Dec. 11 Update:
On Dec. 11, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, launched a new site encouraging students to report university and college campuses that they feel are targeting them for expressing views in opposition to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
With the 2024-2025 academic year well underway, U.S. colleges and universities continue to experience student-led protests calling on campus leaders to divest from Israeli organizations, including academic institutions.
Following the spring 2024 protests, many university leaders enacted policies to mitigate the impact of potential future protests. Chancellors at all ten University of California (UC) campuses, for instance, were directed by UC President Michael V. Drake to strictly enforce rules banning encampments, protests that block access to areas on campus, and masks that conceal identity. The University of South Florida now requires registration and prior approval for not only protests but any planned event involving signs, tents, or amplified sound, according to NBC News.
RELATED ARTICLE: Are You Ready for Your Next Protest? A Dozen Considerations for Campus Administrators
Other campuses increased security measures even before the academic year officially began. At the University of Southern California (USC), returning students were met with increased security measures, including limited access to various parts of campus. At Columbia University, the origin of the national debate over campus protests that led its former president to resign in August, access was limited with students required to show identification to enter campus grounds. A fence and private security guards surround the quad that protesters occupied in May.
College Students Reconvene Pro-Palestine Protests
Many campuses experiencing protests this fall also experienced protests in the spring. That exhaustive list can be found here. Some of the groups allege campus leaders did not fully uphold their end of agreements reached in the fall, including the University of Minnesota and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In April, protesters occupied U of M’s Northrop Mall, resulting in nine arrests. Student organizers agreed in May to end their encampment after administrators said U of M would disclose its investments in Israel, which it did a week later. On Oct. 21, at least 11 protesters were arrested after they barricaded and vandalized a U of M administrative building. One representative from Students for a Democratic Society, which led the protest, said protesters had been “hopeful” after talks with university leaders last spring, but said Monday that “over the summer and through the semester, it’s become abundantly created that they do not consider (divestment) to be a priority.”
RELATED ARTICLE: Pro-Israel Columbia University Professor Barred from Campus for ‘Threatening Behavior’
In April, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) erected a one-day Gaza Solidarity Encampment. They returned on April 26 to form the Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment and were on the quad until the morning of April 30, when UNC Police dismantled the encampment and detained over two dozen students, The Daily Tar Heel reports.
Then, earlier this month, the group hosted a “Week of Resistance,” which included several events to protest the ongoing war. Several weeks prior, the same student group hosted a demonstration, called “Walk Out for the West Bank,” which about 150 students and staff participated in. Some of the protesters spray-painted messages like “Free Gaza,” “F@!& UNC,” “Israel bombs USA pays,” and “Israel is a terror state” on the walls of the ROTC Armory building, Carroll Hall, and other campus buildings. They also draped a Palestinian flag from a gun turret outside of the ROTC building and took down the American flag.
Are Pro-Palestine Protests Losing Momentum on College Campuses?
Although pro-Palestine protests are continuing on college campuses, so far, the impact is incomparable to protests held in the spring. In the spring, nearly 100 colleges saw pro-Palestine encampments, sit-ins or protests, and over 3,000 students were arrested.
However, Aly Moosa, a pro-Palestine organizer at Yale University, told The Hill that the current strategy of those involved is more about building a lasting movement.
“It was a deliberate and reactionary approach to showcase widespread solidarity amongst colleges, amongst initiatives, amongst organizations,” she said about April protests at Yale. “I think the last few months are reeling from the intensity of that and trying to hold on to those relationships to build more of a long-lasting and less of a reactionary approach to organizing.”
According to The Guardian, many pro-Palestine student activists prepared for this fall’s protests by attending a “summer school” led by veteran activists and vowing to return to college campuses with new tactics aimed at getting around new restrictions.
“We will seize control of our institutions, campus by campus, until Palestine is free,” says a recent letter signed by dozens of campus chapters of SJP. This is already a partial reality at the University of Michigan, where a pro-Palestine movement called “Shut It Down” won control of the school’s Central Student Government (CSG) last spring and is withholding funds for student activities until the university divests from companies doing business with Israel.
RELATED ARTICLE: University of Minnesota: 11 Pro-Palestine Protesters Arrested for Vandalizing Admin Building
In last spring’s election where only 20% of the student body voted, the Shut It Down party won 22 of the 45 seats in the university’s student assembly. CSG’s new leaders then called for the university to divest from companies profiting off of Israel’s war in Gaza and military weapons manufacturers. University of Michigan officials have said that divestment is off the table, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Some of the student groups and activities impacted by the withholding of funding include the men’s Ultimate Frisbee team, ballroom dance team, fitness center classes, airport shuttles, newspaper subscriptions, the school’s gender and sexuality center, Ramadan meals, Students Organize for Syria, Muslim Students Association, and United Students Against Sweatshops. The school has agreed to temporarily fund the impacted organizations as long as they agree to reimburse the university.
What Other Colleges and Universities Have Had Pro-Palestine Protests This Academic Year?
Below are some additional campuses that have had pro-Palestine protests so far this fall:
- Brown University
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- DePaul University
- Emory University
- Harvard University
- Indiana University
- University of Connecticut (UConn)
- University of Maryland
- University of Mississippi
- Yale University
We will continue to update this list as more protests occur.
