November 14, 2024 – At 11 a.m., roughly 50 students walked out of class and assembled in front of Memorial Building to call for divestment from military contractors in light of the war in Gaza.
Students marched around Ankeny at 11:10, shouting call-and-response chants, such as “What do want? Divestment. When do we want it? Now. What will we do if we don’t get it? Shut the college down!” More students joined the march during the trip around Ankeny, bringing approximately 75 students back to Memorial Hall.
The group of students commenced a die-in at roughly 11:30am, with student leaders announcing that the protest would last for at least an hour. The die-in was scheduled to start during the Board of Trustees’ meeting in Memorial Hall. However, the meeting was moved to Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, WA, about an hour away from campus, citing concerns of possible disruption. Students and faculty made clear their disappointment with the Board of Trustees during the procession.
Students were quick to call out the Board of Trustees, chanting “Board of Trustees, you can’t hide. You are funding genocide.” Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature and Director of the IRES department, Zahi Zalloua, was also critical of the Board’s decision to move their meeting off of campus.
“It is shameless. Why not engage with students, which would be the courageous thing to do, to work together with students and faculty in order to confront the problem of genocide?” Zalloua said.
After the die-in concluded, The Wire received a statement from Whitman Students for Justice in Palestine, expressing their disappointment in the college’s reaction to both of today’s protests.
“During this morning die-in in front of the bus, Whitman Security made sure to ‘protect’ the Board of Trustees members only, despite the peaceful nature of student protesters. Yet, when students staged a die-in in front of Memorial Hall, Whitman Security wasn’t around. Community members slowed their cars, one even got out of the vehicle, presenting a clear danger to students. In light of an incoming Trump Presidency, which has promised to clamp down on student activism, and threatens minority students, Whitman College must protect its students with more than words,” the statement said.
During the protest, many community members slowed down their cars, and a few approached the protest outside Memorial. One community member, wearing a Trump baseball hat, took several photos of student protesters.
“We have seen Palestinian students physically and verbally harassed in Walla Walla and Trump’s Presidency only reinvigorates concerns about reactionary violence against all students. It is clear that Whitman puts property over its students, as it always has. The Board’s refusal to engage with students – going so far as to remove themselves from Walla Walla – is yet another reminder of the incommensurability between students and those charged with representing us. It is clear that Whitman will ‘protect’ the BOT from its own students, which are protesting peacefully, before protecting students facing the threat of fascism on the ground,” the statement said.
The Wire has yet to receive any statements from the Board of Trustees regarding the movement of their meeting or their reaction to the protests that have taken place today.
