Emma Baum | Special to The Denisonian
Editor’s note: President Adam Weinberg emailed a response to the campus in the form of a Community Update Nov. 13 encouraging students and faculty to root their engagement in the principles of a liberal arts education.
As the clock struck 11 on the morning of Nov. 9, students across campus walked out of class to congregate in front of the main entrance to Slayter Union. By 11:20 a.m. over 60 students had linked arms in order to block the doors, drowning out the Swasey bells which marked the beginning of common hour with chants of “Not another nickel, not another dime no more money for Israel’s crimes,” and “Free free Palestine.”
As students and faculty poured out of academic buildings on their way to lunch or work in between classes, many paused to observe the demonstration organized by
Denison Students for Justice in Palestine, Denison Democratic Socialists of America, and Denison Muslim Student Association to what would be known as the national “Shut It Down” call for Palestinian liberation.
“In my time here, I just haven’t seen a demonstration like this,” said one senior who stopped to watch. “Whether you take a side or you’re neutral, I think you should at least be observing this.”
By 11:30 a.m. about 30 students and faculty sat and stood scattered throughout the academic quad, watching the demonstrators. Using the steps leading up to the flagpole as a makeshift dais, several students and faculty spoke to the crowd, urging members of the picket line to stand their ground despite the cold and the risk of penalty from the university and fellow students.
Campus Safety arrived at just after 11:30, and according to students in the picket line, did nothing when several students came out of Slayter and attempted to physically break the picket line by pushing aside members. Shortly after, Campus Security officers who were standing between the doors of Slayter and the picket line warned that the demonstration warranted disciplinary action and that Granville Police Department could be called in.
Campus Security was not the only one to express displeasure with the picket line. Individual students engaged in gestures such as flipping off the students demonstrating, giving them thumbs down, and continuously attempting to push through the picket line as they exited Slayter Union.
Granger Brown ‘25 walked through the bushes behind the picket line rather than turning around and exiting through an alternate door. However, he mentioned how he was not entirely against the demonstration.
“I don’t feel necessarily attacked by [the demonstration] or anything… like I don’t think it’s directly antisemitic,” Brown said. “I have a lot of empathy for the plight that Palestinians are going through. I also feel a lot of hatred towards Israel for their reaction towards the attack of Hamas.”
Brown added, “It just feels a little bit alarming as a Jewish student, the amount of unconditional support that Palestine is getting towards Israel, and I feel like also
Jewish people like underlying that.”
Monica Bradford ‘24, a member of the picket line, felt differently.
“I think it’s my duty to speak, my duty to stand with Palestine,” said Bradford. “I am Jewish. I have family in Israel… I think it’s my duty to show that even Jewish people, even people who have Israeli family, can both pray for the safety of Palestinian people and pray for the safety of Israeli people, but not support what the
Israeli government is doing and actively speak out against it.”
As the demonstration continued, flyers with the demands of the demonstrators, written as a joint statement with similar groups at Kenyon College, Oberlin College, and the College of Wooster, were handed out to students passing by. The statement included demands for the universities to publicly call for an immediate ceasefire, uphold students’ rights to free speech, and divest from Israeli arms corporations.
At 11:45 a.m. the names of Palestinians who have died because of the conflict over the last month were read, followed by a moment of silence. The picket line dispersed shortly after as members of the demonstration moved to the fourth floor of Slayter for a town hall on the issue. In the aftermath of the demonstration, there didn’t seem to be a definitive answer as to how Denison would address the conflict.
Brown encouraged the University to maintain its current public stance of neutrality in the name of freedom of thought, while Bradford expressed hope for a response from the University in spite of her doubt of such a thing happening.
“I feel like the university should respond. I think that’s a way of being engaged with your student body. Do I thinkthey will? I don’t know,” said the senior observer.