DAVIS, Calif — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators built an encampment on the UC Davis campus, joining a wave of similar protests nationwide.
A group named UC Davis Popular University for the Liberation of Palestine, or UCD PULP, began erecting the tents a little after 9:00 a.m. Monday, on the quad near the Memorial Union.
“We are following the history of other student movements who also asked their university for change, and we’re demanding that our university makes change,” said Hannah Zeltzer, a UC Davis law student.
The group listed its demands of the university on its front entrance, chief among them that the university divest in Israel and the war in Gaza.
“I will say that the mood on campus is that people want to see real movement on all of these issues, on all of our demands,” said UC Davis law student Stanford McConnehey, who was acting as a spokesperson for the group.
However, not everyone on campus agrees with their message or their tactics.
One Jewish student, who asked not to be named, said he has watched similar encampments grow on other campuses nationwide with concern.
“Hearing this on the news especially, it just doesn’t make me feel safe. And I don’t want it here,” he said.
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May said in a statement that administrators are engaging with the students “...to mitigate any disruption of campus operations, including access to classrooms, work areas, study spaces or residence halls. We are in contact with participants about their rights and responsibilities under the law and university policies, including the overnight camping policy.”
Meanwhile, the encampment organizers said they too are well aware of how things have gotten out of control elsewhere around the country, with clashes involving counter-protestors and police.
“We don’t want to see that here, that’s not what we’re about,” McConnehey said.
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