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Campus Movement

Lessons From The Tulane And Loyola Encampments For Gaza

Baton Rouge, LA – On October 9, Louisiana State University’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a panel on the Tulane and Loyola University encampments for Gaza as part of their October 7 Week of Rage. LSU SDS invited members of Tulane and Loyola SDS and a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) from New Orleans. They highlighted their wins and explored lessons learned from planning and implementing the encampment. Last spring, the National Students for a Democratic Society put out a call for campuses across the country to enact encampments for Gaza on their universities’ lawns to escalate the fight for divestment.

New York’s Report On Antisemitism Is An Attack On The Palestine Movement

The Fall 2024 semester has been marked by an onslaught of repressive measures against the Palestine movement and free speech on campuses. Professors have been fired, students have been suspended, and universities have banned pro-Palestinian groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP). At the City University of New York (CUNY), some community members are still facing felony charges after 28 people were initially charged with felonies for their participation in the City College encampment for Palestine last semester. Nearly 11 months ago, in the wake of October 7, and in the middle of a national attempt to equate the movement for Palestine with antisemitism, New York governor Kathy Hochul commissioned an investigation on antisemitism at CUNY.

Utah Students Win Victory Against Israeli Study Abroad Program

Salt Lake City, UT – On October 3, 50 students and community members gathered on the campus of the University of Utah to demand an end to the school’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa, an Israeli military college that practices discrimination against its Arab and Muslim students. Organizers also called for the University of Utah’s full divestment from companies involved in the Israeli genocide in Gaza, reinvestment in student resources, and for the University of Utah to respect students’ right to protest for Palestine. The rally also celebrated the Palestinian resistance. Chris Loera-Peña of Mecha de U of U said, “It’s been a year of genocide, but also a year of non-stop resistance and fighting from the Palestinian people and the entire world.”

Cornell Black Students Denounce University President’s ‘White Supremacist’ Language

Black students at Cornell have denounced the University's Interim President Michael Kotlikoff for deploying “white supremacist caricatures” as he pursues a war of words against Momodou Taal, a graduate student facing deportation for taking part in pro-Palestinian protests.  Following a meeting with Kotlikoff earlier in the week, Black student groups on Wednesday said they “no longer felt safe on campus” and urged the university to “create an open forum to repair the administration’s relationship with Black students.” It comes as a petition supporting Taal surpassed 10,000 signatures. 

University Of Michigan Moves To Eliminate Due Process For Students

Over the last two years, the University of Michigan (UM) administration has been fiercely repressing student and worker voices on campus with a combination of police and administrative attacks. The University has conducted large-scale arrests of student protestors demanding divestment from financial ties to the Israeli military, sent campus police to the homes of graduate student union organizers as an intimidation tactic, and violently attacked the community encampment calling for an end to the university’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza. In less physically violent but no less aggressive moves, UM  has attempted to discipline the activist Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) union for their 2023 strike and their substantial fights for a living wage, the dismantling of the large campus police apparatus, and divestment from Israel  by changing hiring practices for graduate student workers.

University Students Rally Behind Expelled Encampment Leader

Cleveland - Over 100 pro-Palestine activists rallied and marched to the office of Case Western Reserve University on Sept. 18 in protest of the expulsion of Yousef Khalaf, a leader of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. CWRU students erected the encampment on April 29 and kept it up until May 10. After Khalaf appealed the discriminatory expulsion and related discipline, a hearing was held in August. There, Jewish students and community members challenged the university narrative equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Nevertheless, the CWRU administration upheld its original decision. The one victory was that all of Khalaf’s tuition and housing payments were refunded.

Student Faces Deportation After Suspension for Pro-Palestine Protest

Cornell University has become the first university to suspend a student for pro-Palestinian organizing this semester. The suspension came in response to a student-led protest organized by the Coalition for Mutual Liberation (CML), which shut down a career fair at the Statler Hotel attended by defense contractors Boeing and L3 Harris last week. The protest, according to the CML, was part of a broader effort to oppose Cornell’s complicity in military and defense industries that profit from violence, specifically in the occupied Palestinian territories. The suspended student is PhD candidate Momodou Taal, who has been a prominent advocate for Palestinian liberation during his time at Cornell.

First Gaza Encampment Trial In US Finds Protesters Not Guilty

New Orleans, LA – On Friday, September 20, Tulane University encampment arrestees held a rally at 8 a.m., outside of the Orleans Criminal District Court, just before a monumental win for the city’s movement. There were over 40 people in attendance for both the rally and their full-day trial. They packed the courts in support of the arrestees for the Popular University for Gaza encampment that took place on Tulane’s front lawn from April 29 to May 1. The crowd chanted, “Not guilty, not sorry!” and “When student rights are under attack what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” A Loyola faculty member, Pablo Zavala, shared his thoughts on the students’ bravery stating, “SDS members, the young people, and community members have shown me and have shown us what it means to be courageous.

MIT Divests From Israeli Arms Firm Funded Program

The MISTI-"Israel" Lockheed Martin fund has been shut down after continuous pressure from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) staff and faculty, the MIT Coalition for Palestine announced on Friday, marking a major divestment win for the university's Scientists Against Genocide (SAGE) movement. "Under pressure from students and scientists of conscience at this Institute, the MIT administration has discontinued MISTI-Israel's Lockheed Martin Seed Fund and will not renew its contract," the organization said in a statement. "This was a major target of our divestment action. The program ends after months of protest against it last fall, including letter deliveries, sit-ins, and public information campaigns," it highlighted.

Cal State Professors Targeted For Exposing School’s Ties To Genocide

Last month, in a tangible victory for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, San Francisco State University (SFSU) agreed to pull its investment from four companies tied to weapons manufacturing and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The four include Lockheed Martin, aerospace company Leonardo, military contractor Palantir, and construction equipment maker Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been tearing up Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The success was four years in the making, as SFSU students successfully passed a divestment resolution in 2020.

Student Activists Vow To Continue Pro-Palestine Protests Despite Crackdowns

Marie Adele Grosso joined the Columbia University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) two years ago when she started at Columbia’s Barnard College. She said the group mainly did cultural awareness work back then, but the activism escalated in the spring when they created the first of the college encampments that became an international movement. College students across the country and the world demanded their institutions divest from companies connected to Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians. “I am doing what I believe is moral, and I think everyone has the responsibility to be standing up in whatever way they can,” Grosso said.

Universities Strategized All Summer To Suppress Student Activism

University administrators across the United States have declared an indefinite state of emergency on college campuses. Schools are rolling out policies in preparation for quashing pro-Palestine student activism this Fall semester, and reshaping regulations and even campuses in the process to suit this new normal. Many of these policies being instituted share a common formula: more militarization, more law enforcement, more criminalization, and more consolidation of institutional power. But where do these policies originate and why are they so similar across all campuses? The answer lies in the fact that they have been provided by the “risk and crisis management” consulting industries, with the tacit support of trustees, Zionist advocacy groups, and federal agencies.

Strike Two: SJP Rutgers- New Brunswick Suspended (Again)

On July 5th, 2024, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) received a letter from the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Services notifying us that we have been suspended until July 4th, 2025. Once again, we recognize this as an act of repression and anti-Palestinian racism, and therefore refuse to adhere to the guidelines of the suspension. The Rutgers Administration has deemed us responsible for the following: 1) Disruptive or Disorderly Conduct, 2) Failure to Comply with University or Civil Authority, and 3) Non-Compliance with Other University Policies. Disruptive Or Disorderly Conduct In regards to Rutgers’ first allegation, we understand that the Rutgers Administration is attempting to maintain the regular operations of the University despite its involvement in the current genocide being committed in Gaza.

Pro-Palestine Students March Against Political Neutrality Policy

On August 30, 150 University of Minnesota students, staff, faculty and community members rallied and marched from Morrill Hall to McNamara Plaza in response to the Board of Regents vote that happened earlier this week. The Board voted on a resolution that would impose political and institutional neutrality on the university’s endowment fund. This vote was pushed by new University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham. It effectively makes any sort of divestment from Israel, or weapon manufacturers and other entities complicit in war crimes and human rights violations, impossible. It takes away any accountability that administration has to its students, to its staff, or to its faculty.

Students, Community Members Battle Repression Of Pro-Palestine Protesters

George Washington University, Washington, DC – On Thursday, August 22, over 300 people gathered at James Monroe Park in downtown DC to support the student intifada. Last semester, students and community members from across the DMV set up an encampment at The George Washington University (GWU), called “Shohada’ Square.” Those involved have been facing charges from the courts, repression from the university, and brutalization by the police. August 22 marked the first day of classes for the 2024 fall semester at GWU, and student organizers planned a protest to remind administration that they will not back down.

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Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

Urgent End Of Year Fundraising Campaign

Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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