Gaza solidarity protests have continued to escalate throughout and beyond the Ivy League, with 49 demonstrators at Yale University arrested for “criminal trespassing” this past Monday, April 22.
In the face of a refusal by university administrations to divest from military industries, students at Columbia and Yale have begun to show just how urgent their demands truly are. With daily protests growing into 24-hour encampments, hundreds of protesters have joined the charge.
“Our movement is bigger than Beinecke Plaza now,” read a statement from the newly established Occupy Yale Instagram. The activist group, once named Occupy Beinecke in reference to Yale’s Beinecke courtyard, has widened their mission in response to university pushback.
“The original organizers of Occupy Beinecke are passing the baton to a broader coalition of organizers from Yale, New Haven, and Connecticut to facilitate this goal. As Occupy Beineke transitions to Occupy Yale, the movement for disclosure, divestment, reinvestment, and Palestinian liberation continues, both here and across the nation,” the statement continued.
Last week, a coalition of Yale activist organizations petitioned their university to divest from military industries who they view as perpetuating apartheid and slaughter in the Israel-Palestine War. Despite a hunger strike lasting eight days, the Yale Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility did not find investing in weapons manufacturers to “meet the threshold of grave social injury.”
When met with rejection, Yale organizers moved to continue protests from tents and shelters in various “liberation zones” around campus. The refusal of the administration to divest was met with a refusal from student groups to vacate their positions of protest, an act that led to the eventual mass arrest of demonstrators.
“With no warning of when they would come, police ambushed us at 6:40 a.m. while students at the encampment were sleeping. They blocked off entrances to the plaza and arrested 49 students,” an Instagram post from Occupy Yale read.
Yale has since justified this response, citing protestors as having directly violated the policies set forth by university president Peter Salovey.
“Putting up structures, defying the directives of university officials, staying in campus spaces past allowed times, and other acts that violate university policies and guidelines create safety hazards and impede the work of our university,” an April 21 press release from Salovey read. Alongside the misdemeanor charge of trespassing, students apprehended by police may face academic probation and suspension under Yale disciplinary policy.
The police actions of large universities to halt civil disobedience have come under critical fire from various groups, including other university organizations. In response to the April 18 arrest of 108 Columbia University protestors who refused to vacate their on-campus tents, the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute commented: “Columbia University’s decision to use police force to disperse a nonviolent student protest and encampment raises serious concerns about the University’s respect for human rights and its commitment to free expression.”
Student-faculty negotiations at Columbia University have made progress in recent days, with the deadline for protestors to vacate encampments being extended past the initial 48-hour timeframe. Additionally, the university has agreed not to call on the NYPD or the National Guard in addressing continued nonviolent protest.
In the wake of recent tensions, activist groups have reaffirmed their commitment to opposing university investments in military industries.
“Yale, you have intimidated us, criminalized us, militarized our campus, and failed to accept our demands. We will not stop, we will not rest until we have disclosure and divestment,” Occupy Yale stated.
I hope that UConn will protect their jewish students.
Do the protesters truly know the history of the Middle East and the Hamas objectives. Perhaps they should experience the living first hand to see what human rights is really all about and the removal of freedoms – particularly for women.