Megan Green, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen and adjunct professor at Washington University, speaks against the police response to the April 27 protest at Washington University during a press conference across from the Washington University campus at the intersection of Lindell Boulevard and North Skinker Boulevard on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Photo by Allie Schallert, aschallert@post-dispatch.com
JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri legislators debated a nonbinding reprimand Monday for St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green amid uproar over her recent participation in pro-Palestinian protests.
Green has been outspoken in her advocacy for Palestinians amid a wave of campus demonstrations across the country denouncing Israel’s war in Gaza.
Dozens were arrested at a Washington University protest Green took part in last month. She attended another protest Friday that blocked traffic near Washington University.
Rep. Brad Christ, R-south St. Louis County, attempted to attach an amendment admonishing Green to a resolution voicing support for Israel.
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The amendment would have declared that “the state of Missouri admonishes St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Megan Green for her failure of leadership and participation in violent and anti-Semitic campus protests.”
“No one in a leadership position, especially in a city in dire straits like that, should be inciting violence on college campuses,” Christ said.
Christ, after receiving pushback from a fellow Republican state representative, pulled the amendment from consideration before a vote could take place.
“For the House of Representatives … to be calling out a single individual for admonishment for expressing their First Amendment-protected views, that is dangerous,” said state Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-St. Charles County. “That can happen to literally anyone in this room or anyone that we represent.”
“Let’s not damage this resolution and the statement we’re trying to make by taking shots at someone we disagree with,” he said.
Still, other Republicans who spoke on the amendment said they supported it.
“I think we as elected officials are held in a higher standard,” said Rep. Jeff Myers, R-Warrenton, who said inaccurately that “she did get arrested for trespassing.”
Green was not among the about 100 protesters arrested on April 27. She was, however, suspended from her job as an adjunct lecturer at Washington University after that protest.
Rep. Steve Butz, D-St. Louis, who has clashed with progressives and said Monday he was “no political fan” of Green, nonetheless urged his colleagues to vote against Christ’s amendment.
“President Green has a right to free speech. She can protest all she wants,” he said.
Green responded to the legislation in a statement later on Monday.
“Our country has a long history of nonviolent campus protests transforming our country,” she said. “Unfortunately our country also has a long history of detractors who spread misinformation to deflect from the injustice being protested.
“With a death toll of nearly 40,000 Palestinians and 1.5 million displaced, the seriousness of the situation cannot be ignored,” Green said. “Anyone of conscience should be outraged by such violence and take inspiration from the courageous college students nationwide who are advocating for change through peaceful means.”
After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
The Israel-Hamas war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s…
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