Brooklyn, NY – The NYU Students for a Democratic Society held a pro-Palestine rally on August 26, during welcome week for the incoming freshman class at New York University Tandon School of Engineering (NYU Tandon).

The goal of the rally was to make sure the incoming freshman class was aware of the ties that NYU Tandon had to the ongoing genocide in Gaza through the school’s partnerships, sponsorships, research funding, and investments with military companies and companies aiding apartheid Israel.

Students and community members showed up, numbering around 50, to stand in solidarity with Palestine. Ralliers listened to speakers from No Tech for Apartheid, Jews Against Zionism, NYU Young Democratic Socialists of America, Neturai Karta, the New York Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, former Tandon Alumni, and NYU SDS. Protesters chanted, “Tandon students, we call on you; don’t go work for genocide too” and “Engineering should save lives, not be used for genocide” to incoming freshman who passed through the area.

NYU Tandon administration prepared for the rally by setting up NYU ID-only entry checkpoints at its 6 MetroTech Center building. They had an increased number of Campus Security Officers at the scene of the rally.

During the rally, a reactionary Trump supporter tried to disrupt. He tried to run towards the speaker from Jews Against Zionism, but rally security marshals stepped in. This happened with Campus Security standing by and watching as students were put in harms way.

NYU claims that they care about student safety, yet they called the NYPD on their own students twice last spring. The NYPD went on to arrest over 100 NYU students, faculty and staff, brutalizing many of them with pepper spray and physical force. As the speaker from the New York Alliance put it, “With each anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-Zionist, protester they arrest, the NYPD confirms that they stand for violence and genocide. And NYU partners with them. If you follow logic, that means that NYU is also standing on the wrong side of history.”

NYU SDS ended their rally at Tandon’s Wunsch Hall. The hall was formerly known as the first African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church in Brooklyn. NYU SDS called attention to its ties to the abolitionist movement in the 19th century, serving as a stop on the Underground Railroad and a platform for historically important Black freedom fighters like Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman. They spoke on how the building was stripped of its political history by NYU. NYU SDS declared that they will honor that building’s legacy in their fight against the university and NYU’s ties to the ongoing genocide.

SDS declared that they won’t let the current repression intimidate them from future action. The speaker for NYU SDS said, “This is not the end, this is only the beginning: We. Will. Be. Back.”

NYU SDS promises that it will keep fighting as long as Palestinians live under oppression. They promise to follow in the footsteps of Palestinian resistance fighters. As the speaker from NYU SDS proclaimed, “We will keep up the good fight. And inshallah – we will free Palestine, within our lifetime”.

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