Why we protested at the University of Minnesota

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In the early hours of April 23, the University of Minnesota police arrested eight students and one university staff member for establishing a Gaza solidarity encampment, which was set up to protest university investments in apartheid Israel. Alongside other universities across the country and other SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) chapters, students from the UMN Divest Coalition established the encampment. While protesters peacefully camped on the Northrop lawn, the university responded by calling in police to confiscate their tents and charge nine with trespassing. Seven of the nine arrested are members of SDS. Only hours later, more than 1,000 students, alumni, staff and faculty members gathered in front of the Student Union to defend the nine arrested.

The protest, organized by the UMN Divest Coalition, quickly transformed from a small crowd on Tuesday morning to one of the largest protests on campus in recent history. Photos of police surrounding students quickly spread across social media, leading more than a thousand to walk out in support of divestment and dropping the charges. During this time, students gathered for speakers, a Passover Seder led by Jewish Voices for Peace, and the creation of a new solidarity encampment. This early image of brutal police escalation, however, would be further advanced that evening when the university sent over dozens of police in riot gear to threaten the crowd once again. Police escalation at the university, including repeatedly giving dispersal notices in the pouring rain, reflects the broader police escalation faced by students across the country.

Students and community members alike expressed outrage at the university’s callous response to the original protest. The anxious energy of the crowd quickly transformed into chants that filled the central mall as the crowd demanded the university disclose its finances and divest from companies complicit in human rights violations in occupied Palestine. “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” Since the bombing campaign on civilians in Palestine began in October 2023, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, a number many experts consider to be an undercount as many bodies remain undiscovered under the rubble.

At the same time, the University of Minnesota has continued partnerships with weapons companies complicit in this violence. The names of companies such as Honeywell, an ongoing military aircraft supplier to Israel, hang above the doors of students’ classes, and tuition money is reinvested back into the economy of war for profit. The university has continued to fail to address its complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people and the trauma its Palestinian students have endured. It is clear that divestment from genocide is both long overdue and fully within reach.

Throughout the following week, the UMN Divest Coalition continued to hold protests all throughout campus, inviting local activists and public officials to speak out against the university’s ties with Israel. Students pitched symbolic tents in solidarity with both displaced refugees in Rafah and university encampments all across the U.S. Finally, on April 29, after being forced to relocate by police several times and a weekend of intense political planning, SDS and the Divest Coalition set up a permanent encampment, continuing their demand for divestment. The newly established encampment grew significantly in just a couple days with lots of support from the community and other students. Dozens of SDS chapters all over the country have also set up encampments and, as a national organization, SDS has been supporting each and every one. Student organizers meet virtually multiple times a week to share their experiences running encampments on their own campus, sharing advice and encouragement to those wishing to start an encampment of their own. SDS has also played a key role in supporting arrested protesters nationwide. With every new arrest, SDS members mobilized students to support the arrestees, running extensive call-in campaigns to ensure their swift release.

For U students, the week of the encampment was long and difficult. Having meetings every day along with running the camp and keeping up with bargaining is not light work. The administration’s response to the encampment, including shutting down all of the surrounding buildings and water, was extreme if nothing else. Students were met with political repression. But after days of hearing passionate speeches, staying up all throughout the night to run security at the camp and several dispersal orders from police, the UMN Divest Coalition finally won its demands. After hours of negotiation, interim university President Jeff Ettinger conceded to all six of the coalition’s demands. The demands are as follows: full financial disclosure of the university’s ties with Israel by May 7, the Board of Regents reviewing the coalition’s divestment resolution, biweekly meetings held between coalition leadership and administration to work through the university’s economic divestments, meetings between the vice provost of international affairs and coalition leadership to begin a partnership with Palestinian universities, and to drop the charges on all protesters arrested.

In the face of a genocide, financial as well as academic disclosure and divestment are the only options. What students, including University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society, are asking for is the first step toward liberation for the Palestinian people.

Gillian Rath, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, is with University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society.