Dozens of students and faculty gathered at the Silent Tree from 3:15 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. on Thursday, May 1 — the day the 2024 UC San Diego Gaza Solidarity Encampment began — for a symbolic action organized by the UCSD Faculty Defense Group. Faculty members read poems in both English and Arabic, written by prominent Palestinian poets, and spoke on the events of the encampment in honor of its one-year anniversary. 

Attendees came and went as the event peacefully progressed, with the crowd growing to as large as 50 people. Aside from one student heckler who shouted, “Israel will live forever,” eliciting some “Free Palestine” chants in response, the event was not disrupted.

The reading was emceed by Adam Aron, a professor of psychology at UCSD and one of the organizers of the Faculty Defense Group. The group was formed in 2024 by UCSD professors from various departments in response to the suppression of the student encampment. 

Aron began the action by addressing the crowd.

“We are gathered here today to remember the encampment of last year,” he said. “For five days … there was a space of donated food, meeting each other, learning, camaraderie, there was no money, there was dance, there was poetry, movies were shown, and people hung out. It was the nicest thing I’ve ever seen at UCSD in 20 years of being here.” 

Aron then criticized the UCSD administration’s suppression of the encampment. 

“The encampment was crushed by the chancellor on May the sixth,” he said. “He sent in three police forces, and 64 students and faculty were arrested. Students had disciplinary proceedings hanging over them for over a year.” 

Aron concluded his speech by praising the students who participated in the encampment. 

“I think that everyone should be able to acknowledge that what the students did on May the first, 2024, was a courageous action. They acted out of moral conviction, they refused to stand by while the genocide was committed, and, as they saw it, as our university was complicit in that genocide. So, we meet here today to honor their courage … to remember their money-free and creative space that they created.”

Full article coming soon.