The UNT chapters of Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) and Young Democratic Socialists of America organized the pro-Palestinian walkout, which lasted about two hours and remained peaceful.
Protesters held signs and gathered around Library Mall, repeating chanted phrases such as, “Free, free, free Palestine” and “Israel, Israel, what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?”
Many wore keffiyehs, head coverings that are associated with Palestinian nationalism. One woman, who didn’t want to be named in the story, played a darbuka drum.
Signs displayed phrases such as “Ceasefire Now,” “Free Palestine” and “UNT Funds Genocide.” Other students used chalk to write messages on the sidewalk surrounding the demonstration.
Talia Irshad, a representative of UNT PSC, said the group had three demands they want addressed by the university.
Their first demand is for UNT to apologize for hosting a virtual Q&A with two members of Israeli Defense Forces. The Q&A, held April 17, spurred a protest that day on UNT’s campus, as well as multiple outbursts within the session. The Q&A was organized by UNT Hillel, a Jewish student organization.
UNT has since said that "[a]t the April 17 event, the speaker, who joined by Zoom, included a family member without the university’s knowledge. The individual in question was not submitted to the university during the event request process as a speaker for the question-and-answer session. Had the individual and his past been known to the university, the event would not have moved forward."
PSC also demanded that UNT disclose all investments and divest from any “Zionist entity and all weapons manufacturers complicit in the genocide in Gaza.” Protesters at other schools, such as Columbia University and Cornell University, have made similar demands for their universities to divest from companies that conduct business with Israel or manufacture weapons.
Their third demand is for the university to “reject” executive order GA 44, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on March 27, which called for universities to review their free speech policies “to address the sharp rise in antisemitic speech and acts on university campuses.”
The executive order referenced Palestine Solidarity Committee by name, instructing that “groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee” should be “disciplined for violating these policies.”
Pro-Palestine protests have swept across American college campuses in recent weeks, including at UNT in Denton
Jack Moraglia
“This executive order was a racist and Islamophobic attempt to misconstrue our just fight for a liberated Palestine, and we demand that our university reject it,” Irshad said.
The executive order also labels the phrase, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” as antisemitic. The phrase has a complicated history and was one of a number heard at UNT on Tuesday.
There were no major counter-protesters, or clashes with police, like those that have been seen across the state at the University of Texas, where 79 protesters were arrested on Monday. Last night, police arrested nearly 100 protesters at Columbia University who had occupied Hamilton Hall, renaming it Hind’s Hall after 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed in the war in Gaza.
The University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington joined the wave of protests last week. A sit-in at UTD lasted around nine hours while students sent over 1,000 emails to UTD administrators, urging them to divest from weapons manufacturing companies. The UTD student group announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch an encampment on the campus after an unsatisfactory meeting with the school president.
UNT issued the following statement: "Our university is committed to providing a welcoming environment for our community, which reflects the population of Texas. We continue to care for and support all our students’ success while complying with state laws. We’re proud to be an institution that supports all students, including our first-generation, low-income and underserved students."
The university did not address the demands by PSC.
As some students studied for finals in Willis Library, feet away from the protest, the chants could be heard: “The people, united, will never be defeated.”
