Pro-Palestine US campus protests undeterred by summer break
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Protests are taking place at US universities despite school being out for the summer, as students are organizing off-campus rallies
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Police block Pro-Palestinian demonstrators from entering a building on the UCLA campus, May 23, 2024, in Los Angeles, the United States (AP)
Despite classes coming to a halt at many universities and colleges throughout the US due to the beginning of the summer, the student antiwar movement is showing no signs of slowing down. Activists across the country, from California to New York, continue to demand that their institutions divest from Israeli companies involved in the war on Gaza.
Alumni at Columbia University have even set up new encampments after previous ones were dismantled by the administration after a spring that at many institutions where protests were held led to arrests, violent counterprotests, and threats of suspension.
Frustrated by similar responses at other universities, many students have intensified their efforts even as the academic year ends.
On Wednesday, more than a dozen protesters at Stanford University were arrested and some were immediately suspended after briefly occupying the president's office. The same day, York University students in Toronto set up their first protest encampment, which police dismantled hours later.
Rallies and marches also took place earlier in June at Wayne State University in Detroit and several University of California campuses, including those in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Irvine.
At Columbia University, alumni set up their tents once again on Friday in solidarity with students who initiated the first protest encampment on a US campus in mid-April. The new tents were removed just two days later on Sunday.
This weekend, organizers with the Palestinian Youth Movement expect tens of thousands of students to meet in Washington, DC, to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to US military aid to the Israeli occupation. Buses will transport protesters from dozens of cities, and solidarity rallies are slated to take place across the country for those unable to travel.
At Princeton University, where a 10-day hunger strike ended last month, activists continue to organize, recruit, and train over the summer. Moreover, several dozen Princeton affiliates will join the White House protest this weekend.
UCLA unwavering
Pro-Palestinian student protesters resumed demonstrations in late May at Columbia University, affirming that their determination has grown stronger despite widespread suspensions and arrests.
Concurrently, students and activists demonstrated outside the residence of Columbia University's president, Minouche Shafik, who incited against the students, prompted the police to enter the campus, suppressed the protests, removed the encampments, and arrested students.
Faculty members of Columbia University's School of Arts and Sciences passed a motion of "no confidence" against President Minouche Shafik last Thursday over her response to the student protesters demanding an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.
Of the 709 faculty members who participated in the vote, 65% supported the no-confidence motion. The motion was put forward by faculty members on the board of Columbia’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. According to The Washington Post, 29% voted against the motion, while 6% abstained.
