Yale students walk out of class on first day of semester to protest school's 'complicity in genocide'
Students at Yale University walked out of class on Tuesday and demanded that that institution publicly support a ceasefire.
Students at Yale University walked out of class on Tuesday and demanded that that institution publicly support a ceasefire.
According to the Yale Daily News, around 200 students participated in the “There is No Back To School in Gaza” walkout, which featured protesters denouncing the school’s “complicity in genocide and war crimes.”
Yalies4Palestine and Yale Law Students for Justice in Palestine organized the walkout.
“As Yale students return to campus, we are walking out of classes, recognizing that there is no back-to-school in Gaza…” a post from the group’s read on social media. “There will be no business as usual as long as Gaza is under siege.”
A press release from Yalies4Palestine and Yale Law Students for Justice in Palestine had a list of demands, which includes the university to support “a ceasefire and an end to the occupation,” a suspension of “all genocide-denying programming and partnerships,” implementation of boycott, divestment and sanctions from weapons manufacturing, as well as other items.
The groups also demand that Yale protect them from “anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic harassment.”
According to the outlet, one speaker said that “We stand resolute in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi in speaking truth to power.”
“Violence only begets more violence. It creates a cycle that can seem never-ending, but it must end. And when we look beyond our differences to reach that common humanity it will end,” the individual added.
One of the signs at the protest featured a list of demands, which included “Fund Palestine Studies,” “Call for Ceasefire Now,” and “Defund Genocide-Denying Programming and Partnerships.”
Chants at the protest ranged from “From Turtle Island to Palestine, occupation is a crime” and “Apartheid kills; Yale pays the bills.”
Following the protest, New Haven, Connecticut Board of Alders Chair Tyisha Walker-Myers said that the group would “at some point” consider a ceasefire resolution, according to the outlet.
