Attendees hold up signs in support of Gaza at the meeting on March 12, 2024. People gathered outside of the Ford Alumni Center for a rally before the University of Oregon Board of Trustees meeting, where some spoke during the public comments section alongside other students and community members, with topics ranging from proposed “Boycott, Divest, Sanction” strategies, to Jewish students feeling unsafe due to protests and demonstrations on campus. (Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
Members of UO Students for Justice in Palestine and the UO Climate Justice League rallied on March 12 outside of the Ford Alumni Center before the UO Board of Trustees meeting. Rallygoers proceeded to give speeches during the public comment session of the meeting.
Members of the Jewish community spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting as well.
SJP and CJL rally for “student futures”
Roughly 150 UO students and community members attended a rally in front of the Ford Alumni Center before the Board of Trustees meeting. Some demonstrators held signs including “Wake the f–k up. This is genocide,” referring to the roughly 31,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war, and “Divest and choose option 4,” referring to calls for the Board to approve Option 4 of UO’s thermal heating system transition.
The rally hosted several speakers, all of whom called for UO’s disaffiliation from “Israeli-backed companies” and/or the approval of Option 4.
“We [CJL] know that our issues of climate justice and Palestinian justice are intrinsically connected,” CJL student campaign coordinator Valentine Bentz said. “It is the same people who invest in genocide and war crimes that choose not to invest in planning community.”
Bentz said it is crucial for both SJP and CJL to collaborate together in order to “make our movements stronger, make our campaigns better and our voices heard.”
Also in attendance was Grads for Palestine, an organization of UO graduate students who support Palestine.
Rally-goers proceed to enter the Ford Alumni Center, while chanting slogans including “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as the meeting began.
Students give public comment to trustees
The Board of Trustees originally planned to host a 30-minute public comment session where students and community members, who signed up for public comment prior to the meeting, spoke directly to the board.
However, the public comment session lasted longer than scheduled, wrapping up after roughly 80 minutes. The board listened to each student but did not respond to ensure every speaker scheduled spoke during their allotted time.
Multiple UO students and members of SJP demanded trustees to take action on several items, including the implementation of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in accordance with ASUO’s 2018 pro-BDS resolution.
“As the United States government continues to directly fund the genocide of Palestinians, our university continues to invest in the military industrial complex,” Grads for Palestine organizer Abigail Mitchell said. “That is why I asked that the student body be honored through implementation of the ASUO Senate Resolution on BDS from 2018, which targets companies complicit in occupation and genocide.”
Additionally, many speakers demanded for the university to take action on a BDS movement to be “one step ahead of history.”
“Sooner than the ink can dry on your tax write-off, the tally will be made, who was complicit in genocide and who stood in support of the most passive and peaceful form of resistance against apartheid, Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” Eric Howanietz, an active participant in SJP and the Springfield Eugene Anti-Imperialist Coalition, said.
UO staff member Andrea Romero said that UO’s ties to Israel are in contradiction with the university’s mission and values.
According to Romero, the BDS movement has identified companies that are “directly tied to and profiting from Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing, many of which operate on campus.”
Some speakers discussed their support for Option 4 of the UO thermal heating system transition, a project that examines four potential options for the university’s heat distribution system. Many students are in favor of Option 4, the heat recovery chiller with an alternative source, because it will have the most significant impact on greenhouse emissions. The thermal systems task force recommends Option 2B, the electrode boiler.
Jack Dodson, a UO freshman and environmental science major, spoke on the transition and his support of Option 4.
“The cost of Option 4 is significant, but there are a variety of funding routes that the university can pursue including grant writing, traditional fundraising and credit programs. We can fund this transition without putting a financial burden on students,” Dodson said.
Toward the end of the session, multiple Jewish students discussed their fear of antisemitism on campus and expressed what they thought to be a lack of action by UO to protect Jewish students.
One student, Rayna Davis, said that expressions at pro-Palestinian rallies such as “from the river to sea” and “intifada” called for “violence against the Jewish people in Israel” and have made it “increasingly difficult to navigate campus life.”
“I was disappointed and disturbed to hear these violent and inappropriate phrases stranded in a space where there are rules and policies against gatherings of this sort, and even more disappointed that the university chose not to enforce them,” Davis said.
The statements drew controversy — the phrase “from the river to the sea,” in particular, has been polarizing across the nation. Some SJP members from the crowd audibly disagreed that the expressions were antisemitic, with one member saying that “we are not anti-Jewish, we are anti-genocide.”
Tensions between pro-Palestine advocates and Jewish students mounted toward the end of the public comment session.
The tension led Board Chairman Steve Holwerda to remind the crowd of the university’s support of freedom of expression, asking attendees to show respect for opposing views.
“We want you [attendees] to support the right for people to express what they believe, safely and respectfully,” Holwerda said. “This is a difficult time on campus and we understand that everyone in this room can make it better [if] you walk out and respect each other.”
The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for June 3 and 4, 2024. The board will update its website with more information as the date approaches.
Karl Scholz and Steve Holwerda, both members of the Board of Trustees, listen to Romie Avivi Stuhl, a Jewish student, as she speaks about feeling unsafe due to demonstrations that have taken place on campus. People gathered outside of the Ford Alumni Center for a rally before the University of Oregon Board of Trustees meeting, where some spoke during the public comments section alongside other students and community members, with topics ranging from proposed "Boycott, Divest, Sanction" strategies, to Jewish students feeling unsafe due to protests and demonstrations on campus. (Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
