Wisconsin students launch pro-Palestinian encampment protest, joining campuses across the nation

UW-Madison students started setting up an encampment on Library Mall around 9 a.m. on Monday despite a warning from administrators that doing so was against university policy. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Students at UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee joined the wave of protests occurring at campuses across the United States to support Palestinian liberation, speak out against Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 30,000 people and to urge their universities to cut ties with Israel.

UW-Madison students started setting up an encampment on Library Mall around 9 a.m. on Monday despite a warning from administrators that doing so was against university policy. UW-Milwaukee’s encampment started at around noon on the lawn outside Mitchell Hall. The protests come two weeks after students at Columbia University launched their encampment protest, which has inspired  similar protests across the country and also created a flurry of national news coverage as police cracked down on the actions at many campuses.

Dahlia Saba, a member of UW-Madison’s Students for Justice in Palestine and a first-year graduate student at UW-Madison, said the protest aims to clearly communicate student  demands to UW-Madison administrators. Those demands, posted on Instagram, include divestment from Israel, disclosing all investments by the UW Foundation and cutting ties with Israeli institutions. 

Saba, who is Palestinian-American, said that she has been paying attention to the “huge injustices perpetrated against the Palestinian people” for much of her life. She said that she has family members who were recently evacuated from Gaza. 

“I have heard from them, the horrors, and seen the atrocities of what’s going on,” Saba said. “I’m here, both because I am Palestinian, but also because I’m an American. So many of my taxpayer dollars go to fund weapons for Israel and my tuition dollars as well. The labor I put into this university goes to fund companies that, again, support this ongoing genocide and occupation.” 

“I have heard from them, the horrors, and seen the atrocities of what’s going on,” Dahlia Saba, a UW-Madison graduate student, said. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

UW-Madison administration warns against encampment

UW-Madison Dean of Students Christina Olstad and UW Police Department Interim Chief Brent Plisch issued a warning on Friday to students and staff, noting  ahead of the start of the protest that camping is not allowed on campus.  

Camping on university lands is prohibited unless it is on an area specifically designated as “picnic or camping grounds” or is authorized by the university’s chief administrative officer, according to state law. 

“If you choose to protest, please be cognizant of the relevant rules and limitations. We support your right to protest within these limitations. Failing to abide by these limitations can and will have consequences, both within our code of student conduct and more broadly under Wisconsin law,” Olstad and Plisch said. 

UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, as the chief administrator of the campus, could allow the protests. However, according to a report by the Daily Cardinal, she has indicated that she doesn’t plan to authorize encampments on university grounds.

Saba said she had concerns about the university’s warning, but that she knew there would be risks and that her main focus was bringing attention to Palestine. 

“My individual worries pale in comparison to people who are wondering, ‘Can I go out today to get food without being shot?’” Saba said. 

Saba said that she thought the encampment would show the university that students are serious. 

“We want to show that we are willing to fight for justice, and you’re not going to stop because of threats,” Saba said. “We demand that they pay attention to it, that they not just ignore us.” 

When asked how long she anticipated protesters staying outside, Saba said that “depends on how quickly the university responds” to students’ demands. She said there had been communications with the administration but she couldn’t speak to any details. 

At 1:30, protesters linked arms in a circle around other protesters who were praying. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Throughout the day, students yelled different chants including “Free, Free Palestine.” At around 12:30, students  gathered in the center of the encampment for a “safety” meeting. At 1:30, protesters linked arms in a circle around other protesters who were praying. Protestors also held two teach-ins during the day. By the late afternoon, the encampment, made up of over 15 tents, was calm with students talking, eating and listening to music. 

MGR Govindarajan, a UW-Madison student and Madison alder, said the gathering had been peaceful and hoped that the university would see that it was “not dangerous in any capacity.” 

Across the country, pro-Palestinian protesters on campuses have been accused of being antisemitic. Some counterprotesters at UW-Madison’s protest carried “End Anti-Semitism on Campus” flags. During the afternoon, as the counterprotesters walked throughout the encampment protesters didn’t engage them.

UW Hillel issued a statement on Instagram  on Monday in reaction to the protests. The organization said that the protests were “part of a pattern” of protests happening across the country, and that some have “led to threats and harassment toward Jewish students.” 

“No student’s right to be safe to pursue their education and to be proud of their Jewish and Israeli identity should ever be compromised,” UW Hillel said. “When a cause aligns with terrorist organizations taking pride in the protests and actions and when language calls for violence against an entire identity, religion and people — it becomes hate and discrimination.” 

UW Hillel said it was working with campus and city partners to “call on them to take all needed action to maintain a safe campus environment for all in accordance with the university rules and regulations.” 

Saba with SJP said she doesn’t see the protesters’ demands as exclusionary and that she rejects the framing of the protests as something that is alienating to Jewish students. “We have, frankly, many Jewish students who have volunteered and stepped up to… participate in this protest and in protests across the country,” she said.

“I think really what we’re out here today to fight for is for the rights of the Palestinian people to live with dignity, with self-determination. I think that we’re also out here to ask for an end to the ongoing genocide of people in Palestine,” Saba said. 

Students were joined by UW-Madison faculty and others at the protest.  

Samer Alatout, UW-Madison associate professor, said he was at the protest to support students and celebrate student movements. He said the actions represent a “sea change” and students were claiming a right to have a role in managing and governing the university, including its ethics. 

“We have a love relationship with our students. We love them. We nurture them. We try to make them critical thinkers. We try to create in them the belief that they are able to change the world, and here they are doing it,” Alatout said. “Faculty and staff feel that they are not only obligated, but even in a celebratory way, are willing to see the students flourish and make their points clear without repercussions, hopefully.” 

Alatout said that the UW-Madison’s warning ahead of the protest was “unfortunate.” He said he hopes UW-Madison will rise above the “militarization” happening at other campuses in the country, and will engage in conversations with students instead. Hundreds of protesters at campuses across the country, including at Columbia, Emerson College in Boston, University of Texas in Austin, University of Southern California, have been arrested at protests. 

Several police officers were present at the UW-Madison protest throughout the day, but no arrests were made as of late afternoon. 

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