Titled,
Why we protested at the University of Minnesota
It is authored by an encampment participant -
Gillian Rath, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota, is with University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society.
Leaving readers to gain access, while respecting Strib's copyright, excerpting will be sparse. Opening the item:
In the early hours of April 23, the University of Minnesota police arrested eight students and one university staff member for establishing a Gaza solidarity encampment, which was set up to protest university investments in apartheid Israel. Alongside other universities across the country and other SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) chapters, students from the UMN Divest Coalition established the encampment. While protesters peacefully camped on the Northrop lawn, the university responded by calling in police to confiscate their tents and charge nine with trespassing. Seven of the nine arrested are members of SDS. Only hours later, more than 1,000 students, alumni, staff and faculty members gathered in front of the Student Union to defend the nine arrested.
The protest, organized by the UMN Divest Coalition, quickly transformed from a small crowd on Tuesday morning to one of the largest protests on campus in recent history. Photos of police surrounding students quickly spread across social media, leading more than a thousand to walk out in support of divestment and dropping the charges. During this time, students gathered for speakers, a Passover Seder led by Jewish Voices for Peace, and the creation of a new solidarity encampment.
The "Divest" thrust of the protest's orientation was clear at all times.
At the same time, the University of Minnesota has continued partnerships with weapons companies complicit in this violence. [...] and tuition money is reinvested back into the economy of war for profit. [...] It is clear that divestment from genocide is both long overdue and fully within reach.
Throughout the following week, the UMN Divest Coalition continued to hold protests [... with] pitched symbolic tents in solidarity with both displaced refugees in Rafah and university encampments all across the U.S.
As noted in an earlier post, the university and encampment occupants at U.Minn. negotiated to the point of the encampment being ended - per a Strib item which was reposted open, with links here and here.
Of interest to 60s survivors, two Wikipedia entries -
Students for a Democratic Society
and
Students for a Democratic Society (2006 organization)
The original SDS was a thorn in Lyndon Johnson's side, founded at Ann Arbor Michigan in 1960 (and folded 1974) which was a nominal historical precursor to what appears to be today's Gaza - Divestment protest coordinator, at least in part, other organization possibly also involved.
Of interest, that second Wiki item ends its story:
In March 2010, members of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's chapter of SDS staged a protest outside the Chancellor's building. The event, designed to protest rising tuition costs, was met with a police presence. Police began using pepper spray, and arrested sixteen members of the protest, including both SDS members and allied organizations on campus through the Education Rights Campaign.[24]
Reaching beyond, this item:
Students for a Democratic Society calls for nationwide encampments for Gaza, stands with Columbia students for Palestine
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| story link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/29/mapping-pro-palestine-campus-protests-around-the-world |
UPDATE; That item is well presented and factual, not editorializing, Do follow the link.