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As many universities and colleges around the nation are preparing for summer break and commencement ceremonies, anti-Israel protesters show no signs of giving up.
Several protesters told Politico they were not going to give up, even with summer approaching and as several anti-Israel encampments on university campuses have been cleared, adding there is “nothing that will deter” them from continuing to protest as the war between Israel and Hamas continues.
“There is a genocide going on in Gaza and there’s nothing that will deter us from doing everything we can do end it,” Ryan Mersol-Gard, a senior at the University of Michigan (UM) told the outlet. “This movement is not a flash in the pan, but it’s here to stay and we’ll stay until we achieve divestment as happened with the South African anti-apartheid movement in the 80s and so many others.”
Pro-Palestinian protests and encampments sprouted up on college and university campuses across the nation in support of an initial encampment that was started at Columbia University on April 17.
The day after the initial encampment began, several students were suspended and hundreds of protesters were arrested. While the first encampment at Columbia University was removed, a second one was established and remained until April 30 when the New York Police Department conducted a raid after protesters seized control of a building on campus.
In the aftermath of this, several universities have also been clearing and policing the anti-Israel encampments popping up on their campuses.
Protesters have also begun interrupting university commencement ceremonies.
On Friday, protesters at UM interrupted a commencement ceremony for the UM School of Music, Theatre & Dance, carrying Palestinian flags and signs that read, “ACAB,” “Free, free Palestine,” and “UM Fund Genocide.”
Protesters on Saturday interrupted the main graduation ceremony at UM, chanting, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
One protester and doctoral candidate at the UM, Ember McCoy, said these protests were not “going to slow down” as there is still mounting pressure “locally, state, and nationally” to put “pressure on politicians to respond to Palestine.”
“I don’t have any expectation that things are going to slow down,” McCoy said. “Both locally, state, and nationally, there is valid and continued pressure on politicians to respond to Palestine — and there’s a lot that can happen between now and November that I hope folks are paying attention to.”
In the aftermath of Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which left 1,200 people dead and more than 200 people taken as hostages, Israel launched a self-defense operation in the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza.
As the war between Israel and Hamas has continued, the people in northern Gaza are reported to be facing famine.
Barbara Snyder, the former president of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio and the current president of the Association of American Universities, explained that while campuses “have fewer students during the summer term,” presidents and chancellors of universities do not feel that the protests are over.
“It is true that our campuses have fewer students during the summer term, so that presents an opportunity to take a breath,” Snyder explained. “That doesn’t mean — and I don’t think any of our presidents or chancellors think it means — that this is over or that these demonstrations might not continue even during the summer.”
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