Following anti-Israel protests at colleges throughout the US last week, a group of University of Texas at Dallas students staged a sit-in on Tuesday, bringing their concerns to the university president.
About 100 students against Israel took part in the peaceful protest, starting outdoors on campus at 1 p.m. Some students linked arms and prayed for the Gaza residents. The protest later moved inside the administrative building, with students sitting along the hallway leading to the university president’s office.
Equipped with computers and cell phones, the students spent hours contacting administrators with emails and phone calls to express their demands.
The main demand of the protesters is for the university to stop investing in companies involved in producing weapons used against the people of Gaza, as per The Dallas Morning News.
“Our money supports these companies providing Israel with weapons, and not just Israel, but other countries as well. We don’t want to be involved,” explained Fatima Tulkaren, a spokesperson for Students for Justice in Palestine, according to NBC 5 DFW. said Additionally, the students want university officials to issue a statement supporting a
in Gaza and condemning Israel’s retaliation for the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7. ceasefire After seven hours, the protest organizers announced that UTD President Richard Benson had agreed to meet with them in person to hear their demands, which the students saw as a positive step forward.
3rd-year student Noor Saleh remarked, “This is progress towards divestment,” as per DMN.
University officials confirmed that Benson intended to meet with Palestinian students to hear their perspectives, and also planned to meet with a group of Jewish students for the same purpose, as reported by DMN.
Following the announcement, the protesters left voluntarily, and there were no reports of violence or need for police intervention during the sit-in.
However, a similar protest at the University of Texas campus in Austin the next day faced opposition from university leaders and a heavy police presence, resulting in over a dozen student arrests, as per
The Dallas Express Ivy League universities. Protests at Columbia and have also resulted in arrests. Following anti-Israel protests at colleges throughout the US last week, a group of University of Texas at Dallas students staged a sit-in on Tuesday, bringing their concerns to the university president. About 100 students against Israel took part in the peaceful protest, starting outdoors on campus at 1 p.m. […]
