At approximately 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30, student protesters pitched tents outside of Thompson Memorial Library in solidarity with Gaza.
The encampment at Vassar comes nearly two weeks after the first Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University on April 17, which has inspired academic institutions across the United States and abroad. Alongside other schools such as Bryn Mawr, Wesleyan and Oberlin, Vassar is one of the smallest colleges to hold a solidarity encampment.
Six demands, as outlined on the Vassar Students for Justice in Palestine (VSJP) Instagram, request that the College issue a public statement calling for an immediate ceasefire, publicize its current independent contractors and boycott Israeli academic institutions, including two Vassar-sponsored study abroad programs. VSJP also calls for the administration to protect international, undocumented and low-income students involved in campus political activity, as well as provide full amnesty for all students and faculty involved in pro-Palestine activity. Additionally, VSJP demands that the VSA Senate vote on the proposed Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) legislation bills and that the Board of Trustees pledge to divest in accordance with the BDS Movement.
Protesters have vowed to remain in the encampment until the College meets these demands.
“In general, we have been wanting to escalate because we felt like the administration hasn’t been taking us seriously,” said one student ’25, who has requested to remain anonymous. “We’ve had a few protests and the response has been very minimal and dismissive.”
At around 1:30 p.m., President of the College Elizabeth Bradley released an email statement acknowledging the encampment and confirming that students involved are aware of the Campus Assembly Policy. “As long as the demonstration remains peaceful and does not disrupt the learning environment, the college does not plan to remove the tents. The tents are currently set up in a way that allows access to the library and other buildings. This is particularly important as we head into the study period and final exams,” the email states.
“Honestly, I don’t consider that email to be a response at all. I think it’s a sorry excuse for one if we want to call it a response,” said a student ’27, who has also requested to remain anonymous. “We’ve seen what just happened with the BDS legislation and how student concerns have been ignored. And I think the very fact that [President Bradley] doesn’t even want to acknowledge Gaza or Palestinians ever in her emails that are pertaining to the situation also indicates just her overall avoidance,” she continued. Another student mentioned that there has been no direct communication between protesters and the President.
The assembly of tents is encircled with rope, with cardboard signs pointing to the entrance of “Popular University for Gaza.” Draped over the low-hanging branch is a Palestinian flag and a banner dubbing the encampment “Liberation Lawn,” a play on its colloquial name, “Lib Lawn.” The sidewalk leading from Main Building to the Library has been covered with chalk illustrations of watermelons—social media shorthand for Palestine, in the form of an emoji—and phrases written in both English and Arabic, like “end the siege,” “justice for Palestine” and “from the river to the sea.” There is a designated area for food, including canned goods, pasta, Pop-Tarts and clementines, as well as hygiene products like shampoo and toothpaste. In the late afternoon, Vassar’s student-run cafe, The Brew, announced via Instagram that they would be providing coffee to protesters.
The number of protesters has been steadily increasing throughout the day. Those joining embark on an onboarding process that clarifies the goals and rules of the “Vassar Popular University for Gaza.” In the guidelines, the document encourages campers to keep the land clean, prohibits the use of drugs and alcohol, and urges protesters to not engage with potential counter-protesters.
The itinerary for the first day of encampment, as announced by VSJP, included a “Know Your Rights Zoom” at 1 p.m., a rally at 3 p.m., a “Peace Education Teach-in” at 5 p.m., and a scheduled screening of “Gaza Fights for Freedom” at 8 p.m., which was eventually canceled due to rain. Before the rally, protesters gathered in the middle of the encampment to vote on using a microphone to chant, recognizing that certain students are more vulnerable than others at a rally. At this time, protest organizers began to distribute free medical masks, the use of which is recommended in the “Safety Tips” section of the onboarding document, for anonymity purposes.
Not all present at the encampment were Vassar students. Ahmad Katanani, a Palestinian Poughkeepsie resident of 35 years, came to show his support. “The students, all the time, are the voice of the community,” he said. “Seeing that we have so many students across the world in support of the cause is an inspiration first, and the second thing, it indicates to me there’s an awakening happening.” The 72-year-old continued: “I’ve been in this diaspora, whether in Palestine or here, for a long time, and have been aching for freedom all my life.”
Members of Vassar Alumni for a Free Palestine have also expressed endorsement of the encampment on social media.
As for the encampment’s starting date, one student ’25 explained that April 30 had no special significance. “Obviously we’ve seen the numbers of people who’ve been killed by Israel in Gaza have risen. There’s been certain milestones of certain numbers and each time, you know, we could have held action, but the truth is that the death toll just continues to rise. And so there was also an air of urgency in continuing to have this conversation loudly because it’s not being had among the administration on this campus.”
Another student ’25 said, “I would say the significance of the time or day is just like, we want to bring attention to what’s actually happening in Palestine right now. We want to keep that in focus.” She concluded: “This is serious. We are talking about an occupation and a genocide that we are all complicit in.”
Additional reporting by Clara Alger.
I was disturbed to read posts on Instagram by this group encouraging non-students to come to campus to join them (“yes, people from the public are welcome to come to our programming events !”) as well as posts indicating alums support this. Not ALL alums support this protest, and President Bradley needs to hear from us too. Here is another view: We want all of our Jewish students to feel safe, and not have to see or hear “from the River to the Sea.” There are atrocities on both sides of this war. Why are you not demonstrating for the release of our American citizens being held hostage? Why are you not demonstrating for the LGBTQ+ who have been killed and persecuted in Palestine? Where is that outrage?
Even if every college divested their investments from ties to Israel, do you believe this would actually move the needle in the Mideast conflicts?
I’m an alum and I support this 100%
When I was a student, we liked to believe that Vassar was unique. I hope that, at this challenging moment, Vassar can take a path different from other schools; a path that that tries to replace escalating confrontation with constructive engagement among well-meaning people of different views. As a start, I suggest the President convene an all-college convocation, perhaps in the Chapel, at which a small panel of professors and students will civilly share their divergent views and see if there are any opportunities to find common ground. Perhaps this could be followed by small faculty-led break out groups at which the participants can apply the tools of different disciplines — history, polisci, economics, sociology, geography, philosophy, religion, to name a few — to the complex issues presented by the Gaza War. This would be a great way to demonstrate that the liberal arts in general, and Vassar in particular, really are “consequential”.
I agree, Jo! Following in other colleges’ footsteps like sheep is not the VC way. The complete silence regarding what this experience is like for the Jewish and Israeli students on campus is anti-VC. Vassar, you are so much more than this.
My name somehow got garbled. For the record, I am Jonathan (Jack) Nadler ‘78
This is a great idea.
Not word for the 19 year old Israeli girls (the same age as you) being held in tunnels and assaulted daily for the last 6 months? Nothing about our 5 American hostages? This is not a protest for peace, it is an antisemitic targeting of Jews who fight back.
I second that.
No word about grotesque sexual assaults committed on 10/7 or against the hostages, but it’s certainly reassuring that Jew haters will not be deprived of their Pop Tarts
Can’t the administration see that VC Jews, letting them pitch there (they are not in the way?), is akin to seeing a bunch of Hitler Youth tents? Class’74 – forget 50th reunion…it was never easy to be Jewish at Vassar, covert and overt comments were always floating around us. Check Out link from today’s NY Post;
https://nypost.com/2024/05/02/opinion/college-idiots-calling-for-intifada-have-no-idea-how-many-innocents-have-died-from-that-word/
No. That is a complete distortion. It’s not antisemitic. It’s antisemitic to say “fighting back” represents all Jews, when it absolutely does not. Many, many, many Jews disagree with you. MANY. And, ultimately, 5 American hostages doesn’t compare to literally thousands of dead Palestinian children and babies…tell Israel to stop using the tragedy of October 7th and as excuse to eliminate all Gazans (whom they have routinely held in cages, but no one talks about that, either) so they can finally develop their luxury beachfront property. It’s hard to fathom how anyone can stand behind such blatant hypocrisy.
And, to follow your lead here…when is there ever even a tiny little whisper about the intense fears of and threats toward the many Palestinian students on campuses everywhere. Or about the Palestinian teens in Isreal who have been abducted by the IDF from their homes in the middle of the night and “detained” (ie, tortured) for months on end. I never hear any war-supporters express even a tad of concern for any of that.
There’s more than just *you* in the world.
1. Your use of quotes around the word “you” seems to imply “Jews”, so why not just say it?
2. It is antisemitic to pretend there are no hostages and that Hamas is not the cause of this war.
3. I can’t “tell Israel” to do anything because it is a sovereign nation and I don’t vote there.
4. The “many many Jews” who disagree with me? Over 90% of American Jews support the right of self determination for Jewish people.
5. You don’t get to tell Jews what is antisemitism.
6. What threats against Palestinians? Who is stopping them from going to class? Practicing their religion or demonstrating their etho-religious identity?
https://open.substack.com/pub/ruthzakarin/p/an-open-letter-from-the-mom-of-jewish?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I follow many Israeli Palestinian and Jewish leaders who are working together for peace and for a shared just future. These students have no idea how much they are harming that work. Also, it’s so depressing and ignorant that Vassar students can’t even mention October 7 or the young people their age who were massacred at a music festival for peace and the families who were murdered – many peace activists- families like theirs. Nor do these students understand the difference between critiquing governments and antisemitism. It is shameful that Vassar students have no knowledge of how to truly contribute or help, or of how to work towards justice for all. Peace not Pop Tarts, people. Vassar and students: do better. Maybe start here: https://www.newsweek.com/message-gazan-campus-protesters-youre-hurting-palestinian-cause-opinion-1894313
I feel so much better knowing that Jew haters are not being deprived of Pop-Tarts.
Megan Tallmer
Class of 1974
Additional recommendations for Vassar students to consider these options for positive change instead of calling for more violence:
***************
https://www.theparentscircle.org/en/pcff-home-page-en/
“This is the moment when all sides involved must look at the hopelessness of the ongoing conflict and recognize the shared human traits that connect us to each other. Let’s remember that violence breeds violence, and the only way to move forward is by negotiating for peace, dialogue, diplomacy, and commitment to finding a common denominator.”
**************
https://www.standing-together.org/en
“A grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice. While the minority who benefit from the status quo of occupation and economic inequality seek to keep us divided, we know that we — the majority — have far more in common than that which sets us apart.”
**************
New Israel Fund
https://www.nif.org/
“Build and maintain a just society at peace with itself and its neighbors.”
Theses students are useful idiots for radical Islam which is supported by Iran and its proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah. They should review the photos of the suicide attacks during the intifada. Over 300 Israelis blown apart including women and children. By chanting “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the intifada” they are calling for the death of innocent Israelis and Jews. That’s disgusting. In addition, they seem ignorant of the misogyny and LGBTQ hatred espoused by Hamas. Let them go to Gaza and see what living under violent Islamists is all about. I am ashamed for Vassar that this is going on.
I am an alum, sent my daughter to VC and now am wondering whether Vassar would be the best school for my grand children. In the late ’60’s, friends of good will actually took the trouble to educate themselves in protesting the Vietnam War, which affected our generation directly. Tent encampments, kids thinking themselves entitled to extort the administration to get their own way were unthinkable. As I witnessed the spread of this current fad of “protesting” for “Palestine” – and as someone with direct knowledge of the region, its political history and realities on the ground – I was saddened that students seem to have no idea what they are calling for. “Freeing” Palestine for whom? How? Do they even know who Palestinians are, historically? In fact, I perceive the call to end “genocide” as selective racism, not merely the obvious scapegoating of Jews and disgusting appropriation of language of the Shoah. Ignoring millions of dead in Congo, mass slaughter in Burma, Sudan, Syria, Yemen- where perpetrators of atrocity often are Arab- speaks to something disturbing, but mostly naive. Grow up, children. Do your homework. Acquire a real skill that enables you to do actual good in the world. Be worthy of the institution you are lucky to attend.