All over the world, Gaza solidarity encampments have been popping up on college campuses, condemning the Universities’ ties to Israeli institutions and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. I have been following the journey of the University of Rochester’s encampment as students and community members tirelessly fight for their voices to be heard by the university.

Beginnings of the University of Rochester encampment (04/23/2024 - 04/25/2024)

Rain poured as University of Rochester students and community members set up camp in the Wilson Quad on April 23, which marked 200 days of war in Gaza. Students began the encampment at 3 a.m. that morning, with the number of students and tents steadily increasing. The camp is full of a sense of community as students come and go to classes as well as share food and games as they await their demands to be met. Hosted by the University of Rochester Students for Justice in Palestine their two demands are:

1. Permanent ceasefire statement from the University

2. Divestment from Israeli Institutions 

Building of the barrier

The number of tents continues to steadily increase. The barrier surrounding the camp was built and supplied by Dan Cocozzelli, a member of the community. The barrier consists of one entrance and exit at the front of the camp.

Wallis Hall Peaceful Sit-In on Day 9 (05/01/2024)

The sun was shining as twenty University of Rochester students sprinted from their encampment to Wallis Hall, the main administrative building at the University of Rochester, just after 10 a.m. Once entered, students unrolled a scroll filled with 4,000 names of Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza. Students sat on each side of the scroll, while multiple faculty members walked over the names, trying to exit the building. The escalation was in response to the University’s denial of negotiations and disregard for the demands of the encampment. The students’ plan was to stay sitting inside the building till their demands were met:

1. A call from the University of Rochester for an immediate and permanent ceasefire

2. A pledge to academically divest from Israeli institutions

3. A lift of the bans placed on 5 students on April 27th

4. Assurance that the students participating in the sit-in would not be persecuted for doing so

The building consistently increased in temperature, as public safety officers blocked off every exit. Students held their ground as they prayed, chanted, and taped up their demands around the building. Outside, a rally had grown. Chants of the protestors could be heard: “Free-Free Palestine” and “Who keeps us safe, we keep us safe,” flooded in through the cracks of the front door. Outside, protestors taped up signs to the windows of the doors, blocking the view of public safety officers. Inside, the students taped over the name of the building, rebranding Wallis Hall “Resilience Hall”.  After requests, public safety officers brought out water bottles and allowed students to use the bathroom. However, they did not allow any food to be delivered to the students inside the building. Students were coming up on hour five of the sit-in and had begun to read the names of the lives that were lost on the rolled-out paper. A phone call to the rally outside was broadcast on the megaphone for everyone to hear as students inside took turns reading columns of names. For two hours, names were read.

Concerns grew for the students inside by professors as no food was allowed to be delivered. Pizza ordered by the community to be delivered to the students inside, sat outside for an hour and a half until professors from the university pushed to allow it to be brought in. Around hour 6, public safety officers brought in three sheets of pizza for the students to eat. At hour 7, negotiations began with President Sarah Mangelsdorf, who also spoke with the Board of Trustees. After around an hour of discussion, the students and University had come to a deal:

1. All students participating in the sit-in would face no consequences from the University

2. Students would be given the opportunity to present their proposed academic divestment resolution to the faculty senate.

In return, students must remove a sign that reads, "End Zionism in totality,” which the students agreed to. The administration also offered to lift the ban on the 5 students, if the encampment was removed by Monday, May 6th. Students did not agree to this, but stated they would discuss it further. At around 7p.m. the students inside the building were able to leave with no repercussions from the University. As the doors opened, the golden hour sun illuminated the students while sounds of cheers arose in the air. “We took over the building and left without a scratch. We left with a commitment…Today was a win,” stated a prominent student leader in the University’s encampment.

The next day (05/02/2024), a meeting by the University Board of Trustees that occurred resulted in the Board unanimously voting against academic divestment. The school also published an update stating students agreed to remove their encampment by Monday, May 6th. The students claim to have never agreed to remove the encampment and in response to this, posted a written statement reading, “The resolution was shot down, in secret, by the Board of Trustees before students and faculty could begin to advocate for it - completely undermining University processes. The Faculty Senate was not given the chance to propose or vote on any resolution, suppressing their voices and right to implement change within our university.”  Students then re-entered Wallis Hall again the next day (05/03/2024) to push for their demands to be met. The second sit-in lasted three hours before a deal was struck once again between the students and the school. On Tuesday (05/07/24), student leaders will be allowed to join the faculty senate meeting and propose a resolution.

Day 14: (05/06/24)

Today marks two weeks that the encampment has been set up. The University of Rochester hired private security. Rumors have been floating around stating that the security is being paid $95/hr by the University to help identify and watch the students participating in the encampment.

Day 15: (5/07/24)

Summer is beginning as finals come to a close around college campuses. The sky is clear and the sun beams down, as today marks seven months of war in Gaza. At 4 p.m., the Faculty Senate meeting takes place, where student leaders gain access and will be proposing ideas for a resolution. Students wait as they anticipate how the meeting will turn out, as a planned rally at 6:30 p.m. will either be filled with joy or sadness.

The 4 p.m. faculty meeting was comprised of around 200 faculty members as student leaders showed a presentation and allowed for faculty to ask questions. During this presentation, several faculty members showed surprise when finding out that the City of Rochester had already passed a ceasefire resolution and that the university had banned several students from the campus. No decisions or deals were made regarding the encampment during the meeting, but student leaders were hopeful as increasing support was a main factor of the meeting. Students hope to work with faculty and staff to find a way to increase support on paper.

During the rally at 6:30 p.m., leaders stated that no decisions or deals were made regarding the encampment during the meeting, but were hopeful as increasing support was a main factor of the meeting. Students hope to work with faculty and staff to find a way to increase support specifically on paper. During the rally, students were given the opportunity to speak and share with everyone about their personal experiences relating to the war or encampment. “Here in the US, people don’t realize when they tell you, ‘Oh I’m not involved in politics,’ but your political opinion here in the US translates into human lives outside of the US… There’s so much privilege here that we need to use to advocate for other people…Your political privilege inside the US equates to lives lost outside the US,” stated a Palestinian student who wishes to remain anonymous.

Day 16: (05/08/24)

Heavy rain and winds caused the barrier of the encampment to be torn down. Students worked together to rebuild the walls and reinforce with wooden 2x4s, staples, and weed-control landscaping fabric. To try to block new supplies from coming in, the University blocked off all entrances to the University stating it was, “because of the protests.” After reinforcing, students spent the day painting the outside fabric with statistics, names of lives lost, and phrases. "This is only a fraction of the names; here is the same last name so it was a family,“ stated a student who spent an hour writing names from a list of Palestinians who died.

In response to the email and nine suspensions, students hosted a rally off-campus at the Genesee Valley Park. As the rally commenced, around eleven students stayed back at camp to keep watch in case of a raid by public safety or the police.

Day 22: Teardown of the encampment (05/14/24)

At 7 a.m. this morning, the University of Rochester Public Safety took down the student Gaza solidarity encampment on day 22. “They came from all sides of the campus and surrounded us. As they were talking to us in the front, they broke through the barrier in the back.” stated a UR student who wished to remain anonymous. Another student stated, “there were at least 50 workers tearing down the camp and many were wearing face coverings to hide their identity.” After collecting the camp, the University took the supplies to dumpsters and began crushing it using an excavator. Two students were arrested. Public safety continues to guard the Eastman Quad.

• Facilities went through and identified what they deemed as personal items, which were separated from the rest.

• University violating its commitments to a green campus - Environmental Science Department

• Have video of public safety officers stating students will be able to get their belongings later

• Originally stated students can come get their belongings if they show ID

• “Cops told us that they’re ‘keeping out stuff safe’ and that we can ‘just come by and ID our belongings’ then they brought the bulldozer out.”

• Faculty was not informed the raid was occurring today

• “Even though today was a loss, the past three weeks have been making change, challenging the system; and engaging in peaceful manor.”

• “all we were asking for was a simple conversation. they were willing to do all this rather then just engage in a conversation”

• standing applause

• at least two people no longer have phones, medications were taken, 

• some students had already moved out of dorms, camp was their home

• originally took to cascade recycling, put in landfill in virgin everything has already been covered with rocks and dirty. 

• asked to get stuff “they would carefully put away so we could go down to dps and pick up”

• supplies in Tiernan

• “when thinking of the camp i think of resilience and education.”

• “created a space to let us breathe” 8:04