Students across Oregon rally against war in Gaza

About two dozen demonstrators, most of them Portland State University students and alumni, rallied on the steps of PSU’s Richard Maurine Neuberger Center Monday. The students held signs that read “disclose and divest” and chanted “Gaza’s struggle is our fight - students of the world unite.”

The student-led protest marked the one year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that ultimately led to the ongoing war in Gaza. About 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023; an estimated 41,000 Palestinians have died since then in Israeli bombardments.

The leaders of Monday’s demonstration at PSU unveiled an updated list of seven demands for university leaders. Many of the demands mirrored student calls from last spring, like the call for the university to end its relationships with companies that do business with Israel and for Portland State President Ann Cudd to resign.

Cudd has already committed to reviewing Portland State’s financial investments and partnerships.

But there were also new demands. Students at the demonstration called for all charges and punishments made against students involved in last school year’s protests to be dropped immediately.

A student who attended the anniversary protest, who did not want to be identified for fear of retaliation, said they felt free speech on campus has been chilled this school year.

“I definitely feel less like I want to speak out. I’m afraid,” said the Portland State junior. “The [students] who were protesting got expelled and put in jail. I don’t feel like my right to free speech is protected at all.”

A Portland State spokesperson said the university has 32 student disciplinary cases related to last school year’s protests. More than half of the cases have been decided by student conduct proceedings, while the rest are still pending. PSU has expelled one student, suspended four and put seven on probation in connection to the spring protests. Five of the open cases involve former students.

The student speaking to OPB at the Monday protest said they also feared physical violence at protests. Last May, Portland Police Bureau officers assisted PSU campus police at protests and a driver drove through a crowd of demonstrators on campus.

Monday’s small group of protesters was just a murmur compared to the student-led protests from last spring, when hundreds of demonstrators rallied at the downtown campus and protesters occupied the Branford Price Millar Library for several days.

Despite the small showing, a PSU student organizer, who also did not wish to be identified, said there will be more rallies this school year.

“Students are still ready to rebel. There’s still a lot of support,” said the PSU sophomore. “We can’t let [Portland State] take unjustified action against students for demonstrating their right to freedom of speech.”

Protests at other Oregon universities also took place on Monday. About 50 students at Portland’s Reed College rallied for about an hour inside Eliot Hall, the school’s administration building. A spokesperson with the college said the students gave speeches and dispersed on their own without incident.

At the University of Oregon, students from both pro-Palestine and Jewish affinity groups commemorated the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

Ducks for Israel, Oregon Hillel and Alpha Epsilon Pi, the Jewish fraternity on campus, put picket signs with photos of 101 Israeli hostages on a green area at the edge of campus – the same green area where a pro-Palestine encampment sat earlier this year.

“Bring him home now,” one sign said, with the name and age of one hostage.

The groups also held a vigil for the lives lost during the attack.

Also Monday evening, a pro-Palestinian group, Students for Justice in Palestine, marched from the federal courthouse in Eugene to the center of UO’s campus. With signs and Palestinian flags in hand, roughly 100 students and community members chanted “Free Palestine” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied”.

One protestor, a senior at the university, did not want to share his name because “there’s certain politics associated with coming to protests like this that could get you in trouble,” he said. The university has threatened academic amnesty for students who participated in encampments earlier this year.

Another reason to stay anonymous, but not to miss the protest, the student said. “I’m here because there is an ongoing genocide in Gaza that is deplorable.”

A handful of police officers on bicycles followed the protestors at a distance, while lawyers in bright green hats stayed vigilant, in case officers and protestors collided.

But there were no confrontations.

For another student, the march was an opportunity to be involved and educated on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“No matter what your views are, it’s helpful to learn more and have more empathy for everyone,” the junior said. “Having more people aware of what’s going on is important.”

They did not want to identify themself because some of their family is Jewish. “(They) wouldn’t feel comfortable with me being here and I want to respect them,” they said.

But the student added, “I don’t believe what’s going on is correct and I don’t want to have to be disappointed with myself in the future.”

For a moment, participants at the vigil for Israel watched the pro-Palestine protestors march through campus.

Sophomore Jacob Mailman said the march was “off-putting”. The October 7 attacks were committed on Israel, he said.

“As a Jewish student, it doesn’t feel great or welcoming. But at the same time, this community that we have surrounding us, it feels nice to feel a sense of security,” Mailman said.

But he said the protestors had every right to chant and march. And he wasn’t worried about any confrontation.

“What I’ve seen from these gatherings from the pro-Palestinian side, they are not physical, they don’t get into altercations,” he said. “Both sides are relatively civil.”