RJ Bean and Jake Allen protest in front of UR’s library.
Robert Carr

On February 6, the University of Rochester (UR) chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a protest on the UR campus to support peace in Gaza. Members of RIT’s Campus Antiwar Network attended to show their support. The protesters planned on occupying the building until their demands were met. According to SDS’s press release, their demands included having UR adopt a “peaceful investment policy to the university’s endowment which includes divestment from corporations that manufacture weapons and profit from war,” humanitarian aid to Gaza, academic aid to Gaza University and scholarships to Palestinian Students.

RJ Bean, an RIT graduate student of Computer Science, said, “This is important because the atrocities that occurred over Christmas break resulted in the deaths of thousands of Palestinians, and, coupled with the longstanding siege and occupation of Gaza, have led to untold amount of misery in the region.”

Adriano Contreras, a fourth year multidisciplinary major, stated, “The goal is not only to have the demands met, but to set a precedent for other colleges in the US.” This is one of the first occupations of a university for Gaza, whereas, in England, there have been close to twenty. “The media presents an almost completely one sided picture of the situation in America, which is the problem. We’re trying to challenge that,” continued Contreras.

But not everybody was in favor of the protest, such as a group calling themselves “Students for the Peaceful-ish Takeover of Iceland.” The group was mocking the protester’s demands that UR should fund anything in Gaza by demanding funds for an invasion of Iceland.

Ryan Acuff, a UR graduate Psychology major, and head organizer for the Gaza protest, said, “The demands are fully compliant with the policies the university already has in place. For example, the university does not invest in companies profiting from the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. We’re just trying to get that policy to apply to all crises.” This would be a topic of discussion in the negotiations later during the night.

UR and RIT students voice their opinions at a sit in at the UR campus, February 6.
Robert Carr

When the time came to actually meet with the administration to discuss the demands in depth, it became clear to the protesters that UR would be punishing students who stayed after the building closed at midnight. So a fifth demand was added: “No retribution for anyone who stays after the official closing of the building.” The administration firmly stood against it and negotiations were suspended.

Fifteen minutes before midnight, Acuff led another negotiation with Matthew Burns, the dean of Students Affairs at UR. Ultimately, SDS and the university agreed that all of the demands will require further investigation before they can be fully realized, if they are even possible to achieve. Burns promised that UR will assist SDS to research and plan out implementation of the demands, and determine whether the demands are feasible. Burns described the situation as “more of a beginning than an end.”

At the end of the negotiations, many of the protesters excitedly celebrated. After clearing the building, the protesters went on a victory march to the UR library to continue with a meeting about the protest and to propose future courses of actions. “While there were some problems with how this was approached by students, it is good to see that they were sticking up for their beliefs in a peaceful manner. While the politics of the whole situation is nothing I want to take sides in, I view the suffering in Gaza as a terrible situation. I want to help the students with their goals like I said I would,” said Burns.