USF chapter of SDS to launch ‘solidarity encampment for Gaza’

Image via Jeislian Quiles-Sierra/Oracle.

The University of South Florida chapter of Students for a Democratic Society is launching an encampment meant to signal solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on.

The encampment opened at the MLK Plaza at USF Tampa a little after noon on Monday. Students leading the encampment are demanding that USF officials “disclose any and all investment information to the student body” and that USF “divest from Israel now.” 

They are also asking USF to issue a statement of solidarity with Palestinian and Arab students and to stop “all attacks on the student movement.”

The encampment comes as students on university campuses nationwide ramp up protests of the Israel/Hamas war. 

More than 34,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began after the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. That number cannot be independently verified because of closed access to international media in Gaza. The death toll also does not differentiate between civilians and Hamas. 

U.S. college students have been participating in sweeping protests, many criticized for including anti-semitism. At Columbia University in New York, where the first protests began, protesters have set up a new encampment after the first was cleared by police, resulting in nearly 50 arrests. 

Some 275 people were arrested Saturday at various campuses across the country, according to The Associated Press, which reports more than 900 total arrests since Columbia’s encampment began. 

Columbia has called on all protesters to clear the encampment on its campus by 2 p.m. Monday or risk suspension. The school has said it will not divest from Israel. 

Earlier this month, some USF students ended a hunger strike after over two weeks, beginning on March 18. The students said at the time that they would shift their efforts to other strategies after several students required medical treatment, and some were warned they could suffer organ failure or death. 

At the time, students said they would continue to press USF officials to provide transparency on investments, which prompted the school to respond by saying it does not directly invest but utilizes fund managers who diversify the school’s portfolio to include a “variety of asset classes, which include companies in most major industries,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. 

Under current state law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican allies in the Legislature, public universities are not permitted to base investment decisions on political or ideological reasons. The law came as part of an effort to crack down on ESG investing, which stands for environmental, social and governance and aims to direct investments in a socially responsible way. Critics argue that ESG violates their clients’ fiduciary trust in asset managers. 

USF’s latest protest comes after a weekend airstrike in Rafah left 20 dead, including at least one infant and a toddler, according to CNN. 

It also comes as a new ceasefire agreement is under consideration. The proposal from Egypt, which Israel helped draft but has not officially agreed to, calls for two phases — the release of 20-33 hostages kidnapped from Israel in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in the first phase, followed by additional prisoner swaps and a more permanent ceasefire in phase two, according to CNN. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the proposal “extraordinarily generous.” 

The proposal is seen as a way to avoid additional strikes in Rafah, where one million Palestinians have taken refuge. An Israeli source told CNN the deal is “the only chance to stop Rafah.” The U.S. and other countries allied with Israel have signaled concern about additional strikes if adequate efforts to protect civilian lives are not taken.