Arcata, CA – On Monday, April 22, around 4 p.m., roughly 30 students began a sit-in in Siemens Hall at Cal Poly Humboldt, California, to show solidarity with Palestine and with other campuses that are doing the same. While many students on other campuses are setting up encampments, theirs is the first in the movement to take over a building so far, and an admin building, no less. This also made them the first state university to join the movement.
Green Bay, WI – On March 22, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) interrupted a College Democrats speaking event on campus that had U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin as a guest speaker. The event was promoted in secret on campus to prevent SDS from organizing and was supposed to teach students how to get people to vote for her. SDS found out and decided to mobilize.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from University of Rochester Students for a Democratic Society and Students for Justice in Palestine.
As of April 24, the administration of University of Rochester has announced that UR will move forward with an academic boycott from all ties to Israel. This was a demand of the occupation set up by Students for a Democratic Society and Students for Justice in Palestine, now won by the students.
Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday, April 23 at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, student activists set up a Gaza Solidarity encampment. This encampment was organized by the UMN Divest Coalition which is made up of Students for a Democratic Society, Students for Justice in Palestine, Young Democratic Socialists of America and Students for Climate Justice. The coalition is pushing for the University of Minnesota to cut ties financially with Israel. This means to divest from weapon manufacturers, stop study abroad trips to Israel and stop having defense companies doing recruitment on campus.
Baton Rouge, LA – On April 22, over 50 students and community organizers rallied on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol demanding an end to the GOP’s reactionary agenda. The protesters then took to the streets and marched to Governor Jeff Landry’s mansion for a rally. This action served to unite the people against the Republicans and bring the people to the march on the Republican National Convention this summer in Milwaukee.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
While standing in solidarity with Palestine, the student movement has once again escalated protests on campus with the campus encampment movement. Students are calling out their universities and its administrators for their decades’ long support of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and are demanding that our universities divest and cut all ties to Israel! University administrators have no right to ignore the students as university administrators continue to support the genocide in Gaza and maintain support for Israel.
Chicago IL – On April 17, over 70 students rallied and marched at the University of Illinois at Chicago to oppose U.S. war moves against Iran. The action was part of a National Day of Action called by Students for a Democratic Society.
Tampa, FL- Over 20 students at the University of South Florida marched April 18 to demand no U.S. attacks on Iran and an end to U.S. aid to Israel.
Tampa Bay SDS organized this protest and march as part of a National Day of Action called by National SDS in response to the April 1 Israeli bombing of the Iranian diplomatic mission in Damascus, Syria. Students marched from the library to the student center to show their support for Palestine and for the solidarity that Iran has shown towards Palestine.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from University of Central Florida Students for a Democratic Society.
On April 1 , UCF Students for a Democratic Society was informed that the Office of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity was moving forward with charging one of its members with several violations of student conduct in addition to filing legal charges for criminal mischief, in response to pro-Palestine activism.
Minneapolis, MN – On April 20, on a brisk spring afternoon, over 350 pro-Palestine demonstrators rallied at Bryant Square Park in the Minneapolis Uptown neighborhood for the first large scale march initiated by the Minnesota chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Arab Student Association at the U of MN.