Map last updated on June 13, 2024.
Students across the country protested en masse in the spring of 2024, demanding that their colleges cut ties with weapons manufacturers that are supplying Israel with arms to carry out strikes in Gaza.
Many of the student protests took the form of “Gaza solidarity encampments” or “liberated zones,” inspired by pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University, where more than 100 protesters were arrested on April 18.
The Columbia arrests came one day after its president, Nemat (Minouche) Shafik, testified at a congressional hearing about her administration’s response to campus antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began.
The surge in activism came toward the end of the spring semester for most colleges. The central demands of each protest have looked the same: Institutions should divest their endowments from companies with ties to Israel and its military, as well as call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Here’s a cumulative tally of where encampments, multiday protests, and sit-ins appeared on campuses in April, May, and June. (The Chronicle is not including rallies, walkouts, and other contained events that aren’t sustained over at least one day.)
The divestment movement, which often targets fossil-fuel companies, directs institutions to make moral statements by financially penalizing organizations and governments that divestment proponents believe are promoting societal ills.
College administrators have refused to commit to divestment from Israel so far. Many of them oppose boycotts on principle; others say such a move could run them into trouble with state and federal law. Higher-ed leaders are also increasingly reluctant to take positions that could be perceived as political, amid greater scrutiny from politicians and others. Critics of divestment campaigns say they cut against the core purpose of a college’s endowment, which is to make money for the institution.
Demands for divestment have been commonplace among pro-Palestinian activists since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people; over 34,000 Palestinians have died from Israel’s military retaliation since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
But this spring’s protest methods — in many cases, students said they planned to occupy campus property indefinitely with tents and blankets — signaled a renewed wave of activism. Students at a handful of colleges, including Yale University, New York University, and the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, were arrested for trespassing after putting up encampments.
