I got my acceptance letter to study at Columbia University a month before its suppression of pro-Palestine activism accidentally gave birth to a global student uprising.
Between 17 and 30 April, more than a hundred students pitched their tents on the South Lawn of Columbia University’s New York City campus, establishing the first “Gaza solidarity encampment.”
Students demanded that the university divest from companies selling weapons to Israel and sever all academic ties with Israeli universities. Among other demands, protesters wanted Columbia to be transparent about its investments and to publicly call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
The encampment felt to me like a glimmer of hope after I had spent six months doom scrolling the slaughter of my people from the safety of my home. -……..more
