What pro-divestment and anti-genocide demonstrations look like on college campuses

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Pro-divestment and anti-genocide demonstrations have erupted on college campuses across the U.S., with students calling on colleges like Columbia University, The University of Southern California and Emory University in Georgia to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

On April 17, Columbia students established what they are calling a Gaza solidarity encampment of about 50 tents to protest the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since Oct. 7th. The actions sparked a nationwide movement, with students at other universities such as in Michigan and Minnesota following suit.

"It has truly reached this point," Zaynab Elkolaly, a student at the University of Michigan, told Reckon. "And not just on our campus but across colleges in America, where we are fed up and we are taking matters into our own hands. We want to make sure that we're not just being symbolic but that we are pressuring our university to tangibly do its part in stopping this genocide."

Some students said the university president enabled repression and harassment when he denounced "anti-Israel protestors" for disruptive activity. Administration proposed a policy to prevent disruptions of future events, setting off alarms among civil rights groups worried that free speech would be restrained on campus. Forty students were arrested in November during an anti-genocide demonstration, the college newspaper the Michigan Daily reported.

On Thursday, the White House denied Speaker Mike Johnson's request to send in National Guard troops into universities to end the demonstrations. Officials said it was up to state governors to decide and none have called in federal assistance as of yet.

Hundreds of people, including students and faculty, have been arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest as of Friday. Some have faced suspensions and other retaliation from their colleges.

"Across the country, we try to emphasize that, while these encampments are in solidarity with each other as students against repressive measures taken by college administrations, the first and most important focus is on Palestine," Elkolaly said.

Student groups and protestors have been calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and for their universities to cut ties with Israeli companies and educational partnerships. Groups have also called for the complete liberation of Palestine beyond Gaza. Detractors claim these demonstrations are anti-Semitic, though others have noted that anti-Zionism does not equal Jewish hatred.

Protests gained more momentum on Wednesday. At USC, 93 people were arrested for allegedly trespassing, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The university said the campus is closed to the public until further notice. USC first stirred controversy when it barred its valedictorian, a South Asian Muslim woman, from speaking at commencement. On Thursday, the university announced the cancellation of this year's commencement's main stage ceremony.

"USC's decision… sends a clear chilling message that it will not take steps to protect its Muslim, Palestinian and Arab students when they are faced with harassment and intimidation and that USC's purported ideals and values do not equally apply to those students," said Amr Shabaik, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) LA Legal Director, after he and other members of USC's Advisory Committee on Muslim Life resigned in solidarity with the valedictorian.

Dozens of police officers and state troopers confronted and forcefully arrested at least 57 student protesters, who had planned an occupation of the main lawn at the University of Texas, Austin on Wednesday. "Our rules matter and they will be enforced," university President Jay Hartzell said in a campus email. He alleged that some non-student members joined the protests and that the demonstrations disrupted learning. "Our university will not be occupied."

On Friday, all trespassing charges against the students were dropped due to lack of probable cause.

In Boston, 108 people were arrested Wednesday overnight during a demonstration at Emerson College. At New York University, 133 protestors were arrested Monday and released with summonses to appear in court for charges of disorderly conduct.

At Emory University, several protestors were confronted and arrested by Georgia State Patrol and officers from the Atlanta Police Department and the Emory Police Department after students erected about 20 tents in solidarity with colleges across the country.

Officers began tackling protestors as they tried to run, irritant gas was used and at least one person was tased, according to the college newspaper the Emory Wheel. The Georgia chapter of CAIR condemned the use of force and alleged that police used tear gas when trying to break up the protest.

Students for Justice in Palestine at George Washington University (GWU) and groups at other colleges near the Washington D.C. area - including George Mason University, American University, Howard University and Georgetown University — joined the cause on Thursday as part of the DMV Student Encampment for Gaza coalition.

"We will continue to organize as a collective, mobilizing to each of our campuses whenever necessary, until we achieve divestment from occupation, apartheid and genocide on all our campuses," the group said in an Instagram post.

University officials on Thursday morning confirmed that 50 students had placed 20 tents on the GWU campus, and said they could protest until 7 p.m., after which they'd be required to disperse.

"They have repeatedly brought in state police to brutalize and surveil us," Elkolaly said of her university's response to demonstrations. "Yes, we're afraid because we know exactly what these harmful entities are capable of. But we know that there's something more important than that fear."

Students at the University of California, Berkeley, Yale University - where at least 47 were arrested on Monday - Princeton University, UCLA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have also joined the movement.

The U.S. has received massive pushback for its response to the war. In March, legislators passed the fiscal year's appropriations bill, which included a directive to ban federal funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the largest humanitarian organization offering aid to thousands of people in the Gaza war zone. Palestinian rights groups and supporters of a ceasefire in Gaza slammed the measure, saying it would deny life-saving aid to people facing imminent famine and disease.

Later that month, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an "immediate ceasefire" for the remainder of the holy month of Ramadan. Only the U.S. abstained from the vote.

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