The New School students and pro-Palestinian supporters rally outside The New School University Center building, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Isa Liggans, of Odenton, Md., front left, takes part in Muslim prayer with others Monday, April 22, 2024, at an encampment of tents at MIT, in Cambridge, Mass. Students at MIT set up the encampment of tents on campus to protest what they said was MIT’s failure to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to cut ties to Israel’s military.
The slogan and others like it can be seen on protest signs and heard by chanting protesters on at least a dozen campuses in Southern California and scores more around the nation.— demonstrations that have spurred more than 200 arrests at UCLA on Wednesday and another hundred last week at USC. “It’s not as simple as some people think — maybe it’s just selling some stocks in a certain company. That said, I think anything is possible in today’s financial services industry,” Dyer said.
The protesters’ demands also raise questions about what a university’s priorities and responsibilities are, Ely said. Fierce disagreement about support or opposition to the war within campus communities is another reason that schools have likely not taken action. Many on campuses hear calls for divestment from Israel or an end to the war asor as glossing over the deaths and pain caused by Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people.
Kouross Esmaeli, a visiting assistant professor of media studies at Pomona College, said school leaders and trustees have told students and professors that they can’t disclose all of their investments.