SPENCER BISPHAM / MANAGING EDITOR

ANJALI DALAL-WHELAN / NEWS EDITOR

A pro-Palestine encampment was created and subsequently removed on UCSD’s campus last week. On May 1,  University of California San Diego (UCSD) joined the growing number of colleges and universities creating encampments in protest of their university’s business ties to Israel. UCSD students set up an encampment on Library Walk, a pedestrian street that runs centrally through the UCSD campus. Around 20 tents were set up on the grass alongside the road on the first day, over the week, the encampment grew to around 34 tents. Many students also gathered outside of the encampment, some to show support, and a few to counter-protest by holding Israeli flags. 

Some USD students visited the encampment at UCSD to show support. USD junior, Maya Atwal, visited the encampment several times between May 1 and May 6.

Atwal shared her motivations for joining the students at UCSD with The USD Vista. 

“Immediately after hearing the announcement  that UCSD had opened   their  encampment, I knew I had to go,” Atwal said. “I knew they would be met with adversity, so I desperately wanted to go,  stand in   solidarity with other students, and personally be on the right side of history. I received notice that UCSD authorities threatened to remove students and personnel from the campus at 6p.m. do ID checks, and charge others with   trespassing, on the first   night of the   encampment. I dropped   everything and within five minutes I was out   of the door.”

Yesika Menera, another USD junior also visited the encampment, despite the police presence. Menera was adamant    that    the    protest  was peaceful   during  her time    there.

“Since I went up to the encampment and spent the night there, it was peaceful: one of the most peaceful protests I’ve ever been to. We did prayers, chalk on the sidewalk, dances, played football [and] card games, etc. It was   solidarity. I was sad because  I  made so many personal connections at the encampment, from the medics to some of the leaders that were organizing, and I knew that they were the ones who got arrested. It wasn’t fair,” Menera said. 

According to the Instagram of the UCSD Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), @sjp.ucsd, the demands of the encampment were for UCSD to call for a ceasefire in Gaza,  ensure  amnesty for  students who participate in the protests, conduct a campus-wide boycott  of companies that support Israel  and for the entirety of the UC college system to divest financial holdings  from companies that support or profit off of Israel. 

Rachel, who declined to give her last name due to safety concerns, is a student at UCSD who serves as one of the media liaisons for the encampment; she expanded on the meaning of the call for divestment. 

“Chancellors and presidents of the UCs all have money tied up in Israeli stocks and bonds, so the call is for people in campus power to divest [UCSD’s] money from these corporations and stop sending our tuition dollars to an active genocide,” Rachel said.  

On Monday, May 6, around 6:00a.m. the encampment was cleared out by riot police at the request of UCSD’s administration. Videos show the police using pepper spray and hitting protestors with batons.

On the same day, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla released a statement to the UCSD community on the reasoning behind the decision.

“Early this morning, law enforcement authorities successfully removed an illegal encampment  on the UC San Diego campus after  five days of attempts to communicate with participants and multiple, clear requests to  disperse. UC San Diego encourages and allows peaceful protests, but this encampment violated campus policy and the law and  grew to pose an unacceptable risk to the safety of   the campus  community,” his office wrote   in  a press release.

According to the press release, 64 people were arrested after refusing the dispersal request, 40 were students while the other 24 were unidentified or unaffiliated with UCSD. Two minor injuries were reported. 

Some students and faculty at UCSD have called for Khoshla to resign due to his handling of the encampment. 

UCSD students and police face off on the morning of May 6, when the encampment was cleared.  Spencer Bispham/The USD Vista

UCSD students gathered peacefully in their encampment for five days, before it was removed. Photo courtesy of @sjp.ucsd /Instagram