UPDATE: 13 arrested in Princeton protest
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Princeton University students took over an administrative building at the Ivy League school Monday afternoon, according to the Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment, while Rutgers University protestors have set up an encampment of at least a dozen tents on Voorhees Mall in New Brunswick.
The escalating protests come after Princeton arrested two students Thursday for starting to put up tents. Protestors there have continued their presence on McCosh Courtyard, with teach-ins and visiting poets, as they called on the university to divest its investments from firms profiting from the Israel-Hamas war.
Similar encampments have led to weeks of tensions on other campuses, including Columbia, Northeastern, Emerson, City College, Northwestern and George Washington universities.
Kaiser Aslam, the Muslim chaplain at Rutgers University, led about 100 protestors in prayer early Monday evening on Voorhees Mall, where students had set up almost 60 tents.
“I think our students tried almost every measure available to them,” Aslam said, including private meetings and referenda on all three campuses calling for Rutgers to divest. “They’re angry and grieving, and they went above and beyond,” he said. “They’re doing their part not to take part in genocide.”
A junior student who gave her initials as A.A. said she planned to sleep out all night, even though it was the beginning of the reading period before finals.
“After witnessing ongoing genocide for seven months, their lives are never going to be given back to us,” she said. “There are no more universities left in Gaza. I could kind of care less about finals right now.”
An 18-year-old student, who gave his initials as Z.B., said he has lost family members in the war and is willing to continue protesting until the students’ demands are met.
“We feel it’s extremely important to be here in a time of extreme distress around our nation due to genocide,” the student said. “We are standing with our brothers and sisters in Palestine to encourage the university to divest from Israeli apartheid and human rights violations.”
Students and faculty were also leading a sit-in in Princeton’s Clio Hall, the graduate student administration building, according to a 4:30 p.m. post from the Instagram account of Princeton Divest Now. “We are taking our demands directly to administration to force Princeton to the table NOW!” the post read.
When asked about the possibility of further arrests, a Princeton University spokesperson Monday referred to a letter to students last week from W. Rochelle Calhoun, the vice president for campus life, who said occupying buildings and establishing outdoor encampments are prohibited.
“Any individual involved in an encampment, occupation, or other unlawful disruptive conduct who refuses to stop after a warning will be arrested and immediately barred from campus,” Calhoun wrote. Punishment could include suspension or expulsion, she said.
Earlier Monday, Rutgers student protestors put up about a dozen tents at Voorhees Mall. On April 2, the student body voted that the university should divest from companies involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
Rutgers officials did not comment about its policy on encampments, but issued a statement about the numerous steps required to divest investments, noting that President Jonathan Holloway was opposed to the move.
Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin said the divestment request from the student Endowment Justice Collective is under review.
In the statement, Holloway said, “Our students want to make a difference in a struggle that has cost far too many innocent lives and that threatens so many more. I respect their right to protest in ways that do not interfere with university operations or with the ability of their fellow students to learn.”
The Students for Justice in Palestine– New Brunswick issued a statement welcoming people to its “Student Intifada, People’s University, Popular University, & Liberation Zone.”
Devlin said as of 4 p.m. there had been no arrests.
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Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.
