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After the more than 100-day stalemate, pro-Palestine student protesters at Stanford University say they will stop camping out overnight at White Plaza by Friday night in response to a university letter promising two meetings this week.
Since Oct. 20, students have been protesting the war in Gaza and Israel’s actions against Palestinians, saying that they would not end their “Sit In to Stop Genocide” until the university supports a cease-fire in Gaza and commits to a broader movement that calls for the boycott, disinvestment and sanction of Israel, among other things.
Things came to a head after the university threatened to enforce its ban on overnight camping last week. On Feb. 8, via a hand-delivered letter, Stanford University gave student protesters 12 hours of notice to pack up their belongings and end the longest continuous sit-in protest in the university’s history.
But it wasn’t until later this week that administrators and protesters came to an agreement: On Feb. 13, students representing the “Sit In to Stop Genocide” agreed to end overnight camping at White Plaza by nighttime on Friday, Feb. 16.
According to a statement posted by Stanford University, the university said it would not initiate law enforcement action or disciplinary procedures until after that time and agreed to two meetings with students representing the groups to hear their demands.
Both meetings were scheduled to occur before the Friday deadline, and students are expected to comply with the ban on overnight camping, irrespective of the meetings’ outcomes, according to a letter that the sit-in representatives received on Feb. 12 and was posted on their Instagram account.
“After 117 days of continuous protest, threats of disciplinary action and arrest, Stanford University students have leveraged their way to negotiations with administration on the Sit-In to Stop Genocide demands, including divestment,” the group wrote on its Instagram post.
These students have been amazing, standing up in protest to the most egregious violations of human rights funded and enabled by our own government in recent memory. They have endured threats and harassment not only from Stanford administration, but from some professors, staff, fellow students and outsiders, That in addition to some nights of high winds and heavy rains and other nights of near freezing temperatures. Meanwhile the silence of the Stanford leadership about the ongoing massacre in Gaza and the funding and armaments provided by our elected officials despite more than half of American favoring a ceasefire is appalling.
This article is woefully incomplete. First, all tents were asked to be cleared out, but only the “Sit-in to Stop Genocide” group did not comply. Second, this started after a recent storm blew down the tents of the Blue and White Tent group, followed by the other group placing chairs in that space to prevent the Blue and White Tent group from putting up their tents again. Please see this article (https://freebeacon.com/campus/run-by-the-mob-how-anti-semites-took-over-stanfords-campus/) and this letter from Stanford (https://news.stanford.edu/report/2024/02/08/preserving-free-speech-safety-white-plaza/) for details. Third, the Sit-In group posted on their Instagram that they will be back if the University doesn’t make significant progress towards their demands.
Nowhere in the above do I mention all the incidents of harassment on campus, many of which are detailed in the Free Beacon article I linked. This is mob rule. Stanford is no different from all those universities back east and other institutions throughout the western world that cower in fear of an antisemitic and anti-Western mob. When will the authorities say they have had enough and actually enforce the law?
Roy, there is nothing anti-semitic about protesting a genocide just because the perpetrators of that genocide are Jewish. “Never again” should mean “never again” for anyone. It is reassuring that so many Stanford students, including a significant number who are Jewish, are willing to stand up to the Stanford administration that refuses to criticize the blatantly racist American government support for Israeli home demolitions, land theft, 700,000 illegal settlers on Palestinian lands and now yet another shockingly brutal ethic cleansing with all the trappings of genocide.
I wish “they” (the proverbial they) would just abolish war as a means of communicating. As a song lyric goes, “Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong?” Wars have never resolved a conflict that didn’t end by two people sitting at a table and airing their differences. Can’t we just skip the bombing and get to the table and agree that tortuturing innocent people is wrong? And find different ways to cope with the strains caused by color and culture and language? I know this is not the place where it’s going to happen, and this new format has put people off from wanting to engage about local current events. More distancing is not the answer. More communication is the answer. And less bigotry. And moderating my comments won’t make me less apt to find a way to express my feelings. There are plenty of other venues, and that’s why there is no community here in this venue. Most everybody left for greener pastures. Congrats.