New schedule results in higher average class sizes across the district, teachers feel impact.
A student protest movement has swept the nation, calling for universities to divest from companies with economic ties to Israel in response to ongoing Israeli military action in Gaza. This attack, while targeting Hamas, the terrorist group that attacked Israel on October 7, has killed tens of thousands of civilians.
After students at Columbia University in New York City set the example for the protests, other students followed in upwards of 37 states at hundreds of universities; students gathered and set up sprawling encampments to occupy grassy areas on their campuses. There are now student protests in 27 other countries as well.
On April 29, students at the University of Oregon joined the movement. An encampment was established on the lawn on the quad, which rapidly grew in size. On May 3, I visited the encampment. It was organized by a number of student groups including Students for Justice in Palestine, Grads for Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace.
Jewish Voice for Peace collaborated with UO Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine to address the accusations of antisemitism targeted at the current student protest movement. In it, they said, “Jewish students, faculty, and staff are already a driving force in, and welcomed and encouraged to become a part of, our cross-religious, cross-cultural movement for solidarity with all victims of colonialism, war, racism, and bigotry including antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
Near the front of the encampment was the media tent, where the students direct any press. I had a conversation with one of the media liaisons at the tent who used the pseudonym “Cedar” for their safety.
“We want [the university] to divest from companies that are profiting off of the genocide,” Cedar told me.
In December, South Africa brought charges of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice. The court has yet to issue a verdict and the charges are still being debated. Charges of war crimes have also been brought against Israel by organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
Donor gifts to the University of Oregon are held by a non-profit arm, the UO Foundation, which in turn since 2021 has outsourced financial management to a separate investment group, Jasper Ridge Partners. UO’s $1.4 billion endowment is only a small share of the $34 billion that Jasper Ridge manages for a variety of foundations, endowments, families, and other clients. To reduce risk, these funds end up “diversified” across a very wide range of investments, including with some companies that do business in Israel or that build weapons that Israel uses.
“We also straight up want [the university] to condemn the genocide that is happening,” Cedar added.
“We’ve been in communication with administration since October,” Cedar said. For the entire school year, pro-Palestinian student groups at the University of Oregon have been attending the university’s board meetings asking for the university to respond to their demands. In multiple instances they filled the audience.
“So,” Cedar said, “this is sort of the, ‘Hey, we’ve talked to you all school year long. Nothing has changed, nothing has happened. People are dying every day, we cannot wait any more.’”
At time of writing, over 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the systematic bombing of the Gaza Strip. Over 84,000 have been injured, and over 10,000 are missing. None of the hospitals in Gaza that remain standing are fully functional, which exacerbates the danger for the wounded. In Israel, over 1,400 have been killed and roughly 130 hostages remain trapped in Gaza.
At the time of writing, the University of Oregon is not in negotiations with the student encampment, and has refused all of their demands on the basis that it is beyond the university’s power to take action in this matter. This claim is at odds with some information on the UO Foundation’s page, where they describe how they have committed to no further investments in fossil fuel companies.
In an email statement, the president of the university Karl Scholz said, “The ability to sanction sovereign nations, states, or governments does not lie with universities, but with our country’s government.”
Today’s student protest movement in support of Palestine bears a resemblance to the student-led anti-apartheid movement of the 1980s, protesting South African apartheid. An apartheid system is a state-imposed system of racial segregation. South Africa’s apartheid was imposed by a white colonial minority over the native population. Like today, American students protested the U.S. government’s support for a foreign government mistreating or killing civilians. They camped on their universities’ quads, called for their schools and their country to divest, and faced a violent police response.
That protest movement – which called for and led to the mass divestment of universities from companies profiting off of South African apartheid – was crucial to creating the pressure that caused the United States Congress to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which placed economic sanctions on South Africa and stated the United States support for the end of the apartheid.
While exploring the University of Oregon camp, I saw the onboarding tent, where students seeking to participate in the encampment go in order to join. It had crates of folded tents donated by community members, a map of camp, fliers, and was manned by organizers.
“We don’t want anyone to come to camp without being informed about what’s going on,” Cedar said. Part of the onboarding process is making sure the students know the camp rules, and that they know how to stay safe in the event of a police response.
“We are trying to make this a productive learning space,” Cedar said of the University of Oregon encampment. The camp has been facilitating education about the nature of activism, by having guest speakers and professors give talks to the campers. Informational booths near the front of the camp are there to educate passers-by.
The encampment has a democratic system – they host large meetings to make decisions about their activities.
“A lot of it is discussion with each other,” Cedar explained, “making art – we have banners and pins and things like that – and we are playing music, as you can hear in the background.” At the time of our interview, a handful of students from the orchestra were playing songs near the edge of camp.
The camp also has a pantry of food and water donated by the community, and provides free meals to campers multiple times a day. When I was at the camp, a number of faculty were visiting and talking to students. The environment was casual and calm. Students were coming and going, many of them visiting friends who were camping. While the attitude felt relaxed, interacting with the students revealed that they were aware of the risks they were taking in their civil disobedience – one of those risks being that of a sweep by police. A sweep is when the police or other campus security come in to disperse the encampment – including arresting students and breaking down tents. Many other student encampments have already been forcefully dispersed by police.
“This is a show of community, but it is also a show of resilience,” Cedar said.
The student encampment has organized multiple protests so far. They have entered buildings – but not yet occupied any – and held die-ins. One rally gathered upwards of 300 protesters. At the time of writing, the encampment has moved to the front of Johnson Hall, the building where the president’s office is. So far they have not faced a law enforcement response.
“The university is not super happy that we are here,” Cedar said, “but they do not want to look bad in the media for removing us.”
“We are prepared to wait them out,” they said.
The Axe 