CLEVELAND — For a third consecutive day, Case Western Reserve University students and others camped out on campus, calling on the university to stop doing business with Israel.
“It’s been a lovely community space, where we’re able to sit here, have our signage up and make sure students walking to their classes, walking between their finals and stuff are just aware of what is happening in the world and the fact that we can no longer stay silent about what is happening to Palestinian people,” said CWRU junior Sabrina Wicker.
A list of demands posted at the encampment earlier in the week called on administrators to divulge CWRU’s investments, cut ties with all Israeli academic institutions and business dealings and pardon any students facing discipline for their involvement with the protests.
“Until we are respected here at Case Western Reserve University, we are going to remain right here,” said CWRU senior Jad Kamhawi Oglesby.
Student organizers noted some progress in negotiations with school administrators. The group has been allowed to keep tents up in the KSL Oval, and school leaders have been more lenient with non-students who were previously barred from staying overnight.
On Monday, a News 5 crew was there when police broke up the encampment and briefly detained demonstrators. Watch here:
“Of course, it’s important to keep up the space. But our long-term goal is to make sure we are divesting,” Wicker said.
With the Israel-Hamas war raging halfway across the world, other groups were holding their own events halfway across campus. Several Jewish student organizations had planned to host a finals week event on KSL Oval Wednesday but instead opted to relocate the event to the Albert and Norma Geller Hillel Student Center.
“I’m not surprised. I guess I’m hurt and shocked and I feel a little violated, to be honest,” said Sara Alevsky, who leads the Chabad Center with her husband.
Along with food and a petting zoo, one table at the Wednesday event included photos of the Israeli hostages captured by Hamas during an October 7 attack.
Alevsky said some of the signs and chants at the encampment have made Jewish students uncomfortable and upset, and it’s been important to the staff there to ensure a safe and welcoming space at the center.
“I’ve been raised all my childhood by Holocaust grandparents, who had to run away, flee and leave their homes because they were Jewish. And I can’t let this happen to the Jewish students here,” Alevsky said.
Some Jewish students said the conduct from student protesters has been respectful, and they haven’t felt unsafe on campus, but the demonstrations have been a stressor during an already stressful finals week.
“I’d like to say no, but the truth is yes. I spent almost all of Monday down here, instead of down there on the quad doing studying and whatnot,” said CWRU junior Gabriel Wolf. “Most of the students are very respectful, which is what I’d expect from most students. Some are doing all the chants - even the ones you shouldn’t be doing. But at the end of the day it’s their right to protest.”
Demonstrators said they’d welcome an open dialogue with Jewish students and community members.
“If they can understand our plight and our suffering, we can create more of a fellowship. We can become more united,” said Oglesby.
In downtown Cleveland on Wednesday, several activist groups and community members held their own demonstration. The small crowd combined a May 1 workers’ rights celebration with a pro-Palestinian rally.
“Workers of the world should unite and push back against the billionaires who are suffocating us and our planet,” said C. Stonebreaker-Martinez with the InterReligious Task Force on Central America.
The rally was held outside of KeyBank tower downtown, and demonstrators were denouncing the bank’s investment in State of Israel bonds. When News 5 asked Wednesday, KeyBank said it had no comment on the protests.
Many of those protesters planned to join the encampment at CWRU. Though classes wrap up for most students next week, student organizers said they plan to continue camping out until their demands are met by administrators. The university told News 5 it will allow the protests to continue as long as they remain peaceful.
