New Orleans, LA — About 50 students and community members rallied on Wednesday, April 15, in protest outside an event hosting two Israeli Defense Forces reservists. The event was called “Triggered: From Combat to Campus,” and was hosted on Tulane University’s main campus by Students Supporting Israel.

“I still remember that when Students for a Democratic Society demanded that Tulane end its overwhelming support for Israel, Tulane threw the book at those students,” said Silas Gillett of Student for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Gillett continued, “They suspended them, they kicked them out of their housing. Now they have the gall to bring these evil IDF war criminals on campus instead of their own students!”

The protest was organized by Together United Louisiana (TUL) SDS with support from over a dozen other student and community organizations to demand an end to Tulane’s support for Israel. At the event inside, IDF reservists Yossi Hertz and Lior Biran tried to defend Israel, but they could not speak without hearing the chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “Lock them up” from the rally outside.

While organizers decried the genocide of Palestinians and the IDF’s attacks on Iran and Lebanon, a small group of students waved an Israeli flag at the protest. Sruly Heller, speaking for New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports, addressed them, saying, “You absolutely desecrate the memories of our ancestors when you hold up your Zionist flags like that. My Bubbe has no cousins, and they didn’t die for your Zionist bullshit. Shame on you!”

Addressing the crowd on behalf of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Leila Abu-Orf said, “I’ve watched my family home, my birthright, the one that we built after we were kicked out of our ancestral village of Isdud, now Ashdod, be burnt to rubble.” Abu-Orf continued to address the soldiers directly, firing up the crowd, “You are a band of cowards who use an AI-powered program to track your targets for drones while you shit yourself from the comfort of your armored tank out of fear of the flip-flopped freedom fighter approaching you!”

#NewOrleansLA #LA #Palestine #AntiWarMovement #StudentMovement #IDF #NOSHIP #Tulane #SDS

New Orleans, LA – On Tuesday, March 11, the local Palestine solidarity movement sprang into action to demand the release of student activist Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Palestinian illegally detained by ICE last week for his role in the Palestine-solidarity encampment at Columbia University. Although Khalil is a resident of New York, he was transported to a detention facility four hours away from the city of New Orleans, Jena, Louisiana for holding.

Activists rapidly mobilized a press conference, phone zap, and demonstrations, making it clear to the Trump administration and ICE that the movement in Louisiana will fight for Khalil’s release.

Press conference and phone zap calls on Representative Troy Carter to take action

At noon, six organizations spoke at an emergency press conference in front of Louisiana Representative Troy Carter’s downtown office demanding that he pushes for the release of Khalil and the reinstatement of his green card. The New Orleans for Palestine Coalition organized a day-long phone zap to ring his office.

Majdi Jaber of the New Orleans chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement reiterated the Coalition’s demand for Troy Carter to “align his actions with his words and meet with the Palestinian Youth, our elders, and our coalition partners, and also to join [Congresswoman] Rashida Tlaib and 13 other colleagues in the House in signing a letter that formally calls for the release of Mahmoud Khalil.”

Rory MacDonald, a Tulane student suspended for participationin a university encampment for Gaza, spoke on behalf of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). MacDonald said that Trump and his administration “are under the impression that they can get away with things in Louisiana that they cannot get away with in New York. We are here to tell them that they are dead wrong. The people and the students in New Orleans and Louisiana are watching, and we are going to raise hell in this city until Mahmoud Khalil is free!”

Troy Carter’s office has since released a statement condemning Trump’s attacks on students, stating, “I stand firmly against the misuse of federal power to suppress free speech. I am committed to protecting the rights of all individuals and will continue to push back against any effort that undermines the Constitution.”

Students take the streets in solidarity, demand sanctuary policies for immigrants

Later in the day at 4:30 p.m., over 100 people rallied and took to the streets demanding Khalil’s release and that Tulane and Loyola Universities declare themselves sanctuary campuses and refuse to comply with ICE. The rally began with chants like “Don’t give in to racist fears, immigrants are welcome here!” and “We want justice, you say how: free Mahmoud Khalil now!”

Student speeches called out their universities’ failures to protect immigrant students and explained why their demands must be met.

“In 2016 when students first organized to fight for this very struggle, the Tulane Undergraduate Assembly passed a resolution in favor of sanctuary. However, Tulane ignored them,” ​said Navya Prakash, a member of Together United SDS. Prakash elaborated that sanctuary policies would make it so that universities would not disclose information about students’immigration statuses to ICE, and not permit ICE on campus without a warrant.

Protesters then marched down to Saint Charles Avenue, a major roadway and home to both Tulane and Loyola University. The action halted traffic and occupied the street as Nadir Benslimane, a member of Liberate and Unite New Orleans SDS, spoke out against the purpose of political repression against activists.

Benslimane stated, “The goal of the Trump administration right now is to ensure that no one can use their free speech to speak out against the injustices that Trump and his cronies are committing here or supporting abroad.” The Trump administration has particularly targeted universities with threats to end federal funding for those that maintain their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Students then relocated to the sidewalk in front of Loyola University, chanting “Loyola, don’t comply, we are keeping DEI!” The protest concluded with calls to join one of the many organizations present to continue struggling for their demands to be met.

#NewOrleansLA #NOLA #LoyolaUniversity #LOYNO #Trump #PYM #FreePalestine #FreeMahmoudKhalil #MahmoudKhalil #SDS #ICE #TulaneUniversity #Loyola #Tulane

New Orleans, LA – On Tuesday, February 17, about 30 Tulane students and faculty held a rally on campus to protest Trump’s agenda. They particularly focused on fighting back against Trump’s ethnic cleansing plans for Gaza, and demanded that Tulane become a sanctuary campus immigrant students. 

Students and faculty gathered in Pocket Park, with signs reading, “Make Tulane a sanctuary campus” and “Gaza is not for sale!” They chanted, “Immigrants are here to stay, Donald Trump go away!” and “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Tulane students organized the rally in response to ICE activity in the New Orleans area. The fear of ICE raids has led to a drastic decrease in school attendance by Chicano and Latino students in Orleans Parish and surrounding areas. Sandy Thomas, a first-generation Latina student at Tulane, stated, “Trump wants to send 30,000 immigrants to Guantanamo Bay, a detention camp. We may scream as much as we want for change, but change does not happen without action.” 

The rally also defended the ceasefire in Gaza, after Trump’s remarks threatening to ethnically cleanse the strip. Millicent Helmka, a member of Together United Students for a Democratic Society (TU SDS), condemned Trump’s plans to expand military operations in Palestine and displace 2 million Palestinians from their homeland, stating, “The U.S. government uses your cash to build dystopian and monstrous war technology. And those machines get used on people on the other side of the planet, who had dreams, like you.”

As students and faculty continue to push for a free Palestine and sanctuary campus policies, they emphasized that their awareness and outrage must translate into fighting back.

#NewOrleansLA #TUSDS #SDS #Tulane #ICE #Guantanamo #FreePalestine #Sanctuary #SanctuaryCampus

New Orleans, LA – Starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, October 23, pro-Palestine students at Tulane University quietly entered the library and took up space at nearly every table on the first floor. Almost all the students wore keffiyehs and taped signs to their laptops. Some slogans read, “Tulane divest from genocide”, “While we’re learning, Lebanon is burning”, and “Our tuition funds genocide.” Food, coffee, keffiyehs, signs, and books on Palestine were provided to any student who wanted to join.

The action, called a “study-in”, drew attention from Tulane’s administrators, university police, and pro-genocide students. Usually open to the public, the library required student IDs to access that week. Police and administrators stood around throughout the 24 hours. Several pro-genocide students arrived and occupied a table, wearing Israeli flags and attempting to speak to students trying to study. They also frequently recorded pro-Palestine students without their consent, often getting very close to their faces. When reported to the library administration, they replied that there was no policy to stop students from recording without permission.

Despite the intimidation attempts, pro-Palestinian students maintained the study-in for 24 hours. At times, more than 50 students were participating. The action was a resounding show of Tulane students’ support for Palestine. The message from the students was clear, “Tulane divest from genocide.”

#NewOrleansLA #Tulane #StudyIn #StudentIntifada #FreePalestine

New Orleans, LA- On Friday, May 31, dozens of community members rallied in front of the Criminal District Court in New Orleans to defend those arrested at the Tulane and Loyola Popular University for participation in the Gaza encampment.

Several organizations across the city attended this rally to flood the courts for the arraignment. People spoke of the unjust arrests that took place during a police raid at the Popular University for Gaza, established by Loyola and Tulane University students.

“More and more people are waking up to the reality we live in, that is, no one is going to save us. This monopoly capitalist hell that we live in is not sustainable. A better way is possible,” said Juleea Berthelot, a student at Loyola University and president of Loyola Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “The camp was a very material part of this ongoing struggle. It was beautiful and chaotic, and scary, and wonderful. And while it no longer exists in a material way, what remains is a movement that is stronger than ever,” Berthelot added.

Palestinian community members also rallied in support of the arrestees. “We are not afraid because we have the truth at our backs. That truth will set us all free. Palestinians and our allies alike, within our lifetime, Inshallah,” said a member of the New Orleans Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM). “How many of you continue to stand tall, while facing fake charges from our political opponents, fascist courts of injustice. Your upright behavior has exposed, once again, that the police as an institution do not exist to protect people. What do they exist to protect? Property. Capital. Exactly, this is capitalism.”

The crowd chanted “All the chains have been broken. Prison gates will fly open!” and “Not guilty, not sorry!” Those rallying loudly chanted towards the court, letting them know that this fight is not over. “One! We are the people. Two! We won’t stop fighting. Drop the charges, now, now, now!”

Speakers and members identified the necessity of escalation and the importance of the Palestinian armed resistance for the liberation of Palestine. They addressed the fact that, in recent weeks, multiple states and countries have finally recognized the statehood of Palestine.

“The resistance has changed the course of our future. Palestine will not be free without armed resistance and without our support in the United States of the armed resistance,” said Shreyas Vasudevan, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

At the end of the rally, Rory MacDonald of Tulane SDS announced that the courts informed arrestees – one hour before the scheduled appearance – that their court date had been moved to July 30 and that they did not need to attend. District Attorney Jason Williams pushed back the court date to the final day possible to accept the charges. “Why did Jason Williams do this? Because he has no case,” said MacDonald.

Tulane University has suspended the chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. Loyola University is targeting student organizers with harsh punishments and attempting to quietly charge students.

New Orleanians across the city are rallying with students and organizers alike to publicize these issues, wielding the rallying cry: “Protesting is not a crime!” #NewOrleansLA #SDS #Loyola #Tulane #PopularUniversityForGaza

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from representatives of New Orleans Healthcare Workers for Palestine. The letter was delivered to Tulane University President Michael Fitts and Medical School Dean Lee Hamm. Healthcare Workers for Palestine is a network of healthcare workers and professionals standing against the U.S.-funded and enabled genocide of the Palestinian people.

Dear President Fitts and Tulane Administration,

Included is an open letter signed by 67 healthcare workers from hospitals, clinics, community agencies, and various settings throughout New Orleans, condemning Tulane's suppression of the peaceful pro-Palestinian encampment, demanding the reinstatement of students and faculty who were suspended, and promoting the demands of Tulane SDS.

In light of the upcoming court date for the peaceful protestors who were arrested, we have chosen today to deliver this letter to President Fitts in hopes that Tulane will withdraw their support from the prosecution of our community members. We will be publicly releasing Tulane's response to this letter, which we expect prior to the May 31st court date.

We look forward to your prompt response, and further discussion of the critical need for divestment and immediate ceasefire.

Sincerely,

Healthcare Workers for Palestine – NOLA

***

Healthcare Workers for Palestine – New Orleans Condemns Tulane's Ties to Apartheid Israel and Violent Suppression of Peaceful Protest

On April 29, in opposition to the occupation of Palestine, Tulane and Loyola students began a Palestine Solidarity Encampment centered around demands for university divestment from corporations supplying arms to Israel, institutional protection for Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian students, and more.

The encampment became a space where students, alumni, and community gathered to grieve, make art and music, pray together across religions, and support one another. In response – Tulane University called in the police. At 3am on May 1, more than 100 NOPD and Louisiana State Police – including a militarized SWAT team – arrived and began to push, threaten, and shove students and violently disassembled the encampment. In total, 22 were arrested; and 2 participants had to seek medical care – one is suffering from a concussion, the other from bruising and swelling on their back and shoulders after being thrown to the ground by officers.

Tulane has suspended 8 students for participating in the encampment, and retaliated against staff, including one of HCWP’s own. This repressive and retaliatory response by Tulane has prompted wide condemnation from various diverse university, religious, and civic groups, including Jewish Leaders, Artist and Cultural groups, Tulane Faculty, and more.

HCW for Palestine joins these voices in condemning Tulane’s repressive response and the brutality of the police against an unarmed encampment. As healthcare workers, we oppose these actions that endanger life and that punish those who speak up for human rights.

● We demand the reinstatement of faculty and students who’ve been suspended

● We demand that Tulane support the demands of Tulane SDS:

● Divest from Israeli corporations that supply arms, fuel or technology to Israel

● Disclose the annual investments of its endowment beginning with 2023

● Cut all ties with Israeli Universities, including cancelling “Birthright” trips to occupied Palestine

● Publicly state support for the City Council of New Orleans to pass a Ceasefire Resolution

● Provide institutional protection for Arab and Palestinian students

We know that the brutality faced by protestors who stand up against universities working to silence us is only a tiny echo of the extreme violence that civilians face in Palestine every day. With over 35,000 people martyred, over 79,000 injured, and 1.1 million facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, we must continue to push local institutions to stand by their supposed values and stop supporting genocide.

As Healthcare Workers, our ethical and professional commitments compel us to expressly condemn Israel’s genocidal violence against Gaza and the US institutions who fund and sanction this violence.

In solidarity,

Sophie Barker, Healthcare Sustainability

Amy Wolfe, MD

Hakm Murad, Biomedical Engineer

Meeta Prakash, MD, resident

Sam King, LCSW-BACS

Alex Jaouiche, MPH, Public Health Professional

Eman Toraih, Faculty

Gita Chadalawada , DO, DIMPH

Zayd Sifri, LCSW / Psychotherapist

Tina McCrory , Speech Language Pathologist CCC- SLP

Caide Bier, Genetic counseling assistant

River Hollows, MS, LPC

Mohamed Shama, Assistant Professor of Surgery

Adriane Butler, RN

Julie Norman, LCSW

Alaa Malik, Student

Lindsey Boettinger, OT

Theresa Dempsey, MPH—community health worker Luke Kikukawa, Research Technician

Hanna Tadevich, PLPC, Psychotherapist

Reuben Mathew, MD MSPH/ Resident Physician Emily Schumacher, LPC, ATR Therapist private practice Daniella Cherner, BSPH, EMT

Liora Diamond, LPC

Emily Blau, BSN

Fahad Faheem, MA/ Medical Assistant

Matt Griffin, Registered Nurse

Amanda Tonkovich, LCSW

Maria Peralta, RN

Maryum K. Ijaz, MD

Kathryn Stephenson, LPC

Dana Walker, MD

Aimee Terrio, Radiologic Technologist

Sloane, Occupational therapist

Madeline Chenevert, Laboratory Technologist, (MB, ASCP) Stephanie

Carolyn Mayes, RN

MJ Hebert, school social work intern

Madeline Mayes, Speech language pathologist

Cypress Atlas, PLPC, NCC / Therapist

Olivia Mancing, LMSW, MPH/ social worker and researcher Andres Mendez, Masters in Public Health & Tropical Medicine Tabinda Qamar, Resident Physician

Caylie Sadin, Resident

Will Boles, Family Medicine Resident

Haripriya Madabushi, Pediatrics resident

Claire Mehling, LPC

Abby Mowen, Medical student

Joanna Dubinsky, Physician Assistant

Brett Phillips, Pediatrician

Sana Fujimura, MD/Resident

Stephanie Shea, Resident

Shaden Murad, Md

Ramzi Shalby, MD

Ida, LPC

Claudia Norton, LCSW

Lindsey Howell, BS in Psychology, Psychometric Rater Madeline Mayes, Speech-language pathologist

Brianna Jones, NCC

Liora Diamond, LPC

Impana Murthy, Medical Student

Christy Mo, Medical student

Effie Michot, Licensed midwife

Mahum Riaz, Medical Scribe

Mack Guillory, Medical Student

Jessi, LPC graduate student

Emmet Bannon, Administrative Assistant, College of Nursing and Health

#NewOrleansLA #LA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #HealthcareWorkersForPalestine #Tulane #Labor

New Orleans, LA – Around 2 a.m., May 1, police raided an encampment for Palestine. On Monday, Students for a Democratic Society at Tulane and Loyola organized the camp at Tulane University. Protesters demand that Tulane end all aid to Israel.

That Tuesday, the camp reached its peak at over 300 participants, with many more coming in and out. Musicians played drums and the keyboard, and protesters sang and danced throughout the day. They read literature, screened a documentary, shared meals, and prayed according to multiple faiths. Police displayed a mobile billboard reading “No trespassing” and played loud elevator music from speakers to try to intimidate and drown out the crowd.

Early Wednesday morning, protesters woke up to over 100 riot police from various agencies, including the Louisiana State Police Department. Police arrested over a dozen protesters. Officers then proceeded to line up across both sides of Saint Charles Ave, the street in front of Tulane. They began shoving protesters on the neutral ground and pushed several women directly in their breasts. For over an hour, they gave no dispersal order. The crowd was on public property, so protesters did not know what the police planned to do or where to safely leave. After a tense standoff, the remaining crowd retreated together around 4:30 a.m.

SDS and other organizations have asked supporters to make phone calls to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office to demand the protesters’ immediate release.

#NewOrleansLA #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Occupy4Gaza #Tulane #Loyola

New Orleans, LA – On Monday, April 29, around 5 p.m., Students for a Democratic Society at Loyola and Tulane universities held a joint rally and march which gathered over 300 people. Students, university staff and community allies marched on both Tulane and Loyola’s campuses. The protesters paused on a sidewalk in front of Tulane’s admissions building and Gibson Hall, the oldest structure. Suddenly, the students took to the lawn in front of the building to set up their camping site.

The setup process was met with clashes with law enforcement. Tulane University Police Department officers were present and so was the New Orleans Police Department. Police authorities were prepared with riot and SWAT gear on standby. The student protesters began setting up camp as the community circled around them chanting: “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop we will not rest!”

The chanting continued as police officers rode horses into the crowd, and other officers attacked protesters and tackled some to the ground. The police actions caused a frenzy, but the students and allies remained united. The police arrested and carried seven protesters away. Approximately 30 minutes later, the camp was successfully established.

The student organizers took to the microphone and chanted their demands. “We demand that our universities divest fully from Israeli corporations that supply arms, fuel, or technology to Israel, and we demand that they disclose the annual investments of their respective endowment as of 2023,” said Carson Cruse, Loyola SDS member, as the crowd repeated his words.

Community allies formed a human barricade which continued getting populated for several hours and used umbrellas to deter police officers from approaching. The officers eventually stepped back. Hours later, the Louisiana State Police arrived on the scene. LSP officers stood approximately 15 feet away from the human chain that remained circling the encampment all night.

The students played music, shared food, received supplies, held chants, and gave speeches all through the night. During that time, many advocated via phone calls for the release of the seven arrestees who had been transported to Orleans Parish Prison.

At approximately 12:30 a.m., a protester who had been transported to Orleans Parish Prison and released less than five hours later returned to the encampment to give a speech and support the students. “We have nothing to fear, because we are standing with the bravest people in the world: the Palestinian resistance!” said Serena Sojic-Borne, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. All seven protesters were released at around 11:15 p.m. that same night.

The Tulane/Loyola encampment entered its second day on April 30. Police have remained near the encampment but have not approached since the initial arrests were made.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Tulane #Loyola #Occupy4Palestine #Feature

New Orleans, LA – On Friday, April 26, around noon, Students for a Democratic Society at Loyola University New Orleans and Tulane University held a joint walk out that led to a rally of over 150 people gathered in the front of the two universities. After a few speakers, a group of student organizers took the street and other students, faculty and community members followed. The rally turned into a street occupation. “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Whose school? Our school!” participants chanted.

For Tulane students, this action was in response to Tulane University not allowing students to hold a public vigil on campus, as well as the university's direct support for Israel. For Loyola students, this action was in response to the school not meeting the demands set by the students earlier in the academic semester. These demands called on the university to provide a space for Palestinian, Muslim and Arab students to grieve and express their feelings without censorship, for the president of the university to release a public statement condemning the genocide currently being carried out on the Palestinian people, and to ensure that the new director of multicultural affairs (when appointed) has the resources and support required to effectively fulfill the position.

Mina Mahfouz, a Sudanese and Muslim senior at Loyola, talked about the repression that students on campus have been facing since the start of the fall semester.

“Last semester was a discouraging one for a lot of us. Loyola disappointed us in more ways than, I think, any of us anticipated. Not only did Loyola’s administration deny us a vigil multiple times, but they threw a few of us some bogus misconduct charges for organizing around campus, ignored our many bias reports and allowed for a handful of professors to spew genocidal rhetoric on and off campus,” Mahfouz said.

As students sat in the street, they continued to chant along with the rhythm of a bass drum “Up, up with liberation! Down, down with occupation!”

“Students are escalating and it is not spontaneous. It is because students are organized. This is exactly what the ruling class fears: a movement with a revolutionary character, one that sides with the oppressed,” said Juleea Berthelot, a student organizer with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The crowd continued to occupy the street for an hour, disrupting business as usual in uptown New Orleans.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #StudentMovement #SDS #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Loyola #Tulane

New Orleans, LA – On October 26, over 250 students and community members gathered for a rally near Tulane University’s campus. Despite a counter-protest of obviously intoxicated students shouting Islamophobic and racist slurs, demonstrators outnumbered them and drowned them out. Chants like “Tulane, Tulane you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!” energized the crowd. 

The newly formed Tulane4Palestine led the demonstration against the deep ties between the university and the state of Israel. “We demand the termination of all contracts with institutions that support the ongoing genocide of Palestinians,” said a member of Tulane4Palestine.

Speakers connected their experiences as Palestinian and Arab Americans to the ongoing struggle for Palestinian liberation. “They had new and advanced Israeli and American war equipment and a Canadian-based PR company, or should I say propaganda machine, so this time we knew they were coming to destroy it all” said Mina Mahfouz, an organizer with Loyola Students for a Democratic Society, condemning the violence perpetrated by Israeli-backed militias in her home country of Sudan.

During the rally, a supporting Palestinian community member and their family drove by, waving a Palestinian flag. A counter-protester threw an Israeli flag into the truck. When they drove by again, a boy in the truck bed apparently tried to light the Israeli flag on fire when Zionist counter-protesters rushed the vehicle. When the driver attempted to defend his vehicle, another protester and member of Jewish Voices for Peace attempted to defuse the situation. Police brutalized and arrested them. Local and national news sources reported incorrectly that Palestinian protesters attacked Jewish students.

After the initial arrest, the driver was arrested when a counter-protester spotted him sitting in his truck down the street from the ongoing rally and alerted the police. Despite the Zionist attack, protesters continued to disrupt business as usual in the university. Tulane, a school that receives large sums of money from Zionist organizations and donors, was shaken to its core by this unprecedentedly large act of defiance. As protesters continued chanting, they also denounced the arrests and demanded the police hold the true instigators of the altercation by held accountable.

#NewOrleansLA #FreePalestine #Tulane #Tulane4Palestine #LoyolaSDS #Loyola #SDS

New Orleans, LA – On November 16, about 30 students gathered on Tulane University’s campus in protest. The recently formed Abolish TUPD led the action, calling for a campus without police. Rallying at the campus entrance, the group created a paper chain with reasons to abolish the Tulane University Police Department (TUPD). They taped it to the front doors of Gibson Hall, the school administrative building. An unidentified employee tore it down the next morning.

“I like how the protest went. I really liked the energy. I think we got our voices out there and said we had to say,” said Paola Pinto, a student organizer with Abolish TUPD. “I feel like the next immediate goal is to actually have a conversation with administration and see where that goes. I think for us to get there, we’re going to need more action and more presence to get them to take us seriously.”

Abolish TUPD publicly released its demands on October 24. These include the total eradication of TUPD. The group also calls for Tulane to cut ties with the New Orleans police department and university partners that profit from prisons and police. Abolish TUPD also demands the creation of a Citizen Police Accountability Council, or CPAC. This council takes inspiration from the work of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. It would control TUPD, dismantle it, and redistribute its $9 million budget. TUPD has the eighth largest college police budget in the country, even though the university has just over 14,000 people. CPAC would reinvest these funds to benefit students who are Black, indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) and first-generation low-income. Students of oppressed nationalities, like BIPOC students, would lead the CPAC.

“I feel like abolishing TUPD is a commitment to investing in better alternatives for students,” said Antonia Mar, a protest attendee. “Honestly, the police department is grossly large for such a small university. It’s just to protect their wealth. Meanwhile, there are a lot of students who go there who desperately need resources and aren’t getting them. To be clear, that’s Black students, low-income, first-generation students and all students who benefit from mental health services.”

“Tulane employing a privatized and systemically racist police force as a PWI [predominantly white institution] in a predominantly Black community is an act of racial terror and should be unequivocally condemned,” said Uma Kumar-Montei, another organizer with Abolish TUPD. “We realize that true abolition demands action that goes beyond just destruction, and that resource and wealth redistribution, building networks, and learning about how we can help and support each other are also necessary tenets of abolition.”

As of December 3, Tulane’s administration has still not responded to Abolish TUPD’s list of demands.

#NewOrleansLA #StudentMovement #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Tulane #campusPolice