American University’s Students for Justice in Palestine continued their participation in ‘Week of Rage,’ an event organized by National Students for Justice in Palestine commemorating one year of Israel’s war in Gaza, with a protest on Oct. 8.
SJP conducted a series of call-and-response chants to a crowd of over 75 people. Speakers opted not to use “amplified sound” such as megaphones given that was the main reason for the shut down on Oct. 7, a representative of SJP told The Eagle.
“[The administration does not] represent the students, and we see that the administration is not working with or for the students because of these policies and the way they responded to our memorial service yesterday when we were reading martyrs’ names on the quad,” the representative said.
Assistant Vice President for University Police Services and Emergency Management Phil Morse and Vice President of Student Affairs Raymond Ou were among the administrators seen attempting to disperse the vigil in a video posted by SJP on Instagram.
Several AU administrators, including Ou and Morse, were bystanders of the Oct. 8 gathering. When asked to comment on the gathering, Ou deferred his response to Matt Bennett, vice president and chief communications officer.
Bennett said that administrators “engage with all members of the community to provide educational opportunities and support.”
The police presence increased from Monday with around a dozen AU Police Department officers patrolling the quad during the extent of SJP’s demonstration as observed by The Eagle. There were MPD vans parked near the Lydecker Tunnel and the President’s House.
As the demonstration continued, students continued the call-and-response method of projection as full speeches were told through calling back and forth between the crowd and speaker. Chants included: “admin, admin you’re all cowards, we the students have the power,” “there is only one solution, a student led revolution” and “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
The representative from SJP said the organization feels encouraged that the students are still motivated to protest.
“To see the communities still so active and eager and ready to fight for divestment, ready to be invested, to learn, to continue to grow and work towards that liberation is honestly really inspiring to us,” the representative told The Eagle.
Sara Kaplan, a professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, spoke to the crowd about the importance of recognizing colonialism and ties to Israel in our society, saying that “the price of unity is our silence.” She went on to say that “the master’s tools will never destroy the master’s house.”
Members of AU Student Government and AU Black Student Union spoke further about their shared support for the liberation of Palestine and SJP’s organization.
Two AUPD officers stood in front of the School of International Service building over the course of the demonstration.
SJP wasn’t deterred by the police presence, and said they call on students to join in the fight for liberation.
“A common saying is, no one is free until we’re all free,” the representative told The Eagle. “And within the Palestinian movement, there’s so many different intersections within it that relate to everyone else’s movement. So it’s a cause for all. It’s a movement for all. And we hope students join us.”
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Sydney Kornmeyer and Charlie Mennuti. Fact checking done by Hannah Paisley Zoulek.
