American University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine organized a campus-wide walkout on April 23 calling for the University to divest from ties to Israel.
The demonstration came in response to President Sylvia Burwell rejecting in an email the Student Government Resolution 19-018 passed on April 21. The resolution called for a divestment from entities tied to Israel and a discontinuation of study abroad programs in Israel, aligning with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.
Beginning on the quad, demonstrators marched to the President’s Office Building before looping back to finish in front of the School of International Service two hours later. Along the way, organizers led chants in both English and Arabic and gave speeches calling for the University to cut ties with Israel.
Participants were asked not to speak to the media or engage with counter-protesters, and some organizers donned yellow vests to maintain the crowd boundary. Many protesters wore face coverings.
“We held this protest today to show President Burwell the power of the students and how many students support divestment, even after her weak email that was sent out less than an hour after the Senate passed with 21 voting yes for the divestment resolution,” an SJP representative said in a statement to The Eagle.
Chants by the crowd included, “AU admin we see you. Shame, shame, shame on you,” and “Burwell, Burwell, you’re a coward. The students have all the power.”
The SJP representative expanded on these chants saying, “[Burwell] completely rejected the will of the students and rejected what we want, what we voted our representatives in to speak for us and what they said.”
Various speakers echoed the demands of the resolution. Kaden Ouimet, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs and an SG senator-at-large, spoke to the crowd outside the President’s Office Building.
“We will not be deterred. We will not be demoralized,” Ouimet said to the crowd. “And although the path to divestment is a long and treacherous one, campuses are standing in solidarity. We are now stronger than ever before.”
Other speakers referenced and expressed solidarity with the pro-Palestine protesters recently arrested at Columbia University and the growing numbers of college campus protests nationwide.
In addition to the hundreds who participated in the SJP demonstration at AU, there were also a handful of bystanders with varying opinions.
Ethan Kassar, a freshman in SPA and a member of Students Supporting Israel at AU, stood with a group of other students observing the protest. He expressed discontent with the recent BDS resolution passed by SG.
“[SG has] purposefully excluded Jewish, Zionist and Israeli students from Student Government,” Kassar said. “They did not want us to be part of their BDS vote. They did not want us to show up to their meeting. Thankfully, we were there anyway because we will never back down.”
Others in attendance echoed Kassar’s sentiment. Emilie Weingarden, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and SPA and a member of SSI, said, “We’re not being violent. We’re just showing up. So I think if we’re gonna talk about free speech, then you have to give it to everyone.”
Zelda Darga, a senior in SPA, observed the protest at the President’s Office Building from across the street. She expressed hesitancy to join the crowd but still wanted to show her support.
“It’s a sticky situation and I feel strongly enough to be here, but not enough to be loud about it,” Darga said.
Student-led protests have a long history on AU’s campus. Luby Ismail, a 1984 SIS alumna, attended the protest to show her solidarity with current students and reflected on the student advocacy she saw during her time at AU.
“The most important thing that I really want from the University is to support the activism and the free speech of the students,” Ismail said. “When I was at AU, we felt a freedom to have civil discourse. It didn’t mean that there was hatred of the other, but that we could respect and connect with one another.”
Matt Bennett, the University’s vice president and chief communications officer, observed the protest with other administrators and told The Eagle, “People are expressing their views, which is part of being in the University community.”
Some members of the AU community said they want to see more from the administration.
“Being bridge-builders is what we would want from our faculty, from our staff and from our administrators. And as soon as they say ‘no, you can't,’ then this [protest] is what we get,” Ismail said.
As the demonstration ended in front of SIS, the final speaker urged the crowd to carry their advocacy into the summer by joining other organizations in their hometowns, suggesting that this would be SJP’s final organized protest of the semester. SJP’s representative confirmed this with The Eagle.
“[SJP has] a few closing events that are more geared towards community-building, but, for the most part, we’re kind of done asking President Burwell to care about us,” the SJP representative said to The Eagle. “We’re gonna focus on the future and focus on what we can do next semester.”
This article was edited by Kathryn Squyres, Zoe Bell, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Isabelle Kravis and Ariana Kavoossi.
