Update 11:30 pm May 9
Students lay on the ground draped in graduation garb with hands painted red to represent the blood of dead Palestinian infants as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) kept up protest efforts.
Day 11 of the ongoing protest encampment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison held a rally where around 100 marched up Bascom Hill to stage a die-in.
A day after they walked out of negotiations, student and faculty organizers again met with administration, but neither side provided and update on whether talks progressed..
At the rally, some protestors wore their graduation regalia as SJP read a letter in solidarity from the remaining living professors from Palestinian Universities — all of which had been destroyed. Protestors then marched up to Bascom Hill, hands painted red, as they lay on the ground for 30 minutes with SJP reading off the names of Palestinian infants from a banner hung from the Abraham Lincoln statue.
“The situation in Palestine has reached increased genocidal levels marked by the mass targeting of Palestinian life by killing and displacement,” an SJP representative said, reading the letter. “We know the risks you are taking in favor of the repressive measures that are taken against university faces built on talent in the power benefiting from silence at a time when the voices of the oppressed are intentional dialects, your solidarity surge, of hope or resounding message will not be tolerated.”
The protest organizers went on to release a statement contesting a breach in safety protocol from UWPD in mass notifications of multiple hate crimes reported. University police reported three incidents from May 1, 7 and 8 on “Intimidating-Religious/Disorderly Conduct/Assault.
On May 1, UWPD reports “a student who was displaying a pro-Israel sign reported that an unknown man with a knife visibly attached to his waistband approached her on Library Mall and stated to her, ‘Jews shouldn’t be on campus.’”
On May 7, “a student reported that he was approached by an unknown male on Library Mall who threatened to kill him if he didn’t put away his phone. The victim walked away and reported the suspect followed him for a short time and continued to threaten him verbally.”
On May 8, “at approximately 4:20 a.m., an assault involving the use of a large stick occurred between two individuals on Library Mall. As UWPD officers arrived, the fight had stopped and there was no longer a disturbance.”
Students for Justice in Palestine criticized the reports for lack of notification to protest safety marshals in what it calls “negotiations in which the administration has failed to embody a good-faith posture.”
“As trained volunteers who have worked to keep the encampment safe for all, including the counter-protestors who visit daily, we believe there is a narrative the UW police and administration are trying to spin about the encampment by compiling these alleged safety incidents and delaying their release until now, which serves to potentially paint the encampment as a public safety issue to evade negotiations while commencement is approaching,” said safety marshal Lily Zyndorf Shell in the press release.
It urges that the encampment remains peaceful and vigilantly watched after to ensure the safety of all while pointing to an increasing number of unhoused individuals setting up close to the area. Safety marshals claim the need to monitor them but said none posed a risk to the camp.
Negotiations and updates are expected as finals wrap up and commencement ceremonies start at the university.
Update 10:00 pm May 8
Negotiations came to a halt between the University of Wisconsin-Madison administration and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) after the protestors walked out of the room in frustration over stonewalled discussions on divestments.
On Wednesday morning, day 10 of the encampment, SJP negotiators continued meetings with UW-Madison admininstration on divestment, proposed principles of investments and pathways to achieve them yielded no results. Both parties report SJP negotiators walked out of the meeting where the protestors negotiators later told campus in its daily evening update the reason being for stonewalled conversations.
“I just want everyone to remember why we are here. We are here for the people, for the people and for the people undergoing a genocide,” SJP said. “The chancellor wants us to forget why we’re here and just pack up and leave, but that will never happen until she agrees to meet our demands.”
With graduation coming this weekend and families soon to flood Madison to celebrate their children, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s goal to have the encampment end by the start of finals, back on May 5, was not met. Protestors urge that they will continue the encampment for as long as it takes regardless of the academic year ending and most students leaving campus.
Following the meeting, UW-Madison released a statement calling for the encampment to be torn down and published its proposed resolution to protestors from May 7.
In the May 7 proposed resolution, UW-Madison reiterated its inability to hold any direct authority over how the University of Wisconsin Foundation’s endowment is invested but said it would facilitate access to relevant decision-makers to present concerns and requests. The proposal also outlined UW-Madison Chancellor Mnookin’s willingness to attend meetings with decision-makers “solely to emphasize the importance of listening to your concerns and requests.”
In exchange for the university’s commitment, it expects that all tents, materials and other evidence of the encampment be removed by no later than 4 p.m. on May 8.
The proposal ended with, “In any future protest activity, you will comply with all university regulations and state laws, including Chapter 18. You will engage in no further disruption of university operations, including final examinations and all commencement-related activities.”
In SJP’s evening update at Library Mall, organizers explained why they walked out of today’s meeting.
“This morning, I met with the chancellor’s administration negotiating team after sending a proposal to the Chancellor of what a pathway to divestment, and more importantly, the principles of ethical investment for this university could look like. We were stonewalled,” an SJP representative said. “This morning, we walked out of the negotiation because we were at the same place where we started last Monday before the chancellor called the police to brutalize students and faculty members.”
The proposal from SJP on ethical investment strategy has been made public with a petition. The proposal contains four parts outlining its divestment strategy, how to gauge entities that engage in “unethical practices,” a process to report and publicize investments and divestments, the importance of engaging in divestments and calling on the university to rebuild trust with the community.
Students for Justice in Palestine said they are ready to meet with Chancellor Mnookin, who has been absent from almost all meetings, to figure out where they can negotiate on demands.
University admin also said they are ready to continue to meet “notwithstanding today’s walkout” with the goal of more negotiations Thursday. University admin believes the walkout to be based on a misunderstanding of the chancellor’s role and authority, according to a statement from the university.
“As the chancellor shared at Monday’s faculty senate meeting: ‘The simple reality is that we do not control how the great bulk of our endowment is managed and invested. These decisions are quite literally not at all under my control,’” UW-Madison said in the statement.
Protestors have been unsatisfied with the frequently restated answer with one student, Adam Donahue, speaking out on the chancellor’s inability at the same faculty senate meeting mentioned in the statement. Donahue was one of the students detained on May 1’s encampment police raid.
“You say, Chancellor, you do not have the power … Okay, let’s assume you speak the truth. I don’t care,” said student Adam Donahue, one of the students detained on May 1. “I think I speak for many of those here when I say we don’t care. Make it happen.”
University admin said it remains open to another meeting. The encampment is still up as of Wednesday evening with more supporters coming out.
Update May 7
The pro-Palestinian encampment on UW-Madison’s Library Mall entered its eighth day Monday, marking the beginning of its second week since it was first erected on April 29. More than 55 tents currently stand, with the addition of an emotional wellness space in front of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
At 11 am Monday, student organizers provided general updates for the day. They said there has been no further movement on negotiations with UW administration regarding their six demands, but they are “in the process of setting up future meetings.”
Community guidelines and the encampment’s demands were reiterated. Announcements closed with a reading of a letter of support from Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return (SUPER), the University of Washington-Seattle chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group is part of the United Front for Palestinian Liberation, and multiple members are from Madison.
An excerpt of the letter reads:
“We would first like to say how inspired we are by you all. In the face of violent police retaliation and repression from administration, you have remained steadfast in your demands and your commitment to Palestinian liberation.
We have been horrified to see the videos of police brutality on your campus, especially against Palestinian participants. It’s shameful and [disserving] that the University of Wisconsin would rather state violence against its own students and faculty rather than divest from Israel and war profiteers.”
In Gaza, the situation continues to deteriorate. Over the weekend, CNN reported that Israel shut down Al Jazeera operations in the country, seizing some of its communication equipment.
As of today, Israeli forces have also begun a ground invasion on Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge since the aggression began in October. This attack comes even after Hamas leaders agreed to an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire agreement.
At 2:15 p.m., around 250 UW-Madison faculty marched with pro-Palestine protestors to Bascom Hill to protest the university’s response towards the ongoing encampment and lack of action for demands. Protestors then entered the building to sit in on the last faculty senate meeting of the semester, where Chancellor Mnookin gave her first public comments on the ongoing encampment to date.
Faculty presented an issue during the initial gathering of the rally on how agenda items get added to the faculty senate meeting. Agenda items are required, typically, to be added 10 days before meetings. The topic of the encampment, now in its eighth day, could not be added to the agenda. However, a petition with enough signatures could prompt the Faculty Senate to call a special meeting.
“What one of the things that several of them have been doing over the past several days is trying to gather together signatures so we can convene a special meeting of faculty senate dedicated to addressing the events of the past week,” said Keith Woodward, professor in the department of geology. “Maybe it’s no big surprise — assistant professors were first out of the gate to say yes to this. There’s a lot of enthusiasm from assistant professors.”
Assistant professors are at greater risk due to lack of tenure, Woodward noted. Regardless, a large number of them have persisted to address the safety concerns facing students attempting to protest.
At around 3:00 pm, protestors split with some heading back down to the encampment and those who remained behind waiting to enter Bascom Hall to sit in on the Faculty Senate meeting. Upon entering at around 3:30 p.m., Mnookin was in the middle of another agenda item before acknowledging the room becoming packed with protestors. Faculty Senate decided to deviate from the agenda to make time to address the encampment where Mnookin made her first public comments on protests outside of statements released through the university.
“First, I want to speak with the safety concerns as I see, I mean understand that it likely is not the intent of any of our student protesters to create a community safety risk, but I do believe that this is an outcome of their actions,” Mnookin said. “We’re increasingly concerned with anti-semitic comments, the potential for violent conflict with outside groups, Islamophobic comments and the risk of seeing this entire situation spiral out of control.”
Mnookin drew parallels on the potential of safety risks at UW-Madison and connected it with her concerns at UCLA’s encampment. Mnookin served as faculty, vice dean in multiple positions and dean for the School of Law between 2005 and 2022 at UCLA before becoming chancellor of UW-Madison.
“You see terrible situations occurring elsewhere, including most dramatically my former campus at UCLA and of course, Columbia, and we desperately want to avoid a similar situation happening here,” Mnookin said.
She addressed the rule that prohibits camping on campus grounds and the fact that she could authorize such an encampment; she said that if she did that for the protest encampment then she would have to do that for everyone. She presented a slide on the issue based on a voicemail left with University Communications last week to illustrate her point.
The voicemail, which Madison365 received from university communications, states “I’m calling because I’m organizing an anti-Black Lives Matter protest. We’re gonna set up on your campus; we’re gonna put up tents and we’re gonna be shouting, ‘Death to Black people’ and ‘Death to illegal immigrants’ and perhaps ‘Death to the Chancellor’ – who knows? What do you think about that? We’d like to see your opinion about that. We just want to be equally represented on your campus. So, ‘Death to Black Lives Matter’ – what do you think of that?”
The caller ID was blocked and the message forwarded to UWPD, according to University Communications. Mnookin used the voicemail to illustrate her point that if she makes an exception for the encampment, then she will need to for all protest encampments in the future to remain “content neutral.”
Johnny, a creative writing graduate student, criticized the statement from Mnookin and her point during public comment saying he “will not be used as a scapegoat to justify police intervention” as a Black student.
The chancellor also took time to address demands from SJP with an emphasis on divestments.
“The simple reality is that here at UW-Madison, we — I do not control how the endowment is managed and these decisions are simply not at all under my control,” Mnookin said. “I do not get investment decisions. I don’t even have any direct voice in those investment decisions.”
Public comment opened up for faculty members to rebut Mnookin’s statements with Samer Alatout, a Palestinian professor at UW-Madison who has garnered national attention for a photo of him bloodied and carried by police, criticizing university response to protests.
“One of my biggest critiques for what happened this week is that the administration has taken itself to represent the university, and that it is the university,” Alatout said. “I think that at some point or another, the administration does think that it actually represents the university or that it is the University.”
Alatout points out the “problematic” university response calling in law enforcement to raid the encampment and detain and injure three faculty members of color. He recounts hearing police say “Grab him” and speculated on blind spots in the administration’s and law enforcement’s for targeting faculty of color.
“The question is, why would I be targeted by the police and then why the two others or faculty of color? Why? We cannot just ignore that as if it’s something that’s coincidental,” Alatout said.
Alatout, despite sustaining injuries in the police raid, said he would stand again to protect students because he believes it’s his job as an educator.
“I take my job as a professor really seriously. I am there to protect intellectual freedom. I am there to protect their emotional wellbeing, I am their social wellbeing and I am there to protect their physical wellbeing,” Alatout said. “What happens in the fields happens to me and that’s not a statement of advertisement. I’m not trying to show off that I’m so much better than any of you, but it is the basis of what makes me a professor. That’s how I think of myself and that’s how I like all of you to think of yourself.”
Public comment continued where more faculty continued to criticize Mnookin’s statements. One professor, who identified himself as Chuck with the geography department, read a statement from the executive committee condemning administration’s response to the encampment and called for a public apology to protestors and the campus community.
Mnookin did not take questions after her statements but said she would like to at a future date.
Update May 4
The encampment reached its sixth day at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as negotiations continued between admin and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
At 9:21 a.m., SJP announced another meeting this afternoon with Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin following yesterday’s negotiations where she was not present. A phone call was planned for the day prior but did not occur either. Chancellor Mnookin was also not present for today’s meeting.
The meeting extended out into the late afternoon with an update from SJP on continued negotiations at 4:16 p.m.
In the negotiations, Provost Charles Isbell, Senior Vice Provost John Zumbrunnen and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Resso and SJP members met to discuss the possibility of disclosure of investments, guidelines for investments and addressing police presence in the encampment.
“It seems like the chancellor is finally willing to talk in a bit more detail,” said Dahlia Saba, member of SJP. “We’ve had in the negotiations we talked about the possibility of actually getting disclosure of the UW investments which is an important step in transparency.”
The SJP’s proposed their own general framework for reinvestment following divestment. It urges the university to not invest in arms manufacturing, environmental degradation, operations in occupied territory and management of private prisons.
Talks on police presence on campus was touched on again as many have been on edge following the promised 24-hour break between Thursday and Friday. The university has said that no additional raids will happen as long as negotiations continue.
“We are relieved to hear that the university has stated that they will not use police action to clear the campus at least while negotiations are going on as that would be a pretty damning show with bad faith,” Saba said. “But as we’ve seen, as they’ve acknowledged, this is a demand that has been around for a while now and we’re still waiting to see serious progress towards that.”
The current timeline as to when the encampment will end is still uncertain. The goal of Mnookin was to have negotiations finished by the start of finals at UW-Madison on May 5, but that deadline will not be met now. Protestors are ready to use the chance with graduations coming around to highlight the ongoing encampment and demands for incoming families.
“As parents come in and see where the tuition money that they may be paying is going. It is on all of us to demand this university stop using that tuition money and that endowment money to find genocide and find occupation,” Saba said. “I also hope that parents have seen the way that their universities have used police violence against their kids.”
Another meeting is planned tomorrow with continued updates on negotiations.
Update May 3, 4 p.m.
Students for Justice in Palestine reconvened for another update on negotiation progress at 4 p.m.
In the second update today, the current status of the four protestors arrested was provided with all being released on signature bonds, a promise by defendants to return to court for trial, with all except one completely banned from campus. The single student arrested and charged has been banned from only the Library Mall area due to the necessity for him to access campus to take his finals this coming week. The three others have been outright banned from stepping foot on campus.
“[We] wanted to extend on behalf of all the students of the popular university for Gaza here, our deep appreciation for faculty who are showing their support even through advocacy, sharing food with us, or otherwise acting in solidarity with us during these critical protests,” SJP said.
Organizers from SJP, again, reiterated their demands and highlighted how faculty can support efforts.
Support avenues include: contribution of supplies, money for the bail fund and Gazans displaced, protection of faculty and professors from police violence and unlearn “policing behaviors that you use day-to-day providing grace and cover to Palestinian students and protestors,” through flexibility with deadlines, attendance grades and final exams, SJP said.
Additionally, SJP relayed plans from protesting faculty to walkout Monday and a push to withhold final grades until demands are met.
A community vigil for killed Palestinians since October will be held tonight at 10 p.m.
More updates on negotiation efforts are expected to come tomorrow as Mnookin is pushing for protests to end by the start of finals on May 5.
Update May 3, 2:30 pm
At around 11:15 a.m., Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) gave an update on its second meeting with university admin on the status of the four protestors charged with felonies, negotiation efforts, and police presence in the encampment.
Chancellor Mnookin was not present for today’s 8:30 a.m. meeting — there were no discussions on police presence at the encampment moving forward. Administrators simply reiterated their desire for tents to be removed from the premises.
Students and faculty negotiators met with Provost Charles Isbell, Senior Vice Provost John Zumbrunnen and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Ressor. Negotiations didn’t progress and UW-Madison Professor Samar Alatout withdrew from further discussions until administration issues an apology, according to SJP.
SJP reports that Mnookin wants to find a deal by Sunday, when final exams begin. Admin offered another meeting tomorrow, but student negotiators said the “meeting will be pointless without disclosure of the UW Foundation’s investments.”
“The only way to move this forward to our goal of divestment is with disclosure. Like we’ve always said, disclose. We will not stop, we will not stop, we will not stop, we will not stop,” SJP said.
Another meeting between admin and SJP negotiators via a phone call is expected to happen later today. Mnookin is not expected to be present for the phone call.
A spokesperson for SJP clarified points on the meeting with members of the press following the update.
While police presence is a concern for protesters, they reiterated the importance of the encampment centering their solidarity with those in Palestine. “Given what happened on Wednesday, this is a concern that we have to take into account but again, given the situation in Gaza, especially given the imminent invasion of Rafah,” SJP representative Dahlia Saba said. “Our concern lies more with the people of Gaza.”
Saba emphasized Chancellor Mnookin’s inaction compared to what actions she could take, given her position. “As the chancellor of a major university, she does have leverage to pressure the UW foundation to disclose its divestment. And yet she has refused to commit to using any of that leverage to meet the demands of students.”
As The Daily Cardinal has previously reported, UW-Madison has public investments in six Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) managed by Blackrock.
“However, the vast majority of the UW Foundation’s investments are entirely private,” Saba clarified. “And that’s why it’s so important that the chancellor use her leverage to pressure them to disclose what they’re invested in.”
Student organizers are once again calling on the chancellor to do more.
“We hope that the chancellor will do more than she is currently indicated,” Saba said. “Because again, the point of these negotiations is to use the leverage that the university has to actually end its complicity in the ongoing genocide and occupation.”
Saba drove home that SJP and other organizers want “actual commitments to meeting our demands.”
“If we do not see further movement from the chancellor, then we will have to continue fighting and continue increasing the pressure on the university,” Saba said. “We want to make sure that in our negotiations, we are having actual commitments to meeting our demands.”
Another update from SJP is expected to come at 4 p.m.
Update April 30, 11:30 pm
Day two of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s encampment is still going with a smaller crowd, from hundreds down to over 100, but stronger resources to support protestors and an update on demands lobbied to disclose and divest investments in Israel.
Charging stations have been added, a more formal food servicing area called “The People’s Kitchen,” personal protection equipment, COVID-19 tests, Plan B pills, a solid stockpile of water and food and additional canopies have been added. More tents have popped up from day one to two with the former having a handful to the latter with nearly 30 set up. Organizers noted that no additional space has been taken up to accommodate improved infrastructure in the encampment.
Around 6:30 p.m., an update on negotiations the university’s response was given by Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP).
“Yesterday, our student negotiators met twice with UW administration,” an SJP member said to the crowd. “In this meeting, when negotiators brought up our demands, admin said they did not read them.”
In the first meeting, with Dean of Students Christina Olstad, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Bernie Rodriguez and Chief of Staff for the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Argyle Wade, the demands from SJP were not read but they brought up Chapter 18 of the Administrative Code.
The code, previously cited twice in announcements from university leadership, outlaws camping on the university except in designated areas unless UW Admin makes an exception.
“This rule makes it clear that UW admin has the power to make an exception for this encampment, but they are actively choosing not to,” SJP said.
The second meeting, still including those from the previous with the addition of Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lorie Reese, university admin told negotiators from the encampment to take all tents down and that the tents were “a symbolic way to spite us,” according to SJP.
Negotiators responded to the sentiment calling it “hurtful” and that the tents were representative of the millions of Palestinians displaced from their homes. Trust between the two continues to degrade.
“The fact that they see these tents and only think about themselves, their image and their hurts, show that they don’t care about repairing trust and they only care about feeling powerful again, and they only want to appeal to their Zionist donors,” SJP said.
In additional meetings, SJP met with faculty who sent out an invite to meet with UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin under the conditions that students be present at discussions. Mnookin strongly disagrees with students being at discussions, according to SJP.
Original story, April 29
Hundreds flocked to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Library Mall in an encampment to demand disclosure and divestments from Israel.
On April 29, starting in the morning, alumni, students and supporters came out to UW-Madison to set up an encampment, a budding national trend across universities around the country, in a continued effort to call for a ceasefire in the ongoing war in Gaza. In addition, protestors are demanding UW-Madison disclose and divest from any investments in Israeli companies.
On April 26, Dean of Students Christina Olstad and UWPD Interim Chief Brent Plisch issued a preemptive announcement outlining Chapter 18 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, reminding students of the types of activities limited on campus, specifically a rule that prohibits camping on university property. The announcement gave no indication as to whether anyone participants will be arrested, suspended or expelled for violating any policy for protest.
Three days following the announcement, Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP) started an encampment. Supporters, ranging from students, faculty, alumni, local elected officials and community members, came out to show their support.
“I am here in support of Palestinian liberation, and we are out here trying to get the university to divest from the war manufacturing machine that may have a lot of our tuition money,” said Abbie Klein, a grad student at the encampment.
Concerns from students matched sentiments expressed by encamped protesters at other universities. Demands include disclosure of investments in Israeli companies, divestment from those companies, and the removal of police from the UW campus. Alder Muralidharan Govindarajan, working both his roles as student and elected official representing the campus area, strived to keep peace between the university, protesters and police.
Police were seen with zip cuffs and drones, as reported throughout the day by the Daily Cardinal. Govindarajan and fellow Alder Julianna Bennett were forcibly removed from the Fluno Center by law enforcement after trying to keep communication open around 10:48 p.m.
Local elected officials from across the area came out to show their support. Fitchburg Alder Joe Maldonado came to show support for the students who “are the catalysts behind social change,” he said.
“This is historical. Students were a huge part of ending apartheid in South Africa, so there’s historical precedents behind this. UW has got a history of social resistance and it’s really important that we support our students,” Maldonado said. “I fully support our students, our faculty and our staff in speaking out against something that’s glaringly wrong, that our government is supporting, and I hope that our national leaders recognize that we need a ceasefire.”
A second announcement on the encampment came from UW-Madison’s Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin at 7:15 Monday asking for compliance with state laws and university policies before discussing demands.
“Once compliance with campus policy and state law has been achieved and tents have been removed from campus property, we, as campus leaders, stand ready to meet with campus-based organizers to discuss their demands,” Mnookin said in the announcement. “We continue to ask the protesters to voluntarily comply with state law against tents and encampments on university property. We hope that protestors will elect to avail themselves of the many alternative ways to protest and to express their views without tents or encampments on our campus grounds.”
As of Tuesday evening, tents are currently still up and demands are yet to be met or discussed with campus officials. Protestors said they aim to keep the encampment up as long as it takes for demands to be met.
The story is still developing as the encampment sits for a second day with no definitive end.
