Students preparing for second round of pro-Palestine protests: ‘We’ve been working all this summer’

Pro-Palestinian activists who have disrupted campuses across the country are planning their return for the new academic year.

Protesters say all forms of protest are still in play, despite more than 2,000 arrests so far, as students try to figure out a new strategy to demand divestment of their schools from Israel, among other goals.

“What will we see [is] students will continue their activism, they will continue to do what they did in conventional and unconventional ways. So not just protests, not just camps, any kind of available means needed to pressure Colombia to divest from Israel,” said Mahmoud Khalil, student negotiator on behalf of Apartheid Divest at Columbia University.

“And we’ve been working all summer on our plans, on what’s next to put pressure on Columbia to listen to students and decide to be on the right side of history,” Khalil added.

Students will return to classrooms this month after a chaotic end to the last academic year.

Dozens of schools across the country saw protests against the war in Gaza, including disruptions to multiple graduation ceremonies, and many students were suspended for their actions.

Since then, the war in Gaza has only escalated, with thousands of deaths and no clear end in sight.

“There are definitely conversations about how they can continue to advocate, to raise awareness about Palestinian human rights and the genocide that is happening in Gaza,” said Zainab Chaudry, director of the Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“And I think some students have already started planning over the summer. There were some meetings organized by some student leaders at different campuses to strategize before the next academic year 2024-2025.”

“Just to strategize about what the limits are and what the options are for students in terms of being able to continue to keep the pressure on administrations to divest,” Chaudry added.

Students demanded that their schools divest from companies associated with Israel and release statements against the country’s actions in Gaza amid the war with Hamas, among other political changes.

But over the summer, several schools, including Harvard University, said they no longer took official positions on political issues, making such statements unlikely. And some schools have tightened rules against on-campus camping.

“I think the challenge for students will be how to raise awareness about the different policies, the different challenges for students, how to continue to advocate and raise awareness about the different issues in light of these policies, and to what extent they are willing to press them. policies to continue to defend the plight of Palestinians and the need to end the ongoing genocide,” said Chaudry.

Some student activists still face the sanctions they face due to their actions last academic year.

“We have several students who remain suspended and some of them are awaiting a university hearing. The university is not taking action in any of these cases, in fact, so we have dozens of students in limbo,” Khalil said. “They don’t know if they will be able to attend school next semester. They’re not sure if they can benefit from college housing, enroll in classes, any of that, and for some of them it’s been four months.”

But he added that fear of further repercussions does not stop students from bigger plans to keep the Palestinian cause foremost on their campuses.

“We are considering a wide range of actions, throughout the semester, camps and protests and everything else,” he said.

“But for us, the camp is now our new base, just like protests used to be. Students protested every day, but now, more or less, the camps are the new base for us. And I think the university should think really, really, really hard about how to meet our demands,” Khalil said, adding that along with the camps the students “have a great political education program where we teach and reach out to students to raise awareness about what is happening in Palestine.”

The Hill has reached out to Columbia University for comment.

Some pro-Palestinian activists made gains in the last academic year. Colleges including Brown University and Northwestern agreed to some of their protesters’ demands and said they would have a vote this fall on whether to divest from Israel.

The results of how these schools deliver on their promises will likely be a major influence on the protests.

“I think students can look to these victories to continue to encourage them, to see the potential of what can be possible,” Chaudry said. “Students have enormous power on college campuses.”

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