"The students are very strongly motivated to try to do something after they have watched the 7- month-long Israeli onslaught of Gaza, where every plane and helicopter and every bomb and shell are made in the US and often paid for by US taxpayers. The students in the encampment were Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, White, Black, Asian, Latinx, queer and straight. This movement of students, which is now a worldwide movement, is demanding that universities divest from their financial interests and academic ties to the State of Israel, and the movement is more broadly bringing political pressure in the US to change policy. We agree with what Professor Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University said – “This is the conscience of a nation, speaking through your kids”, and he linked the current encampments with similar student movements against the Vietnam War and Apartheid in South Africa. We recognize the courage and commitment of the students who camped out. We wish our administrators would have some empathy for what it is like to be in their shoes: sleeping in an encampment, worrying about classes, midterms, suspension, and – given the happenings at UCLA – the possibility of attack and physical harm. "
– Testimony of 246 UCSD Faculty
246 UCSD Faculty (2024) Faculty Testimony on the UCSD Gaza Encampment, May 6. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aHgGjddDhgE0-IDxsTUf1Nk_n1F3n0nhF2v…
"As for the camp itself, we saw a different space than the one described. It was safe, secure, and joyous. The students had areas for food and prayer. The grounds were cleaned. The nights were tranquil and reflective. Movement along Library Walk flowed. When the walkway was momentarily blocked, it was for song or dance. There were no checkpoints other than watchful administrative personnel."
– Members of the UC San Diego Writing Community
Members of the UCSD Writing Community (2024) You Wrote Them in the Cruelest Way, UCSD Guardian, June 4. https://ucsdguardian.org/2024/06/04/statement-from-the-uc-san-diego-wri…
Protest is essential to our democracy and a basic human right and retaliation against students who protest is antithetical to our university’s highest ideals of learning and scholarship. The militarized response has only chilled free speech, escalated tensions, reduced safety on campus, and destroyed the trust needed for negotiations and shared governance."
– San Diego Faculty Association
San Diego Faculty Association (2024) SDFA Statement on Student Protests. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfAJeLbTxFkkJ6NHxECD8h7GtmPHsm…
"The weapons police bring onto campuses inevitably lead to escalation and grievous injury, or worse, and have no place at educational institutions. Moreover, police presence does not make students feel safer--on the contrary, the arrival of police heightens community tensions, worsens relations among community members, and is a chilling act of repression and censorship. The police presence on campus advertises to the world, including parents and prospective students, that UCSD responds to conscientious, peaceful student dissent with clubs rather than dialogue. The Ethnic Studies department supports the demands outlined by Students for Justice in Palestine and unequivocally condemns today's attacks by the administration and the San Diego County Sheriffs Department and the California Highway Patrol."
– Ethnic Studies Department Faculty
Ethnic Studies Department Faculty (2024) Press Release: UCSD Faculty Call for Chancellor’s Resignation, May 6. https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/view/8BZRqWqVETf6t8BX1u+lLsnOvFTj1-NKqu…
"On Wednesday, May 1, protesters formed a peaceful encampment adjacent to Library Walk, the heart of campus, that was carefully designed so as not to obstruct free movement between and among university facilities. Within the encampment, students and others organized peaceful protest activities, teach-ins, calls to prayer, Shabbat services, and other activities that demonstrated their insistence on a community of protest defined by inclusion and nonviolence. Faculty have been in regular contact with students at the encampment since it was first established, participating to varying degrees in their educational activities. Despite the multiple channels of open and available communication, upper administration nonetheless unilaterally chose a set of actions – summoning multiple heavily-armed law enforcement agencies, the last and most extreme option – rather than an approach that would have been defined by de-escalation, dialogue, and mutual respect."
– Department of Communication Faculty
Department of Communication Faculty (2024) Statement on the Events of May 6, 2024. https://communication.ucsd.edu/about/department-statements1.html#statem…