Inside the pro-Palestine protests erupting across US universities

Since Israel’s recent assault on Gaza in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, many US university students have shown their support for Palestine, with groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organising protests and calling for a ceasefire despite widespread backlash to their actions. Now, the pro-Palestinian student movement is snowballing.

Students at Columbia University set up an encampment comprising around 50 tents within the Manhattan university campus in the early hours of the morning on April 17, with the student protesters saying they would occupy the lawn until the university divests from companies with ties to Israel. Many members of Columbia’s faculty have also expressed solidarity with students. Columbia president Minouche Shafik is now facing calls to resign, from both critics of the protests themselves and critics of the brutal crackdown on the protests.

Columbia said in a statement on April 18 that over 100 students had been suspended as a result of participating in the encampment – it’s estimated that around one per cent of Barnard College’s entire student body has been suspended (Barnard is now looking to offer students the chance to lift their suspensions, if they agree to follow all college rules going forward). 108 Columbia students were arrested last week after college administrators called the police, including the daughter of American politican Ilhan Omar.

The widespread protests have even prompted a response from the White House. “While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous,” the statement read. “And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organisations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable.” JVP, who describe themselves as an organisation of “Jews organising toward Palestinian liberation” have called the White House statement “deeply disturbing”.

29-year-old Jon Ben-Menachem is a PhD student at Columbia University. He first got involved in the student protests for Palestine six months ago, after the university suspended the Columbia chapters of SJP and JVP. “It was an administrative farce. They created a pretext to suspend only the anti-Zionist organisations on campus,” he recalls. Ben-Menachem says it’s been “inspiring” to organise with his colleagues and classmates. “I’ve been moved by the moral clarity and the backbone that I’ve seen, particularly from undergraduates,” he says.

“They brought police on campus – that was the first time they have been on campus since the protests against the war in Vietnam in 1968” – Sebastian, Columbia student

22-year-old Sebastian, who asked to only be identified by their first name, is another student at Columbia University. They say that their experience of protesting so far has been “scary” due to the university’s hostility towards its Palestinian students and student protestors. “They have suspended and evicted some of my peers,” they say. “I myself have not faced any disciplinary action, but many students have been suspended from Columbia and Barnard. They also brought police on campus – that was the first time they have been on campus since the protests against the war in Vietnam in 1968.”

Marie Adele Grosso is a 19-year-old student at Barnard College. She was one of the protestors who was arrested last week. “I was one of the first people to be arrested,” she recalls. She explains that the protestors had been forewarned that there was a possibility they could be arrested and were advised not to resist. “They put zip ties behind my back and walked me to a police van, and had me sit on a seat and they seatbelted me in.” At the station, Grosso and her fellow protesters had their mugshots taken. Afterwards many of her fellow protestors were forced to stand for a prolonged period while they waited to be released, as the station did not have enough holding cells for all the students they had detained. “They had to uncuff me because my hands were getting swollen,” Grasso says. She was released shortly before 11pm, having been arrested around 1pm.

She was met with crowds of fellow students who had shown up to express their support. “I was so grateful for the students who kept our spirits up and clapped whenever anyone got released,” she says. “I think for a lot of people the arrest itself was very intimidating. We’re still working through all these emotions.” Grasso is also still facing an “interim suspension” from Barnard, meaning she is no longer permitted to use my dorm or access her dining plan, and is only allowed to attend her classes virtually.

Grasso is undeterred by her experience and highlights that it’s small fry compared to the horrors unfolding in Gaza. “Anyone who can see what is happening in Gaza right now has a moral obligation to act,” she says. “We are currently watching a genocide. We can’t sit back and remain complicit. We are protesting so that our institution stops directly funding genocide, starts listening to student voices, and starts caring about what’s happening in Gaza.” Sebastian adds that as well as divestment, Columbia student protestors are demanding amnesty for all students and faculty that have been suspended or arrested and the severing of ties with Israeli universities and programmes.

“The genocide in Gaza cannot wait, and Columbia is complicit. We want to do everything we can to separate our workplace from that and make it a more just place to work, especially for our Palestinian colleagues,” adds Ben-Menachem. He adds that he feels “disgusted” his tax dollars and the American military are propping up the Israeli regime. “As a Jewish student at Columbia, I feel dismayed, depressed, and saddened that the topic of Jewish Ivy League students’ safety has overtaken the safety of people who live in Gaza and Palestinians,” he adds. “All of these news outlets are focused on Columbia and other American universities. But the universities in Gaza were destroyed. They’re rubble.”