Among the voices speaking out Friday on Rutgers University’s agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters were two candidates from very different points of view: Republican state senator and gubernatorial hopeful Jon Bramnick and longtime social justice activist and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hamm.
One said the university is allowing too many protests on campus; the other questioned if the administration is being too restrictive.
“I believe in law and order,” Bramnick said in a joint interview with NJ Spotlight News’ anchor Briana Vannozzi. “And I think you can have a protest that is peaceful, but also, it doesn’t change my mind as to what the universities should demand of the protesters.”
Responded Hamm: “The students are protesting because they see genocide occurring before their very eyes.”
“What has been achieved by the students is phenomenal,” Hamm added. “They have drawn the world’s attention to genocide that is being done before our very eyes.”
Elsewhere, Princeton University faculty members have joined the pro-Palestinian movement on campus, taking part in a hunger strike that students began a week ago. In a statement from the more than a dozen faculty members participating, they said their actions are “in response to the university’s unwillingness to engage with the student demands in good faith.”
“Our day-long solidarity fast is meant to emphasize the efforts of our students who are undertaking this strike, putting their bodies on the line to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank, who are being subjected to a forced famine and a genocidal assault by the state of Israel,” said Gayle Salamon, a professor of English.
Faculty members urged the administration to consider one of the students’ top demands: divestment from Israel. The demands also include amnesty for more than a dozen students who’ve been arrested for taking part in an encampment and occupying a university building.
Princeton leaders did meet with students and faculty on Monday to hear their demands about cutting academic and financial ties with Israel, and they said they’ll continue meeting with protesters. The administration also urged students to follow the formal process for divestment, which requires broader community input.
