At Student Forum, Questions Go Unanswered

This article was originally written by: Jacob Toner Gosselin

President Zimmer’s closing remarks, on the state of freedom of speech on college campuses, could barely be heard over the roars of the protestors outside.

One could not imagine a better summary of the state of the University of Chicago’s campus than Thursday night’s Student Forum with President Zimmer and Dean Boyer. The result of a year’s worth of work by fourth-year Chase Harrison, the event became a battleground for the most controversial issues of the day. And unsurprisingly, the non-fatal shooting of fourth year Charles Thomas came to the forefront.

Fourth-year Charles Thomas, who was shot and injured by UCPD officers last Tuesday. Photo was provided by one of his friends; the original can be found here.

48 hours after the shooting, and 24 hours after the release of body-camera footage, questions remained about what happened on the night of April 3rd. First reported by The Maroon, Thomas was in the throes of a psychiatric episode when he was confronted by the UCPD that night, after smashing the windows of an apartment building and several cars along S Kimbark Avenue. According to the UCPD, Thomas was fired upon after charging an officer.