OSU students rally for Palestine liberation

May 3—Hundreds of students gathered at Oklahoma State University Thursday in a protest for peace regarding the conflict between Israel and the war in Gaza that has ratcheted up conflict in the Middle East.

Standing beneath a tree on Edmon Low Library's south lawn, students from the Students Coalition for Palestinian Liberation chanted, read poetry and gave short speeches for an hour and a half.

It did not turn violent or physical like it has in other parts of the country, making it a peaceful demonstration.

In a flyer handed out on campus, the organized students had demands for the University.

They demanded OSU's "divestment from companies who produce and manufacture the weaponry for the purposes of genocide."

The flyer continued with three main demands, the first of which was that OSU "fly the Palestinian flag at the Wes Watkins Center for 24 hours, same as the Israeli flag was flown after October 7th."

The second was that OSU provide "full transparency of the University's investments, which are managed by Multilateral Endowment Management Company at the direction of the OSU Foundation's Board of Trustees."

Last, they demanded that OSU "divest and end partnerships" with companies they said are fueling and profiting from what they considered the "U.S.-Israel genocide of Palestinians."

Those companies listed in the flyer included Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Caterpillar, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Chevron, Palantir and Valero, among others.

The chants from protesters continued intermittently.

"Disclose, divest! We will not rest, we will not rest!"

"Biden, Biden, you're a liar, we demand a cease fire!"

"Israel, Israel, you will learn! By the millions we'll return!"

"Free the people, free the land! Justice is our demand!"

Protesters told the News Press that they passed out 200 flyers for the event, but had to print more. They estimated around 250 supporters showed up.

The leader of the pro-Palestine group told pro-Israel supporters that they didn't want to interact, they just wanted to peacefully protest.

Security at the scene was light, with a handful of officers standing nearby.

"We are aware of the rally and plan to respond, if requested," the City of Stillwater said in a statement.

In response to the demand for the Palestinian flag to be flown at the Wes Watkins Center, OSU said the Center "has a policy regarding its exterior flag display limiting those flags to nations officially recognized by the United States."

For example, previous requests to fly the Taiwanese flag received the same response for the same reason, the university said.

Knowing it's a growing and shared movement, the university said that the OSU student group who organized the event shared the same demands made of other universities in the state.

"In compliance with Board of Regents policy, the university does not engage in advocacy of a specific viewpoint. OSU tuition and fees, along with state and federal funding, are the primary funding sources for the university's operations," the statement read. "These funds are not used for investment purposes."

OSU had placed barricades on either side of the sidewalk to manage the flow of the traffic from students headed to class or for counterprotesters.

Students who clustered on the sidewalk in front of the protesters held strong views, but asked not to be quoted for fear of retribution now or in the future — either from faculty on campus or on social media.

"It's a genocide," said one sophomore, who asked to remain anonymous. "I'm really surprised at how many people are supporting the side of Israel. I think it has a lot to do with religion and people's views on Israel, especially like Christianity. There's no gray area."

OSU student Wyatt Franks said the back-and-forth banter was "peaceful protest."

"It's First Amendment," he said. "That's protected by the Constitution, and it's actually nice to see it in a situation — especially where most mainstream media, I feel like, especially at least big news broadcasters — just put out, 'Hey, look, there was a protest. Hey, look, cars got set on fire, people got hurt, people got thrown in jail.'"

Franks said the banter was "a little heated at times, I'll give it that." He said it's hard to talk about varying opinions and not get heated.

OSU student Andrew Williamson said he came to join other pro-Israel students because he thinks Israel has the right to exist.

Williamson said he talked to people who watched the protest who had friends who were taken hostage on October 7. Although he doesn't want any more people to die and wants the fighting to stop, he doesn't think the answer is "from the river to the sea."

"I think free speech is important, but I also think an educated and well-informed view of worldwide conflict is important here," Williamson said.

The protesters declined to comment at the scene, pointing the News Press to their Instagram page for a statement.