Here's What The Pro-Palestinian Student Demonstrators Want

Last week, students at Columbia University set up an encampment on the campus green to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, kicking off what would quickly become a national mobilization of student activists.

Similar encampments and demonstrations at more than 50 other colleges erupted this week against the Israeli offensive, which has killed over 34,000 people in Gaza, caused famine and displaced most of the population.

Online, scenes of peaceful solidarity were quickly intertwined with reports of mass arrests, punditry and misinformation. More than 100 demonstrators were arrested at Columbia’s demonstration, and more than 500 have been arrested nationwide as of Friday, according to Axios and The New York Times.

Here’s a breakdown of what the pro-Palestine protesters want to see from their colleges and the response to these protests.

Divestment From Companies Funding Israel

One of the top demands that students across the country have is for their universities to divest from companies linked to Israel or businesses which profit off of its war with Hamas — and, by proxy, the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, they argue.

“I’m a member of this community, and I don’t want this particular community to be profiting from apartheid, from war, from genocide,” Ariela Rosenzweig, a senior at Brown University, told The New York Times.

Several colleges have refused or ignored this demand.

In a statement, American University president Sylvia Burwell rejected calls to end investments and partnerships with Israel, claiming that such actions “threaten academic freedom, the respectful free expression of ideas and views, and the values of inclusion and belonging that are central to our community.”

Harvard’s interim president,