Gaza protesters march, camp at Portland State University

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Student protests against the war in Gaza that have roiled college campuses across the US arrived once again in Portland Monday afternoon at Portland State University.

About 200 protesters gathered and marched along the Parks Blocks and set up encampments at PSU hours after organizers released a list of 11 demands on the leaders of Oregon’s 3rd-largest university.

Three of those 11 demands include some form of divestment between the university and Boeing. One calls for PSU campus police to be disarmed.

By 5 p.m. the crowed gathered for speeches and chanting near what they are calling the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” outside the PSU library. Organizers said they will not stop until their student demands are met.

Senna, a PSU grad student in the clinical and mental health counseling program, told KOIN 6 News the protest “is not some fringe movement that started in the last week or 200 days even. This is a movement that’s been going on for the last decade.”

They also want the university to release a statement condemning what they call “genocide” of the Palestinians.

“What you see here, it’s a collective community — it’s students, it’s faculty, it’s staff coming together to speak out as one voice, Senna said. “Students have united across the country for the same cause, divestment. We want our universities to divest from corporations that end in genocide and mass murder of people all over the world.”

“We are pushed to a point that we are now telling the university that we’re no longer comfortable nor feeling like it’s consensual to have our tuition dollars and our education to be steeped in blood,” said Hannah, a PSU senior studying social science.

On Friday, a letter from PSU President Ann Cudd stated the university will pause accepting donations or gifts from Boeing, adding that “the passion with which these demands are being repeatedly expressed by some in our community motivates me, as a scholar of academic ethics and a university leader responsible for the well being of our campus constituents, to listen and ask additional questions.”

Around 7 p.m. Monday, the majority of the protesters had left the campus. But about 50-60 remained in an encampment at the PSU library. KOIN 6 News crews saw extensive graffiti and tagging on campus buildings.

KOIN 6 News also confirmed some of the protesters broke into the library.

In a Monday afternoon statement, PSU officials said they’ve asked the protesters to leave the spot near the library:

“Over the weekend, PSU did not take immediate action against the encampment to avoid escalating the situation. However, since the weekend, the encampment has grown and has resulted in greater property damage and intimidation.

“Given growing health and safety risk to our campus community and interference with university operations, PSU is asking the protestors to vacate the library portico.

“As of yet, there is no deadline for this to take place, PSU is just starting the process. We hope to work with those involved for a peaceful resolution.”

“We expect our education to reflect the interests and values of the student body here, especially the values that PSU promised us,” Hannah said. “It’s what this institution represents — anti-racism, justice, sustainability, care for the world — and we’re simply just trying to hold the institution to that.”

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