Over 100 protesters marched to the Pratt and Whitney Engineering Building on Thursday to condemn the University of Connecticut’s ties to weapon manufacturers.
The march, “Israel Bombs UConn Pays,” began outside the Student Union at 5 p.m. and was organized by a variety of student groups. Students said they joined after seeing an Instagram post from UConn UNCHAIN, UConn Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and UConn Muslim Student Association (MSA).
Current advisor and former president of UConn SJP Yazeed Hasan, a seventh-semester physiology and neurobiology major, instructed the crowd to stay on the lawn when they arrived at the Pratt and Whitney building around 6 p.m.
“Don’t give them any excuses,” Hasan said about possible actions from UConn or law enforcement as he guided protesters away from the building’s doors.
The event was monitored by a UConn official who passed out cards reminding students of university policies relevant to protests like the outdoor sound policy, which permits amplified sound on weekdays from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The official declined to speak on the record and remained present for most of the march.
Hasan said that as a UConn SJP advisor, he was not too concerned about the UConn official or policy cards being distributed as long as the university didn’t disrupt the march.
“Let them do what they got to do, and they’ll let us do what we got to do,” Hasan said. He added that he was skeptical whether UConn would hand out policy cards to similar events held by the college’s Israeli organizations.
The current UConn SJP president, Dania Rabah, a third-semester nutrition major, said she hopes to increase the presence of SJP on campus this semester and inform students about issues in Palestine.
“UConn is more affiliated with this genocide then most students realize,” Rabah said over the crowd of people through a megaphone. “The UConn admin is trying to silence us.”
Rabah said she was motivated to be an SJP leader because of her sister, who was one of the 24 students arrested in the days-long encampment on April 30, 2024, built to condemn UConn’s ties to weapon manufacturers. The outdoor sound policy was created Aug. 20, 2024, for the semester following the encampment and arrests.
“That was the first time I saw someone I know make a change in the world,” Rabah said.
One UConn alumni who had also been arrested at the encampment came to campus on Thursday to join the protest. The protester declined to go on record and said they experienced issues getting employed after their name was associated with the arrests online.
“After the encampment, a lot of people got tired and scared,” the protester said. He added that the crowd of over 100 indicated a resurgence in SJP attendance since the 2024 arrests.
Rabah said that while her sister’s arrest was part of her decision to become SJP president, she was also motivated by a desire for transparency from the UConn administration.
One example Rabah brought up was a Aug. 24 article from Dropsite News which reported that UConn received roughly $940,000 in total from Israeli defense companies between 2013 and 2023, which was inconsistently accounted for in national databases dedicated to track foreign funding to U.S. universities.
“They hide it really well,” Rabah said about UConn’s ties to Israel and broader U.S. war efforts.
President of UConn’s MSA, Abdul Rahman, said his organization was compelled to join the protest for similar reasons.
“We want UConn to show us where their money is going and to divest from war and weapons being used in Gaza,” Rahman said.
Before the students began their march to Pratt and Whitney around 5:45 p.m., SJP advisor Hasan informed the crowd that there was a possibility of counterprotesters from an Israel-related engineering event that was planned close to the route of their march.
Hasan said they were not planning on changing their route and laid out ground rules for how protesters should conduct themselves.
“If anyone interacts with you, tries to talk to you … just ignore and keep going. Do not engage with any counter-protesters,” Hasan said.
It was not clear where Hasan got this report from, as the protest passed no such event and counter-protesters did not visibly engage or disrupt the march on Thursday. Instead, some of those walking by expressed support.
One of those supportive onlookers was a first-semester psychology major named Mayar Shawish who said she was happy to see the march as a Palestinian herself.
“I feel like in Connecticut a lot of Arab people are spaced out,” Shawish said. She added that seeing a large group march in support of Palestine made UConn’s campus feel “more welcoming” and “more safe.”
The protest ended around 6:15 p.m. with SJP president Rabah advocating for students to leave small Palestinian flags in the grass outside the Pratt and Whitney Building.
“Feel free to let them know why we’re here and that we won’t stay silent,” Rabah said.