Dozens of students and faculty gathered at Silent Tree in front of Geisel Library to commemorate the second anniversary of the May 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Wednesday.
SPARk, Student Sustainability Collective, Climate Justice Coalition, UC San Diego Faculty for Justice in Palestine, and Students for Justice in Palestine San Diego organized the event. Two UCSD police officers and five UCSD administrators observed the crowd.
Attendees gathered at 5:30 p.m. at Silent Tree, holding posters depicting images from when the police dismantled the encampment two years ago. Rallygoers chanted for a free Palestine and relocated to the lawn across from Price Center where the encampment took place.
Speakers remembered the encampment, expressed frustration with the University’s decision to arrest protestors, and condemned police officers’ use of force against students.
Ethnic studies professor Tricia Gallagher-Geursten spoke to The UCSD Guardian as the rally winded down.
“UC admin is supposed to keep students safe, and they are supposed to provide them a rigorous education that would allow them to challenge norms and solve some of the world’s most vexing problems like a genocide, and admin has failed on both accounts,” Gallagher-Geursten said.
Some students and faculty continue to face consequences from the University for their alleged participation in the encampment. Organizations demanded that UCSD senior administrators drop the disciplinary sanctions against professors Lily Hoàng and BT Werner.
Gallagher-Geursten read aloud a letter written and signed by over 60 UCSD faculty in June 2024. The letter was addressed to the encampment’s student participants and commended the protestors’ resistance.
“These history lessons tell us you are on the right side of history and that Palestinian liberation is on the horizon,” Gallagher-Geursten read.
Speakers also called for divestment from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and General Atomics.
Fourth-year and SPARk member Alishia Naveed condemned the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinian people and the University’s collaboration with weapons manufacturing companies.
“We must remain steadfast in our willingness to align and be part of a resistance toward Israel,” Naveed said. “These systems rely on our labor, our time, and our manufactured consent. And we cannot be willing to compromise with these war machines, and we must be willing to have the courage in the face of suppression.”
Naveed described her experience during the encampment.
“On the day UCPD raided the Gaza Solidarity Encampment lawn, the first thing I heard was the ripping,” she said. “Police began to tear through every memorial, every banner, and every symbol of life students had built together. And as they did, they laughed. They expressed glee even, after finally being able to claw at us after their hours of surveillance and harassment tactics.”
During Naveed’s speech, two passersby shouted “free Iran.” Rallygoers chanted “free, free Palestine” in response. Two rally participants followed the passersby as they walked down Library Walk, and a verbal altercation ensued. UCPD spoke with and separated the four individuals.
