Pro-Palestinian students at the University of Texas at Dallas say their calls that the university divest from companies with ties to Israel amid its war in Gaza are being ignored.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine met with President Richard Benson Friday after staging a sit-in outside his office earlier in the week.
But Fatima Tulkarem, vice president of the UTD chapter of SJP, said she's upset Benson also plans to meet with Jewish student organizations in the coming days.
"Our demand is for our for divestment. Our demand is for our university to end its complicity in the genocide," she said. "And there's no need for two sides."
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. Israel has denied charges of genocide, saying it has acted in self-defense after Hamas militants attacked on Oct. 7, killing nearly 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 200 others.
In a statement, Benson's office said students handed him a letter "and left without any discussion."
"The University welcomes the opportunity for open, respectful dialogue," the statement read.
SJP has three main demands of the school:
- That it reject Gov. Greg Abbott’s “anti-Palestinian” executive order directing schools to update their free speech policies to address a reported rise in antisemitism
- That it release a statement “calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza and denouncing the ongoing genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people"
- And that it divest from companies that facilitate “war, occupation, policing, militarism, and death around the world.”
Following the brief meeting, 150 or so student protesters once again demonstrated on campus, chanting “Gaza must have food and water” and “Israel bombs - UTD pays!”
Noor Saleh, a UTD business management junior from Palestine, was among the students in the rally.
“Me being Palestinian,” said Saleh, “means that I am even more committed to calling on UTD as a university to divest from genocide, and to stop putting its shares in companies like General Dynamics, which are producing the MK-80 bombs that are being dropped on Gaza right now.”
The protest lasted well past 4:30 p.m., loud but peaceful. Classes and other campus events and businesses continued uninterrupted.
The demonstration at UTD came as students at universities around the country stage sit-ins and build encampments in protest of the war in Gaza.
At a pro-Palestinian demonstration at UT Austin earlier this week, police arrested 57 protesters, though all later had their charges dropped.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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