Students at universities across the US this week have taken over buildings, plazas, green spaces and more to express their opposition to the war in Gaza and call on their institutions to divest from companies linked to the Israeli military sector. These student protests, many of which have ended in mass arrests after university leaders have called in police forces—more than 2,300 arrests and counting, according to an Associated Press tally—originated at New York City’s Columbia University last month but have spread throughout the US and abroad in recent days, with Palestinian solidarity encampments and demonstrations appearing on a number of prominent art school campuses.
In New York, students at the Parsons School of Design, which is part of the New School university, had taken over parts of a building on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Early Friday morning, the New School called in the NYPD to clear multiple student encampments on its campus—more than 40 people have been arrested.
“At the time of the surprise morning raid, no university building was blockaded; student protesters were asleep in their tents,” a press release from New School Students for Justice in Palestine states. “In written communications with students and faculty on Thursday night, dean of students Shondrika Merritt had given assurance that no student would be arrested without receiving prior warning in writing. No such written warning preceded the students’ arrests.”
Pro-palestine student protesters and their supporters at the New School Photo by Anni Irish
On 30 April, students at the New School’s main Palestinian solidarity encampment pushed back a small group of anti-Palestinian activists who were neither faculty members nor students at the university. The two groups proceeded to yell competing slogans at each other outside the building, preventing some students from entering.
“As a Jewish person, right now I am very uncomfortable with this, I am trying to go to class, to work on my senior thesis, and am very much debating if it’s safe for me to go in right now,” one undergraduate in the final year of their programme, who declined to give their name, told The Art Newspaper at the time. “That's the building with the sewing studios and I need to go in to use the equipment.”
A dozen blocks north at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), students created an encampment on 25 April. They originally took over the lobby of a campus building, but the encampment subsequently relocated to an outdoor area on West 27th Street. An FIT spokesperson told The Art Newspaper in a statement: “We are monitoring and managing the situation to ensure the safety of the entire FIT community, which remains our highest priority.”
As of this writing, the Palestinian solidarity encampment at FIT is one of the only ones remaining in New York City following raids and mass arrests at Columbia, City College, New York University, Fordham University, the New School and elsewhere. (The leaders of Columbia University have asked the NYPD to remain on its campus for the next two weeks.)
Students at Cooper Union and School of Visual Arts (SVA) in Manhattan and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn have not created encampments but have staged multiple Palestinian solidarity actions. On 2 May, around 20 students at SVA staged a sit-in in support of Palestine, with around 50 students from SVA and other institutions rallying outside in support. Last month, Cooper Union students organised a picket line during the school’s attendance day for new students where they displayed banners and signs. The school could not be reached for comment. Since 7 March, students at Pratt have held weekly sit-ins on the Brooklyn campus's main lawn to protest the war in Gaza.
A pro-Palestine student encampment at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan Photo: Mpi099 / Media Punch / Alamy Live News
Beyond New York, students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago staged a walkout and rally in support of Palestine on 26 April. In the Los Angeles area, students at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and Otis College of Art and Design have launched Palestinian solidarity campaigns. On 1 May, around 60 students from the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) staged a walkout and rally in support of Palestinians. This week’s protests, raids and mass arrests are unfolding with just two weeks left in the semester at most US universities, and many campuses preparing to hold graduation festivities.
In his first public comments about the student protests, US president Joe Biden said on 2 May that he supported students exercising “American fundamental principles” of free speech and the right to assembly, but also noted “there is not a right to cause chaos”.
The wave of solidarity protests at university campuses across North America and beyond comes as Israel’s war in Gaza is about to enter its seventh month, with more than 34,000 Palestinians killed to date according to the local health ministry. The Israeli military is planning an invasion of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where around one million Palestinians are sheltering (and experiencing rising risks of disease and famine). Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,200 people in their attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, taking more than 250 people hostages (133 of whom are believed to still be alive and held by Hamas).