Around 100 people gathered at the Silent Tree on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for a “March Against Imperialism” rally organized by a coalition of UC San Diego students and faculty groups.

Organizers of the march included Students for Justice in Palestine San Diego, UCSD Faculty for Justice in Palestine, Students’ Civil Liberties Union, the Association of Muslims in Politics and Law at UCSD, SPARK, and the Student Sustainability Collective at UCSD.

Speakers at the rally condemned the Israeli government’s ongoing violence against Palestinians and called for an end to the University’s institutional ties to defense corporations — described as systems of “U.S. imperialism.” Speakers criticized the University’s time, place, and manner policies for restricting free speech on campus.

Two police officers and four university representatives were present during the demonstration. Before the rally began, several administrators approached organizers, informing them that a pole being used to hold the Palestinian flag was considered a potential weapon by campus policy and they needed to remove it. Protestors refused to remove the flag and continued to hold it throughout the rally.

Rally organizers posted a flyer to Instagram on April 17 that outlined their demands to the University.

“The death toll in Gaza surpasses 72,000 Palestinians, and U.S. imperial violence continues across Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and the Global South,” the flyer read. “All while UCSD remains complicit in genocide and imperialism. …”

The organizing groups’ demands included: 

1. We demand UC San Diego to end all partnerships with war-profiteering companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and General Atomics. 
2. The end of institutional protection and platforming of pro-genocide Zionist faculty and organizations. 
3. UC San Diego uphold a full and unequivocal boycott and divestment from the largest corporation in the San Diego housing market, Blackstone Inc. 
4. Invasive surveillance technology such as “Smart Streetlights”, “Automated License Plate Readers”, “AI-enabled cameras”, and other systems that are prone to misuse are removed from the campus entirely, and the data sharing policy of the University is revised to prevent the sharing of sensitive data to external/federal agencies. 
5. For UC Regents to adopt a full institutional divestment from Israel and all entities complicit in its actions. 

“UC San Diego and [Chancellor Pradeep] Khosla himself profit from U.S. imperialism through research partnerships, financial investments, and the protection of Zionist ideology,” a speaker from SPARK said. “We do not think that it needs to be this way.”

SCLU president and third-year Aryan Dixit described how UCSD has restricted free speech and expression over the past several years.

“Over time, our free speech, our expression has been eroded on this campus,” Dixit said. “In my three years alone, I have seen how we’ve had different policies come in again and again, eroding our ability to express ourselves.”

Dixit explained how UCSD changed its time, place, and manner policies as a result of the 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

“In the beginning, it was, ‘You can’t have an encampment,’” Dixit said. “Then, it was, ‘You can’t have free speech and protest anywhere except this Silent Tree.’ After that, it was, ‘You can have your free speech protest over here, but we surveil you,’ and then, it was, ‘You can have your free speech protest, but you cannot have a speaker.’”

Several faculty members also addressed the crowd, expressing support for student organizers and their plans to continue speaking out.

BT Werner, a professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said that the administration’s restrictions on free speech create a sense of fear on campus. Werner is one of two UCSD faculty members facing suspension for their involvement in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.