Students: Protests at Yale to continue
Vow to persist with demonstrations over Gaza despite arrests
As frictions rise on college campuses across the country, pro-palestinian protesters at Yale University said they have no intentions of ceasing demonstrations until the university divests stock from weapons manufacturing companies they say is connected to the war in Gaza.
Yale student Tacey Hutten said members of the Occupy Beinecke, Occupy Yale Coalition “are as committed as ever,” in their fight against the university and the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.
“Students are here because there is an ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Hutten said. “The university that we pay to go to, that we spend all of our energy and time and resources on, is not only complicit in but actively supporting that genocide by funding military weapons manufacturers and the U.S. war machine.”
Israeli officials and their supporters have repeatedly denied accusations of genocide, arguing that the nation’s attacks on Gaza are necessary to defend Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas terrorists that killed 1,200 Israelis.
But the students gathered on the Center Campus lawn Tuesday stood firm in their belief that the death and destruction in Gaza is genocidal and that their university should disclose and cut all financial ties to the war.
The demonstrations moved to Center Campus Monday night after 45 protesters were arrested at the site of their original encampment at Beinecke Plaza on trespassing charges.
Hutten said the arrests came after student protesters refused offers to meet with Yale officials after the university declined to disclose its investments.
“We’re not here for yet another bureaucratic discussion or a seat at the table,” Hutten said. “We’re here to actually change things and for them to actually make a commitment to do better.”
Protesters said university officials have yet to disclose the degree to which Yale’s portfolio is tied to investments in companies that supply weapons to the Israeli military.
Last Wednesday, Yale said the university’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility determined that investment in weapons manufacturing did not meet the criteria for divestment.
“The ACIR concluded that military weapons manufacturing for authorized sales did not meet the threshold of grave social injury, a prerequisite for divestment, because this manufacturing supports socially necessary uses, such as law enforcement and national security,” the university said in a statement after the deci
sion. Students who gathered on the Cross Campus green Tuesday said they will continue to fight the decision.
“We know 34,000 people died,” one protester, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “We consider that to be ‘grave social injury’ because at the end of the day, Palestinians are people. If it was 34,000 Americans anywhere, it would be ‘grave social injury.’ If it was Yale students, it would be ‘grave social injury.’ ”
Mostly peaceful
The day after the arrests, students sleepily filed into the sit-in at Cross Campus. Stepping on to the green, painted tapestries announce that visitors have entered a “Liberated Zone,” and “Gaza Solidarity Plaza.” The perimeter of the quad is filled with handmade posters declaring “Ceasefire Now,” “Disclose, Divest” and “Yale is Complicit.” In the center of the encampment, a cardboard rendition of a missile reads “Books Not Bombs.”
If it were not for the signage, and a few intermittent chants of “Free Free Palestine,” the untrained eye might mistake the encampment for an everyday picnic.
Students spent the day bent over laptops, studying in the grass. Many sat on blankets,talkingwithfriends, playing music or creating art. Professors brought their lessons outside, desks and all, to lecture on the lawn. Others dropped in for a few minutes to deliver fresh water, food and pillows to the protesters before heading off to class. Demonstrators in the crowd said they expected the protests to ramp up later in the evening.
“This is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever been a part of,” one student said. After nights of sleeping outside and leading chants, her words left her mouth in a hoarse whisper.
The student, who did not reveal her name due to safety concerns, said she feels there is a push to discredit what is “really happening” at the protests. As a Palestinian, the student said she joined the protests because she holds “a bigger stake in this than a lot of people.” But she said she is also protesting what she sees as “hypocrisy and the double standards”perpetratedbyyale faculty and administrators.
“We are basically being blamed for everything that is happening, when really what we’re here for is genocide,” she said.
With an estimated 34,000 people dead in Gaza, 77,000 wounded and 1.7 million displaced, she said it is frustrating that “we are okay with all of that happening, but we are not okay with students protesting.”
She said that in Yale classrooms, students discuss Palestinian liberation and learn about past demonstrations “as if it’s history.” While the university preaches a message of democracy, liberty and free expression, she said this message becomes a “fabrication” when students put their education into practice.
“Somehow there’s a disconnect between everything that’s on text to everything that’s happening in front of our eyes,” she said. “Somehow the parallels can’t be made to Palestine.”
Jewish students’ experiences
Pro-palestinian protesters repeatedly refuted accusations that their movement condones antisemitism or Hamas. Many said that Jewish students and organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace have been very involved in the demonstrations. They also said that they in no way conflate the Israeli government’s actions with Jewish values or the Jewish people.
Mika Bardin, a sophomore who was born in Israel and lost a friend in the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, disagrees.
“As an Israeli, they look at my identity and judge me for that rather than my political opinions,” Bardin said.
Bardin said the protests are anti-israel and anti-american. She said demonstrators’ rhetoric “instills violence (and) unsafety.”
“They’re making it really clear that they don’t mind and they’re willing to tolerate the death of Israelis. When they say ‘resistance is justified,’ ” Bardin said. “My friend was murdered and his body was taken into Gaza. That’s what they’re justifying … my loved ones being murdered.”
Other students who passed in and out of the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale on the second day of Passover expressed mixed opinions on the protest but generally shared an overall feeling of safety on campus.
Zach Pan, a first-year student, said that the last few days have been “pretty tough” amid an uptick in incidents that he says “are not characteristic of the broader experience of Jewish students.”
“Having friends at Columbia and other institutions, I feel pretty fortunate,” Pan said. “People are safe here.”
While some students said they have avoided discussing the ongoing conflict, Pan said that it is important for him to talk to friends and peers on both sides of the issue.
“Discourse is the best way to combat extremism,” Pan said. “I think talking to one another is the best way out of this, especially when you have a very strong sense of community, which Yale does have.”
But Zachary Suri, a firstyear student, said that the protests and the recent arrests have made it “harder to have those conversations.”
While Suri said the protesters “certainly were breaking the law” and “probably deserved” the charges, Suri said he was “disappointed” by the arrests.
“I think it just further escalates the situation. It makes it harder to have those conversations,” Suri said. “Optically it’s really bad and I would’ve just preferred if they had let it fizzle out.”
Overall, Suri said he has mixed feelings about the protest. He said that he believes a small percentage of the demonstrators are antisemites and it’s “depressing” to see students stand with them.
“I think it’s really scary to see so many people angrily attacking Israel and the United States, but I also think that a lot of the media attention has been really exaggerated,” Suri said. “I’ve been feeling physically very safe on campus, but it is really disheartening.”
Suri said that he has friends on campus who have joined the pro-palestinian demonstrations. He said it is hard to avoid feeling like others judge him for “being a supporter of Israel and being a Jew on campus.”
During this contentious period of protest, Suri reflected on a “better” moment when a group of Jewish students who shared very different views spent the night talking to a rabbi about the war and tensions on campus. Suri said that afterward, “some of us went to one of the protests and some of us went to the other.”
“It just made me feel like we can still have these conversations and we can still be friends and care about each other and each other’s safety even if we disagree so strongly,” Suri said. “I think that can work across, not just among the Jewish community, but among all students.”
Part of national movement
Demonstrations have taken place at several campuses across the country, with university administrations weighing students’ rights to free speech against reported safety concerns.
The rash of protests and tent encampments began at Columbia University, where the university president asked city police to intervene and more than 100 were arrested.
At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the pro-palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses in a video statement released Wednesday, saying the response of several university presidents has been “shameful” and calling on state, local and federal officials to intervene.
In a statement issued after the arrests, Yale President Peter Salovey said “Members of the Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, Arab, and Palestinian communities reported that the campus environment had become increasingly difficult” and that police reports identified “harmful acts and threatening language used against individuals at or near the protest sites.”
“We will continue to support individuals’ right to freedom of expression,” Salovey said. “We also remain focused on campus safety. We will pursue disciplinary action to address possible violations of our policies, particularly those policies prohibiting threats, intimidation, coercion, harassment, and physical harm as well as conduct that interferes with university operations.”
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said: “New Haven has a long history of supporting individuals and groups who want to protest and express their opinions. We will continue that tradition, but protestors must do so in a manner that is safe, lawful, and respectful to all New Haven residents,” Elicker said in a statement.