‘Our main goal is to open people’s eyes,’ says student at UT Austin
Mustafa Yowell, a civil engineering student at the University of Austin at Texas, told Al Jazeera he’s optimistic about the future of the Palestinian cause.
“My father’s from Sherman, Texas. And my mother’s from Nablus, Palestine. I grew up in Dallas, Texas my whole life, but I’ve travelled to and from Palestine my entire life,” he said. “I love both places. I’m proud of where I’m from.”
Yowell, who is a third-year student at UT Austin, said he does not support Hamas and the protests are not about anti-Semitism or supporting the eradication of Jewish people.
“Our main goal is to open people’s eyes and get the University of Texas to divest, stop sending money to Israel and divest from companies that profit off of war like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin,” he said.
“People are starting to see now and I’m optimistic about that. There’s never been eyes on it like this before – ever. My entire life people have never cared about it this much and it’s only going up from here.”
‘We’ve had death threats,’ says suspended Cornell student protester
Momodou Taal, a PhD student at Cornell University in the state of New York, said students protesting Israel’s war on Gaza have received threats and been subjected to doxing, but received no protection from their school.
“We’ve had death threats. We’ve had – while we were praying Salat al-Jum’ah – we’ve had police videoing and take pictures of us… other students take pictures of us, dox[ing] us,” he told Al Jazeera. “We no longer have faith in the administration to be a place safe for Muslim students, for Arab students, for Palestinian students and by and large those students of colour and pro-Palestinian students.”
Taal was among four students Cornell “temporarily suspended” on Saturday for setting up an encampment on the university’s campus. He said some of the consequences of that move is that he “might have to repeat a semester… and graduate later than expected”. That’s “quite a serious thing”, he added.
Today on Al-Jazeera discussing Cornell’s response to Pro-Palestinian voices on campus pic.twitter.com/gc2osdQCGO
— Momodou ✊🏿 (@MomodouTaal) April 28, 2024
Students at Canada’s McGill set up protest camp
Canada’s first campus protest camp for Gaza has sprung up at McGill University in Montreal.
The CBC broadcaster said protesters are demanding McGill and Concordia universities “divest from funds implicated in the Zionist state as well as [cut] ties with Zionist academic institutions”.
The university said such encampments are not permitted and they increase “the potential for escalation and confrontation, as we have seen at some colleges throughout the US”, according to the AFP.
McGill University students encampment today in
Tiohtiàke - Montreal pic.twitter.com/yCZi9KQCgU
— Ellen Gabriel (@EllenGabriel1) April 27, 2024
US professor cancels students’ final project in response to crackdown on pro-Palestine protests
An assistant professor from the University of Southern California (USC) has announced the cancellation of students’ final project in response to the crackdown on pro-Palestine protests at the university.
“Our university administration decided to bring riot police onto the campus instead of tolerating anti-war, anti-genocide protests of students, many of whom have gone into considerable debt to even attend USC,” Sarah Kessler posted on X addressing her students.
“How are you supposed to take exams with LAPD helicopters loudly circling overhead,” she asked.
“I went into this line of work because I actually care about education, but I’m finding USC’s business as usual inhospitable to critical thinking and action at the moment.”
Students and pro-Palestinian supporters occupy a plaza at New York University
Pro-Palestine campus protests spread from US to Australia
Student-led pro-Palestinian protests, extending beyond the US, manifested in Australia where dozens established an encampment at the University of Sydney.
More student-led international protests are taking place outside of the US, since students at Columbia University in New York set up tents on the campus earlier this month to show their support for Palestine.
Unlike what happened at Columbia, where police were called in to clear the encampment, university leaders in Sydney are reportedly allowing peaceful demonstrations to continue.
The university has warned it won’t hesitate to take action if the protest breaches what it considers acceptable.
