventually broke up the rally and about 100 people were arrested. University officials said those who were arrested“refused to leave after being asked multiple times,”according to a news release.

Green was not one of the arrested employees.

As to entering a campus building on Saturday, Green said she entered a building one time to use the restroom.

“But the door was open already; it was propped open with a chair,” Green said, adding that she did not use her “swipe card” —employee access card — at all.

Green said she believes the university is retaliating against her and several other employees because of their protest activities.

The university’s letter informs Green that she is prohibited from entering campus property, accessing school systems, representing herself as a school employee and meeting with students, even at off-campus locations.

The letter was signed by Beverly Wendland, the school’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Email and phone messages left at Wendland’s office by the Post-Dispatch were not returned.

Julie Hail Flory, the university’s chief spokesperson, also did not respond to messages from the Post-Dispatch.