The Los Angeles Post
California & Local U.S. World Business Lifestyle
Today: February 06, 2025
Today: February 06, 2025

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement

Israel Palestinians Campus Protests
May 30, 2024
ED WHITE - AP

DETROIT (AP) — Police broke up a pro-Palestinian encampment at a Detroit university and arrested at least 12 people Thursday while more than 100 graduates walked out of commencement at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the East Coast, the latest campus stress related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Police in riot gear removed fencing and broke down tents erected last week on green space near the undergraduate library at Wayne State University.

President Kimberly Andrews Espy cited health and safety concerns and disruptions to campus operations. Staff were encouraged to work remotely this week, and in-person summer classes were suspended.

“No individual or group is permitted to claim campus property for their own use and deny others access to that property,” Espy said.

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel Palestinians Campus Protests

The camp, she added, “created an environment of exclusion — one in which some members of our campus community felt unwelcome and unable to fully participate in campus life.”

An outdoor commencement ceremony at MIT in Cambridge, near Boston, was disrupted for 10 to 15 minutes when some graduates walked out. Wearing keffiyehs, the checkered scarves that represent Palestinian solidarity, over their caps and gowns, they chanted “free, free Palestine” and held signs that said, "All eyes on Rafah.”

“There is going to be no business as usual as long as MIT holds research projects with the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” said David Berkinsky, 27, who earned a doctorate degree in chemistry and walked out. “There are no graduates in Gaza. There are no universities left in Gaza left because Israeli has bombed every single one.”

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

Eesha Banerjee, a 20-year-old from Birmingham, Alabama, who received her bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering and physics and walked out, said she wants to pressure MIT to become a better place.

“It wouldn’t feel right taking the degree without making clear to the administration and corporation that we still want the demands to be met. We are still watching what the administration does,” she said. “We want to send the message that this movement will continue. Students are still standing for those ties to be dropped.”

Banerjee said she never questioned her decision to leave commencement.

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

“While I’m still here, I want to use every chance I can to push this institute to be better,” she said. “I want MIT to be the institution that it can be, and it can’t be that until it drops its ties, drops its complicity.”

Some people at the event were upset by the disruption, swore at the protesters and yelled, “Good riddance to Hamas terror fans.” A pro-Palestinian encampment at MIT was cleared by the school on May 10.

Protest camps sprang up across the U.S. and in Europe as students demanded their universities stop doing business with Israel or companies that they say support its war in Gaza. Organizers seek to amplify calls to end Israel’s war with Hamas, which they describe as a genocide against the Palestinians.

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

In Detroit, as the Wayne State camp was cleared, at least 12 people were arrested for trespassing or other offenses, including one for assaulting a police officer, spokesperson Matt Lockwood said.

The protesters chanted to police, “There’s no riot here, why are you in riot gear?”

The protesters have demanded that the school divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel, provide a full disclosure of investments and cease delegation trips to Israel.

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

Wayne State this week posted video of its efforts to invite protesters to private meetings with Espy and other officials if they would dismantle the camp. Lockwood said all of the university's efforts were rejected.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, visited the encampment site after it was broken up to offer support to the protesters.

Ali Hassan, who represents WSU Students for Justice in Palestine, told WXYZ-TV this week that he believed the university’s shift to remote learning means the administration is taking notice of the student protests.

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

“The reason that they went remote is because we have put pressure on them,” he said.

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on May 21 broke up a similar encampment after 30 days.

___

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

Associated Press writers Michael Casey and Steve LeBlanc in Cambridge, Massachusetts, contributed to this story.

Pro-Palestinian camp at Wayne State dismantled while MIT students walk out of commencement
Israel-Palestinians-Campus-Protests

Related Articles

US imposes sanctions on network that helps ship Iranian oil to China Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden pager during their meeting in Washington A recipe for radicalism: Jordan raises red flags over Trump's relocation plan US envoy to warn Lebanon over Hezbollah's influence in government

Related

MidEast|Political|US|World

Trump's Gaza plan shocks the world but finds support in Israel

President Donald Trump’s plan to seek U.S. ownership of the Gaza Strip and move out its population has found a sympathetic ear in Israel

Trump's Gaza plan shocks the world but finds support in Israel
Europe|MidEast|Political|US|World

What is the International Criminal Court? 

By Stephanie van den Berg THE HAGUE - U.S.

What is the International Criminal Court? 
Education|Health|MidEast|Political|World

Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief

The head of the U_N_ agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, says an Israeli ban on his institution has not forced it to halt its services so far but that in the long run, the agency faces an “existential threat.”

Future looks dire for UN Palestinian refugee agency, says UNRWA chief
Africa|Europe|MidEast|World

Aga Khan IV to be buried in Egypt on Sunday

The late Prince Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan IV, who died on Tuesday in Lisbon after nearly seven decades as the spiritual leader of the global Ismaili Muslim community, will be

Aga Khan IV to be buried in Egypt on Sunday
Share This

Popular

Business|MidEast|Political|Sports|US

Trump and Jay Monahan meet at White House as PGA Tour deal with Saudis gets closer

Trump and Jay Monahan meet at White House as PGA Tour deal with Saudis gets closer
Americas|MidEast|Political|US|World

Rubio says people will have to relocate in "interim" while Gaza is rebuilt

Rubio says people will have to relocate in "interim" while Gaza is rebuilt
Crime|MidEast|Political|US

Attorney General Bondi cuts back on programs that ran afoul of Trump

Attorney General Bondi cuts back on programs that ran afoul of Trump
Africa|Economy|Food|Health|MidEast|Political|US|World

Halt in U.S. aid cripples global efforts to relieve hunger

Halt in U.S. aid cripples global efforts to relieve hunger