On April 29, 2024, approximately 100 University of Oregon students established a camp on the Eugene campus to support Palestinians in Gaza and demanding action from administrators.[1][2][3][4] As part of the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, demonstrators requested for the university to divest from “the state of Israel, Israeli companies, and any weapons or surveillance manufacturing.”[5]
On May 1, the University of Oregon president, Karl Scholz, made a statement regarding the encampment. While explicitly supporting the student right to protest and exchange ideas, he criticized protester demands for divestment as having a "performative aspect."[18] Despite this, 74 university faculty and staff have signed an open letter in support of the encampment.
By May 5, the encampment had grown to nearly 150 tents.[19] On the afternoon of May 6, encampment spokespersons alleged that they had received a letter from university administrators threatening to revoke academic amnesty from protesters should the camp remain the following day at noon. This came amidst complaints from some Jewish students among whom the encampment had caused discomfort. In response to this, one protester stated that the demonstration calls for formal protection for Jewish students, and that Jewish student-represented organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace have helped in setting up the encampment.[20]
On May 15, the first criminal charge in relation to the occupation was handed to a student protestor for applying posters to campus buildings. On May 16, the encampment relocated to Johnson Hall and a total of 17 meetings were held between the protestors and various representatives and negotiation teams from the university.[21]
On May 22, the protestors came to an agreement with the University of Oregon negotiation team. This agreement included the end of Sabra Hummus sales on campus, a new Middle Eastern North African cultural space on campus, new initiatives to expand opportunities for Palestinian scholars to study at University of Oregon, the creation of the UO Senate Working Group on Ethical Investment, Purchasing & Contracting, and a ceasefire statement to be made by President John Karl Scholz. [22]
^"US college protests: Who are the student groups and others involved". Reuters. April 30, 2024. Retrieved April 30, 2024. Among the lead student groups in the coalition are the Columbia chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine. The two decades-old anti-Zionism advocacy groups that protest Israel's military occupation have chapters across the country that have been key to protests on other campuses.
^Treisman, Rachel (May 1, 2024). "How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words". NPR. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2024. It's one of several schools around the country where professors are getting arrested at demonstrations, circulating letters in support of arrested protesters and holding no-confidence votes in their administrations.
Makoii, Akhtar (2024-05-08). "Pro-Palestinian protesters project 'student intifada' slogan onto university". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-09. Police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University on Wednesday after protesters projected a US flag in flames and slogans including "Long live the student intifada" onto a building overnight.
Alvarez, Maximillian (2024-05-03). "Inside the 'Student Intifada': A roundtable with campus organizers". The Real News Network. Archived from the original on May 9, 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-09. It is being called the Student Intifada, a grassroots protest movement spreading to different college and university campuses around the country involving students at over a hundred campuses, setting up encampments, occupations and protests (...)
Starr, Michael (2024-05-07). "'Student intifada here to stay': Harvard activists defy suspension threat". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved 2024-05-09. Anti-Israel activists groups defied Harvard University warnings that their protest encampment must dissolve under threat of suspension, proclaiming the campus occupation movement a "student intifada" in a press conference on Monday.
