Dozens of students left their classrooms at 11:30 a.m. to unite on the McCullough lawn in solidarity with Gaza, calling for the college’s divestment from companies involved in Israel’s ongoing military campaign, among other demands. They were joined by faculty and other community members who participated in chants and speeches. The walk out is among the latest events following the encampment, which started on April 28, now occupied by an estimated 130 people and 80 tents.
The event was a part of the National Students for Justice in Palestine’s May Day movement.
After everyone gathered on the lawn, Josh Glucksman ’24.5 led a series of five chants in accordance with the encampment’s demands: divestment and financial transparency, freedom of expression and protester amnesty, academic and cultural boycott of Israeli institutions, a cultivation of Palestinian affiliations and an end to administrative silence.
Following the chants, Glucksman and Athena Antippas ’26 outlined the various calls to action, calling upon historical examples from Vietnam protests to Middlebury’s plans to divest from fossil fuels with Energy 2028.
“We as structures bankroll and justify the greatest atrocities in the world. This was true for Vietnam, South Africa, and Sudan for fossil fuels and today with Israel,” Glucksman told the crowd.
Antippas continued the historical comparison by noting that Middlebury students striked in solidarity with the protesters at Kent State University. “Palestine is our generation’s Vietnam,” she stated.
Glucksman and Antippas claimed victory in Northwestern University’s agreement to reestablish an investment advisory committee and Brown University’s agreement to discuss divesting from companies connected to Israel.
Divestment was the focal point of the demonstration, with chants throughout such as “there are deaths we can prevent, audit the endowment.”
As part of the “Workshop: Divest + What Is Free Palestine?” event at 12 p.m., student speakers devoted significant time to explaining that the majority of Middlebury’s endowment holdings remain private and could be invested in companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas war.
They specifically called out Lockheed Martin and Caterpillar, companies that they said have construction equipment on Battell Beach.
At Brown University, students disbanded the encampment following the University's agreement to discuss divestment. It remained unclear whether the Middlebury encampment would do the same if the college reached a similar decision.
“Right now our focus is on our four years… this genocide will only end when it ceases to be profitable. Our education will only cease to be complicit in this genocide when the liberal arts serves their true purpose of elevating humanity and creating a more just world,” Glucksman said to the crowd.
The walk out closed with chants of “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.” Students were encouraged to approach members of the encampment’s onboarding team for information on further involvement and “assessment of risks.”
Additional programming during the afternoon included a talk from a Palestinian refugee and “Talk: Labor and Palestine” at 3 p.m.
“In Palestine and the Middle East we’re known for our lovingness and hospitality. That’s our culture,” Zach Okayli Masarik ’25.5, a Palestinian student, said. “I’m protesting because I don’t believe in human society, humanity as a total where some people get to proceed with their life while people, especially people I’m related to, have to suffer the most gruesome consequences.”
The walk out was part of the National Students for Justice in Palestine’s May Day movement. As the event was a part of the National Students for Justice in Palestine’s May Day movement, Oliver Patrick ’24, a spokesperson for the protest, described that in many countries May 1 is celebrated as an international workers day. In the United States, the day’s political significance is rooted in the 1886 Haymarket Riot when eight people were killed in confrontation between labor protesters and police.
“It was a question of getting the word out of making sure we got turn out and we couldn’t be more happy with the result,” Patrick told The Campus.
In response to the perceived performativity of the encampment — a criticism that has been levied by some Middlebury students in recent days — participants emphasized the value of protest and providing educational resources.
“Protest is a performance because it’s trying to get the attention onto certain issues,” one student said, emphasizing the focus on education at the encampment.
On the night of April 30, dozens of protestors at Columbia University were arrested following the seizure of a building. On the other side of the country, violence broke out at the University of California, Los Angeles between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine protestors, resulting the cancellation of classes and increased police presence on campus.
“I’m scared,” Isaac, a member of a scheduling committee, said in response to the violence at Columbia. “I think it would be strange to not be scared. But all of us came out here understanding there is a risk. We know that business as usual gets nothing done, and we are out here to make a change.”
Students at the encampment assess their level of risk on a scale from green to red zones, with red meaning they are willing to be arrested in the case of a police sweep.
“I don’t fear retaliation,” a student involved in the encampment said. “I’m willing to put myself on the line for this cause.”
Charlie Keohane ’24 (she/her) is an Editor at Large. She previously served as the SGA Correspondent and a Senior Writer.
She is an environmental writing major and a psychology minor from Northern California. Outside of academics, Charlie is a Senior Admissions Fellow at the Middlebury Admissions Office. She also is involved with the women’s track team and hosts Witching Hour, a radio show on 91.1 WRMC. In Spring 2023, she studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, watching Greta Gerwig movies, polar plunging, sending snail mail, and FaceTiming her rescue dog, Poppy.
Sarah Miller '24 (she/her) is an Editor at Large.
She previously served as Opinions Editor and Staff Writer. Miller is an English major on the Creative Writing track. She hails from Philadelphia and spent the spring studying English at Trinity College Dublin. She has interned for The New England Review and hosts a WRMC radio show where you can still listen to her many opinions.
