As I think about the current situation, I wonder if the students that Chancellor Martin is deriding and threatening will have the same reflection at their reunion weekends. Then I think, with the experience they are having, would they even come?

As we learn to advocate for our clients and communities, to further social justice, and to challenge institutional and systemic oppression, we find the Brown School’s silence on the genocide in Palestine fundamentally hypocritical and thoroughly in opposition to our institutional values.

A group of about 150 pro-Palestine protesters blocked off the intersection at Skinker Boulevard and Forest Park Parkway as part of a larger demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, May 3.  

To be “pro-Palestine,” one does not have to justify the horrific acts of terror that were committed on Oct. 7. To be “pro-Palestine,” one need not be anti-Israel. And being anti-Israel doesn’t make one effectively pro-Palestine.

About 25 pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside Washington University Chancellor Andrew Martin’s house on Forsyth Boulevard waving flags and chanting, May 2nd.

Washington University’s Muslim Student Association (MSA) hosted its annual Eid dinner in Hillman Hall’s Clark-Fox Forum to celebrate the year’s end, which took place from 6-9 p.m. on April 27. The event took place in view of the pro-Palestine protest and encampment and the ensuing arrests on the East End of campus. 

Protesters have spoken out against Washington University’s administration after the WashU Police Department (WUPD) carried out more than 100 arrests at a pro-Palestine encampment, with some calling the response unnecessarily violent, April 27.

Around 250 Washington University students and community members staged a pro-Palestine march from Forest park to Olin Library and set up an encampment just outside the library before moving it to the East End of campus, April 27.

Instead of acknowledging WashU’s continued inaction on its students’ desires, Martin makes no meaningful distinction between the protesters’ political goals and the environment that enabled the egging incident.

In an environment where discussions about justice are as pressing and urgent as ever, activists fighting for their causes need to invite as many people into the conversation as possible. Doing so should involve convincing people why they should care, not admonishing them for their complacency.