CWRU students continue campus encampment

CLEVELAND — As protests to the war in Gaza continue on college campuses across the country, some are getting more heated than others.

Last week dozens of people were arrested at The Ohio State University, charged with criminal trespassing.

But in Cleveland, the two days of protests at Case Western Reserve University have remained relatively quiet.

Case Western Reserve University students said that they have been communicating with the university to make sure things run smoothly. 

On Monday protesters were told they could only be at their encampment from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. and that they could not have tents. However, after communicating with university officials, the protesters were able to camp out overnight by proving that they were students there. 

“So what they did is they had all students have our IDs on us. They identified us with yellow wristbands so if you showed your ID to one of our administrators they would give you a wristband and that kind of allowed you access in and out of the encampment at night,” said Sabrina Wicker, a third-year student at Case Western Reserve University.

“We had 40 plus students stay the night during finals week in physical solidarity with the cause of a free Palestine,” said Jad Kamhawi Oglesby, a senior at Case Western Reserve University.

Wicker said it is hard to say right now if the university will meet their needs. But she said their biggest goal is to support Palestinians. 

“We do want to show solidarity with other students across the nation because we have seen police brutality. We’ve seen violent arrests. We’ve seen evictions, extremely draconian policies being set in place by universities,” Wicker said.

Wicker said they plan to stay at the encampment as long as they can physically until the semester ends next week.

“Our biggest goal here it to make sure we are camped in one location,” Wicker said.

Kamhwai Oglesby said they will continue to show their support for as long as it takes for the university to meet their demands. However, he said he realizes it may take a while. 

“I would like to see strides be made from the university to show that this is an effort that is being made. Some of the things that could be addressed right now: a cease-fire resolution from the university, as well as an apology from the president,” said Oglesby for calling the student demands “antisemitic, naïve and hateful.”

The university officials said they have not engaged with the students about these issues.