BREAKING: super proud and excited to share that our formidable students were not only amongst the first to start a #Palestine#Gaza occupation back in February - the occupation has now been resolved in the following agreement! There will be Palestine scholarships, a review of investments, and more!
Starting a tally of universities where current student protests have led to divestment (or moves towards divestment - see discussion below) and other changes. Please do let me know of others and I will add. List here; articles etc below (Goldsmiths above).
York, UK
Goldsmiths, UK
UCR Riverside, US
Evergreen, US
Brown (? See below)
Rutgers (? See @poppamunz below)
Minnesota
Toronto Metropolitan University
Trinity College Dublin
Great news: UK university divests from Israel-linked arms companies following pressure
“The University of York has been forced to divest from weapons and arms manufacturers tied to Israel after a series of protests from a student-led coalition.”
"The University administration respects all student protests, just not this one. Students have fought for many important causes over the years, and their right to protest is sacrosanct. In this case, however, we must arrest and slander them.
“We will not look back and regret this decision. Although we were wrong about not admitting women, abolitioning racial quotas, US involvement in Vietnam, and divesting from apartheid South Africa, we are confident that this time is different."
"Nearly 100% of Campus Gaza Protests Have Been Peaceful"
Of 553 US campus protests, 97% remained non-violent.
Of the 3%, half were from clashes with police sent in to clear peaceful protests.
"If someone is speaking more about 'violent encampments' than they are about violent genocide of the Palestinians, they have a problem reflective of deep and dangerous biases."
The president of #Barnard College lost a faculty-wide vote of no confidence on Tuesday, as criticism mounts over the school’s response to a pro- #Palestine 🇵🇸 encampment
It is the first no confidence vote against a president in the college’s history.
Circulating word is that #LAPD plans to disperse #UCLA Palestinian solidarity encampment at 6. A number of groups including faculty and campus unions are planning on rallying in defense. Meanwhile an administrator has entered the camp to negotiate
And then there were four: “Rutgers and the University of Minnesota now join Northwestern and Brown in successfully reaching deals to peacefully end their encampment protests.”
"Nearly 100% of Campus Gaza Protests Have Been Peaceful"
Of 553 US campus protests, 97% remained non-violent.
Of the 3%, half were from clashes with police sent in to clear peaceful protests.
"If someone is speaking more about 'violent encampments' than they are about violent genocide of the Palestinians, they have a problem reflective of deep and dangerous biases."
"The college campus protests against Israel’s destruction of Gaza have been overwhelmingly peaceful. But elite reporters– following the lead of politicians of both parties – continue to refer to them as violent and chaotic."
Kaitlan Collins asks bash-the-protesters Sen. J.D. Vance,
"So you agree that people who break in and vandalize the building should be prosecuted?”
Vance replies, “Exactly.”
Collins then says,
"I’m just checking because you did help raise money for people who did so on January 6, which was impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building that they weren’t allowed to be in and vandalizing the Capitol."
"Keep this quote in mind from Dr. Martin Luther King’s critically important book 'Why We Can’t Wait' about the essential, urgent and imperative nature of socially conscious protest movements :
'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.'
Maybe it is the rest of us who should re-examine our approach and listen to what the students are saying."
With the campus attacks on Jews going essentially unreported by "polite company", allows them to call these protests peaceful, which then provides moral justification for them to continue.
The existence of Jews who are being physically assaulted, who are blocked from accessing their dorms or classes, who are terrorized with threats of violence and murder, all of this is so easily dismissed to allow for the label of peaceful protest. In fact, they might argue it's the presence of Jews who make it non-peaceful.
It's a modern day interpretation of a "First They Ignore You, Then They Laugh at You' that feels very 1930s Germany.
First They Marginalize You. Then They Ignore You. Then They Exterminate You.
If you're demanding a #ceasefire in #Gaza but not calling for #ReleaseGazaHostages & demanding #BringThemHome & #HamasSurrender then you are not working for peace. You are working for the enemies of democracy & decency, and the destruction of all you claim to hold dear.
Police raided UMich Gaza Camp before UMich president is due to appear before Congress - alongside the presidents of UCLA & Yale.
The president claimed the peaceful action had become a threat to public safety, & "police raided the encampment, arresting & hospitalizing students after pepper-spraying & pushing them to the ground".
"The university has refused to discuss divestment with protesters."
“White nationalists and neo-Nazis joined forces with Zionists (including some saying they were Israelis) to attack #UCLA’s #Palestine Solidarity Encampment, whose residents included a large number of Jewish students. The assailants were not affiliated with the university. One neo-Nazi was heard shouting, ‘we’re here to finish what Hitler started,’ without any apparent protest from the self-identified Zionists.” #studentprotests#freepalestine https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/uclas-unholy-alliance/
If anyone is in the Denver area tomorrow (Wednesday 5/22) and is interested in helping push the administration to drop charges against student protesters, I am speaking at a faculty press conference at noon and we would love the support!
"1,000 Harvard Students Walk Out of Commencement to Support 13 Seniors Barred from Graduation over Gaza"
"Asmer Safi, one of the protesters barred from graduating, says.. he has no regrets about standing up for Palestinian rights: This is an ethical stance that we’re taking."
Also interviewed is history professor Alison Frank Johnson, one of over 100 faculty members who voted to confer degrees on the 13 seniors."
It is really incredible just how big the student revolution has become. This is Lausanne in Switzerland, a country hitherto on a par with Germany or even worse in oppressing criticism of Israel. #studentprotests