Sonoma State students show no sign of leaving

Students say they will remain at the encampment on Person Lawn until the university meets their demands, including disclosure and divestment.

photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Sonoma State students holding a scheduled midday rally in support of Palestine between
the well trafficked Student and Recreation Centers.

A full week after Sonoma State students joined the wave of campus protests against the war in Gaza, the number of tents set up across the university’s centrally-located Person Lawn is more than triple the first night.

And while students at schools like UCLA, Columbia, and Cal Poly Humboldt have been met with swift and violent police force, that hasn’t been the case at Sonoma State.

SSU Students Affairs VP Gerald Jones explained why.

"These are our students," Jones said. "This is a relationship based campus, so good relationships with our students, with our staff, with our faculty is paramount. So regardless of the situation this is how we operate here at Sonoma State University."

The students’ demands, as protest leader Albert Levine outlined on the encampment’s first night, remain the same.

"One, to divest and disclose, and be transparent in where our money is going," Levine said. "Number two an academic boycott. We have programs here where students can go to Israel and there are Palestinian students who can sit next to me in class and if they wanted to go to Tel Aviv they would not be able to."

"Number three, to recognize Palestinian identity and introduce some curriculum into our schools," Levine said. "And number of course is a permanent ceasefire."

According to Jones, the students are being heard by administration.

" I went into the encampment to make arrangements to sit down and begin discussions about some of the issues that they've raised," Jones said. "Right now we're just listening, we want to hear clearly what they are and think through how we can be responsive. One thing we're that committed here is students freedom of speech."

University officials said the protest and encampment has remained peaceful throughout it's first week, and said they are committed to maintaining a safe campus for all.

Students said they've been buoyed by visits from faculty and classes.

Whether Sonoma State will follow schools like Brown and Northwestern, and strike a deal on possible divestment in exchange for ending student encampments, remains to be seen.