72 Arrested at SUNY Purchase Palestinian Protest; Faculty Questions Police Response
above: police arrest on protestor who would not leave after curfew
below: peaceful protestors at SUNY Purchase
By Dan Murphy
Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country came to Westchester last week at SUNY Purchase, as about 200 protestors began their vocal opposition against the war by Israel in Gaza, as a result of the Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas.
Purchase college issued the following statement about what happened on May 2. “Students were allowed to protest peacefully, which they did for several hours, as long as they followed SUNY’s rules for the maintenance of order and the student code of conduct. Outsiders/non-students were turned away from campus although it is believed that several snuck back on to join the protest. At 10 p.m., once campus quiet hours started, protestors were given multiple opportunities to disperse peacefully as ordered more than 10 times by the campus police and other local police forces who were on the scene to assist. Those who didn’t disperse after multiple warnings of consequences, were arrested for trespass violations, most without incident. Protestors were brought to local precincts for processing as the University Police Department couldn’t hold that many individuals. Students will also be going through the student code of conduct process. As the investigation continues, a few individuals may face additional charges. There were approximately 70 individuals arrested including students and faculty members.”
Several videos have emerged of the police clearing the protestors out. In one video, police officers are lined up, explaining to the protestors that they have to leave. Another video has police taking down one protestor.
The SUNY Purchase police, State Police and the Westchester County police were among the departments responding.
“Students were allowed to protest peacefully, which they did for several hours, as long as they followed SUNY’s rules for the maintenance of order and the student code of conduct.” Betsy Aldredge, assistant director of public relations for the college said. “Those who didn’t disperse after multiple warnings of consequences, were arrested for trespass violations, most without incident.”
“Protestors were brought to local precincts for processing as the University Police Department couldn’t hold that many individuals. Students will also be going through the student code of conduct process. As the investigation continues, a few individuals may face additional charges.”
WESPAC, (Westchester People’s Action Coalition) issued the following release. “At 5 pm on Thursday, May 2nd dozens of students gathered in the Purchase ‘quad’ and, with the support of some Faculty and local Westchester community members, created a camp which they labeled the “The Purchase Gaza Solidarity Encampment’’. It is the first such encampment in Westchester county, and is part of a growing student anti-war movement which has seen similar peaceful protest actions at over 100 universities across the United State in the past weeks, many of which have faced brutal police violence.
The Purchase Gaza Solidarity Encampment was organized by student groups Purchase Jews for Palestine and Raise the Consciousness, as well as dozens of individual Purchase students activists as an escalation in response to the college administration’s refusal to listen to students’ concerns about the state school’s financial ties to and complicity in the Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide via their President, MIlagros Pena’s public political support for Israel and complete silence faculty and staff pension investments as well as financial contracts with companies profitting off of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Students, after waiting months for their President and administration to acknowledge their demands amidst the increasingly hostile environment for pro-palestinian students on campus. Protesters are demanding that the Purchase administration call for an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire, as well as implement a strategy for the the college’s complete financial disclosure of their investments and financial partnerships, and divestment from all companies, organizations, and entities that support or profit off of the Israeli occupation, and have vowed to continue the protest until those demands are met.
Throughout the academic year, there have been dozens of protests, peaceful actions, and attempts at communicating with the administration in the hopes that they would acknowledge our community’s overwhelming support to end our college’s complicity in genocide.
The student protesters were joined by local community members who came out to show solidarity with the students and support for their demands. “We know the media may spin us as outsiders or agitators, but we came out today because as Westchester county residents, and New York State taxpayers, we want to uplift these students’ voices as they call on SUNY Purchase to divest from a war machine that has killed over 14,000 children in the last seven months alone,” said Jessie Dean, a Purchase alumnus and member of Jewish Voice for Peace’s local Westchester chapter. Faculty members, who also took part in the protest, said they were proud of their students for standing strong in their moral convictions, despite an increasing culture of repression and censorship at Purchase and in the country at large,” end of WESPAC release.
After the arrests, the Purchase Faculty wrote a letter to SUNY Purchase President Milagros Pena. “We the faculty at Purchase College, are outraged and condemn the violent and disproportionate actions taken by campus authorities against our students and faculty. Our students were participating in a peaceful protest, an act protected by their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly. This represents a catastrophic failure by the administration.”
This week, Purchase students were celebrating what they called “a victory” claiming that the college has agreed to many of their demands, including disinvestment in Israel.
Editor’s Note: There has been no public release of information on those arrested, and what they are charged with and whether they are students, teachers, or outsiders. Based on the video’s available to view online, while police had to use force to remove a few of the protestors, there appears to be no unlawful arrests made by police. As one of our friends in law enforcement told us, “These things never look good. But after being told by the College that they had to leave, and then by police several times that they have to leave, the police have to do their job and remove the students.”
Once the Purchase administration asked for the police to remove the protestors, the police did so. There were also no reports of abuse of any kind against Jewish students at SUNY Purchase.
