Nora Meeks, Special to The Denisonian—
At 10:30 a.m. on a Friday morning Slayter Union is alive with movement and chatter as people begin their day with meeting friends and ordering food. In the Slayter pit, under a Palestinian flag, sit the members of The Students for Justice in Palestine (Denison SJP). Spread across the table are flyers, QR codes and materials to make signs.
Denison SJP was founded in November 2022 by co-presidents Ali Imran ‘24 and Greta Schreiber ‘24. Their goal is to raise awareness about Palestine and advocate for the rights of Palestinian people in the occupied territories and internationally. This includes their right to their land, the end of the occupation and the right for Palestinian refugees to return to their home. SJP is a national grassroots organization that has been expanding at U.S colleges over the past two decades.
“Me and other students who wanted to have a discussion and create space to raise awareness started this organization,” Imran said.
He said that the decision to create the organization was also fueled by a rise in anti-Palestinian racism and harassment of students and professors. The past week SJP has tabled in Slayter everyday with resources encouraging people to learn more about the humanitarian crisis and issues facing people in Palestine. This also includes opportunities to anonymously submit questions and meet with student organizers in an effort to increase educational discourse on Denion’s campus.
The week of tabling has not been the first series of events that SJP has hosted this year to try and raise awareness surrounding the conflict in Gaza. SJP saw a lack of organization from other offices and campus groups and is continuously trying to fill that gap.
“With the way the news cycle goes, people have started to pay less and less attention even though the genocide hasn’t stoped,” Schreiber said.
Schreiber plans to continue tabling and hosting events because they want people to have discussions about what’s going on and to give people opportunities to learn. One point they want to bring to attention is the involvement of the United States, which some students may not be aware of.
Both Imran and Schreiber said most students tend to ignore them as they pass. Some students may take pictures or ask questions “not in good faith.” However, the response this semester has improved from last semester.
“We got a lot of hate on social media, in comments and DMs,” Schreiber said. They have also had people flip them off, yell at them, and one student got spat on. Schreiber and Imran both emphasized they want people to know that even though the topic seems scary and hard to understand, no one should be afraid to do research and ask questions.
“This is something we all need to be talking about,” Schreiber said.