Purdue students and residents call on West Lafayette to adopt cease-fire resolution

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A day after Vice President Kamala Harris called for a cease-fire in Gaza, Purdue University students demanded that their representatives on the West Lafayette City Council do the same.

Over the last several months as the conflict between Israel and Palestine has become more dire, the West Lafayette City Council has stayed silent on the issues happening in the Middle East.

This comes as a contrast to the students who are part of the Students for Justice in Palestine at Purdue and Purdue Young Democratic Socialists of America, who have been routinely demonstrating on campus in hopes of gaining the attention of either Purdue University or the West Lafayette City Council.

Since the groups’ first march, they have been calling for an end to the Israel and Palestine conflict and have echoed this sentiment in their subsequent demonstration.

However, after months of silence from the city council, the groups decided to take their demonstration to the venue where they couldn’t be ignored — the West Lafayette’s March City Council meeting.

Calls for a cease-fire

To showcase their support for a cease-fire in the Middle East, students packed the city council’s meeting room, taking a majority of the seating and lining the back wall, with many of them holding signs with pro-Palestine sentiments written on them.

Seeing the large group of protesters present at the meeting, Kathy Parker, the West Lafayette City Council Vice President, allowed them to speak before the council moved into the agenda of the meeting.

“I’m here today to remind the city council that they have an obligation to stop ignoring the wishes of their constituents and finally make a stand to help West Lafayette divest from genocide in Gaza,” Nathan Robinson said to the board.

“You may have thought that our city is far removed from the issues of the world (and) that your silence so far would go unnoticed. But my fellow speakers and I are here today to let you know that the residents of West Lafayette care and expect you as our elected officials to act, too.”

As more students and residents went up to the podium to speak, it was clear that they all hoped for one thing, that the West Lafayette City Council would listen to their pleas and adopt a resolution that would call for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Many of them highlighted how other cities across the country have already approved a similar resolution and called on the West Lafayette council to be “on the right side” of this issue.

Other students wanted West Lafayette officials to acknowledge those who had been killed in the conflict.

One student handed out a packet full of photos of individuals who had died in Gaza due to the conflict. He flipped through several pages along with the councilors and explained how those individuals died.

One Palestinian student shared how they were personally affected by the conflict in Gaza.

“While West Lafayette may not be impacted by this genocide, however, I and several other people living in this city are heavily impacted. As again my family has been murdered in the last couple of months,” one student told the city council.

“A cease-fire is the bare minimum and anyone who hesitates to call for such an end to Netanyahu’s genocide has the intention to allow the continuation of the massacre of innocent people. We are now demanding a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.”

After the students finished speaking, several West Lafayette residents went to the podium and shared their desire to see the city council adopt a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

As the meeting officially began, the students calling for a cease-fire left the meeting room and went to the front of city hall and began yelling pro-Palestinian slogans.

Their chants could be heard throughout the rest of the city council meeting. At some points, the chants were loud enough that it drowned out the voices of the council members speaking at the time.

West Lafayette council will discuss Monday's event

After the meeting, Kathy Parker, the West Lafayette City Council Vice President stayed and gave her opinion on the events of March’s meeting.

“The council is focused on West Lafayette (and) it’s hard to get the state to do what West Lafayette wants the state to do. They keep preempting our ordinances and doing things despite our opposition.

“So, the thought to enact change in Gaza, which all of us can agree is horrible and it’s been going on for thousands of years, but that feels like something that is very difficult.”

However, Parker did note that the council will probably speak about the issues highlighted at Monday’s meeting.

“I don’t know if there will be a resolution, but I imagine that we will be talking about the public outcry from tonight,” Parker said.

She acknowledged that there may have been some students from Monday night’s demonstration who hoped that the council would have made a resolution that night but noted that it would not have happened Monday night.

“That’s not how it works, but I imagine that we will be talking about this and seeing what kinds of things we could do,” she said.

“We have a long history here in West Lafayette of passing resolutions to make people know that we are a welcoming community (and) that we want people of all abilities, genders, sexual orientations, nationalities and religions. We want everybody to know that they are welcome here and that we have got their back.”

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on X at 1NoePadilla.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue students call on West Lafayette to pass cease-fire resolution