April 29, 4 a.m., Occidental Students for Justice in Palestine (Oxy SJP) and Occidental Jewish Voice for Peace (Oxy JVP) assembled an encampment of 17 tents on the Academic Quad, below the steps of the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Building, to show solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the conflict in Gaza. Oxy SJP announced the encampment on their Instagram around 7 a.m., encouraging people to join. By 3:15 p.m., the encampment had grown to 38 tents.
Oxy SJP spokesperson Matthew Vickers (junior) said that there were roughly 40 people at the encampment all day, with a peak of 70-80 people midday. Vickers, who was featured on the April 29 episode of NPR’s “Consider This,” said the timeline for the encampment is indefinite and the plan is to stay as long as possible.
According to a banner at the encampment site, the encampment has three demands for Occidental’s administration — recognition of the Israeli occupation of Gaza as a genocide and a call for a ceasefire, full amnesty for all students and faculty protesting for Palestine and disclosure and divestment from companies Lockheed Martin, Elbit, Boeing and Caterpillar.
According to Vickers, Oxy SJP delivered a memorandum titled “Divestment Proposal for Consideration of the Financial Committee of the Board of Trustees” to Occidental’s Chief Operating Officer Amos Himmelstein April 25. The memorandum discusses Boeing, Elbit, Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar’s “involvement and direct ties to war crimes against civilians,” asks the college to investigate if it is invested in these companies and, if so, to divest from them.
After 4 p.m. April 29, the Oxy SJP executive board received an email from the Board of Trustees Investment Committee (IC) Chair, Ronald Hahn, responding to their divestment proposal. According to Hahn’s email, the college’s investment advisor confirmed that the college is invested in all four companies through several third-party mutual fund managers.
“Virtually all of College’s investment assets (the Fund) are managed by third parties who manage pooled funds for the benefit of a number of investors, and, within their own investment guidelines, individual managers have significant discretion regarding how funds under their management are invested,” Hahn said via email to the SJP.
According to Hahn’s email, the IC will “convene to review the proposal and make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees regarding SJP’s proposal to cease any future investment in these companies. The Board of Trustees will then vote on the IC’s recommendation at their next scheduled meeting before issuing a formal statement.”
According to Vickers, the next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for the Fall, but Oxy SJP is hoping to convene an emergency meeting before then to hold a vote on divestment.
Vickers said that the encampment is meant to highlight and center Gaza.
“A lot of the coverage about the student movement has sadly overshadowed some of the most egregious things that happened so far in the war, such as the discovery of 300 bodies at Nasser […] Hospital,” Vickers said.
In response to the encampment, President Harry Elam sent out a campus-wide email at 11:54 a.m., stating that any dialogue or demonstration should remain safe and peaceful.
“One of Occidental’s highest purposes is to empower our community to learn to engage in society and advocate for their positions in a manner that moves difficult dialogues forward, regardless of the issue,” Elam wrote.
The encampment hosted programming events throughout the day, including teach-in demonstrations from community organizations such as Queers for Palestine, Labor for Palestine and others focused on genocide and interrelated topics, Vickers said.
A participant in the encampment who has attended previous Oxy SJP events said they had been at the encampment all day, only leaving to attend class. The participant, who will remain anonymous to protect their identity, said that their professors were supportive of the encampment and dismissed them from class early.
“It is really scary how much the U.S. contributes to the genocide in Gaza and how much repression students have been facing recently for speaking out and for protesting,” the participant said. “Showing that we have each other’s backs and that we’re going to support especially our Muslim and Palestinian students on campus is really important to me.”
The participant said they were planning to sleep over at the encampment. According to the participant, the encampment’s goal is to tell the college that its investments do not align with the core values of the college or its student body.
The participant said that demonstrators have been participating in a variety of activities throughout the day.
“That’s a pretty dominant narrative,” the participant said. “That these on-campus student protests are hateful or antisemitic in some way, and that’s really unfair to all of the Jewish students that are out here today, leading and supporting.”
This is a continuing story and The Occidental will continue to report online.
Contact Ava LaLonde at lalonde@oxy.edu and James Miller at jmiller4@oxy.edu
Thank you for this article and to the students who are centering atrocities against the innocent Palestinians in Gaza in their protest and demonstration.
Dumb comment from Jane. All of you students and faculty are misled by false information! Shame from an alumni. Also, the quad looks like a literal homeless encampment — not a good look