Protesters rallied outside a University of New Mexico Board of Regents' meeting Thursday, before joining in public comment to condemn the clearing of a pro-Palestinian encampment by police on Wednesday.
As the meeting began, President Stokes told the board the university years ago put rules in place, in response to 2011's Occupy Wall Street movement, prohibiting camping on university grounds.
After an encampment of protesters calling for the university to divest from Israel-linked investments had been in place about three weeks, she said she met with its leaders and supporters and told them, “We can no longer allow, for a variety of reasons related to health and safety, access to the to the Duck Pond.”
On Tuesday, she issued an ultimatum to protesters to leave the camp by 5 p.m. or face enforcement. Then, she saidafter a number of warnings early Wednesday morning, campus and state police “initiated a slow progression to ask those who had not yet left to leave.”
Protesters have described the police action as violent and forceful to KUNM.
Faculty Senate President Cris Elder criticized the deployment of state police in riot gear.
The move, “puts us all in danger, but particularly those from marginalized communities that make up the greatest demographic on our campus,” she said.
Outside the meeting, about 50 protesters and their supporters rallied, chanting outside the meeting room before entering quietly to participate in public comment, lining the back walls holding signs and Palestinian flags.
Professor Jennifer Tucker said spaces like the encampment are a result of limited official opportunities to be heard.
“If the invited spaces of participation are inadequate, there will be invented spaces of participation,” she said.
Recent law school graduate Camilla Allison alleged that U.S. transfers of weapons to Israel violated international law designed to prevent such weapons being used in human rights abuses.
“Students are demonized, arrested and incarcerated for exercising their constitutional First Amendment right to protest their university's financial ties to these weapons manufacturers,” she said.
State Representative Eleanor Chavez (D-Bernalillo) spoke in support of protester demands. She calling on the Board of Regents to move “quickly to immediately divest from those companies who are fueling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza.”
In March, a U.N.-appointed lawyer told the UN's Human Rights Council that there are reasonable grounds to believe Israel has committed acts of genocide in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called such claims “outrageous.”
Others gave public comment against the encampment and demands to divest from Israel. Protestors interrupted these comments with shouts despite requests from the board not to.
Student Savannah Gallegos said some of the protestors’ chants and opinions have made her and other Jewish students feel unsafe or uncomfortable. She said that she is a strong believer in free speech.
"Personally, I am not here to ask you to adopt my position to support Israel unconditionally or to become a Zionist. Instead, I'm going to ask that you continue to uphold UNM as a safe space for differing beliefs,” she said.
“I'm asking you to commit to a de-escalation of the current atmosphere that is intimidating Jewish students."
Other Jewish speakers in support of divestment said they felt welcomed at the encampment.
The board did not address the public comments before adjourning.
Protesters have told KUNM they plan to continue to demand for the university to divest from Israel, with or without an encampment.
The university holds KUNM’s license but has no editorial input in our coverage.
