Editor's note: This story was updated at 8:03 p.m. Oct. 9 to remove a quote drawing confusing parallels to World War II.
Over 60 protesters attended a walkout organized by Students for Justice in Palestine calling for the OU administration to divest from corporate partners involved in the war in Gaza. The protest marks one year since an attack by a Palestinian militant group killed 1,200 Israelis and triggered the current war in Gaza.
Students passionately marched across the South Oval in front of Dale Hall to Evans Hall, holding picket signs reading “Divest from death,” waving Palestinian flags and uttering chants like “One solution: revolution” and “OU, your hands are red, over 40,000 dead.” Organizers beat drums as students chanted and played music from speakers and drum machines.
Inside Evans Hall, which houses OU’s administration offices, including OU President Joe Harroz Jr.’s office, students laid on the floor in a “die-in” protest, simulating death.
From Evans Hall, the protesters walked around and inside of the Bizzell Memorial Library, where they shouted chants and sang around dozens of studying students. Students waved Palestinian flags from the balcony above the Loveridge Computer Lab on the ground floor.
The group exited the library and circled the South Oval. During this march, they were met with middle fingers and R-slurs from walking students.
Protesters returned to the front of the library around 1:05 p.m., where organizers ended the walkout.
“These are the people who are responsible for being complicit in genocide,” a speaker said. “So we are here today to make our voices loud and clear, right where they work from, so that they know that we're not here to mess around.”
After leaving Evans Hall, the doors were locked behind the group. At 12:12 p.m., OU Daily reporters tried opening every door to Evans Hall, but found all were locked.
Abraar Hassany, a media liaison for SJP and an international studies senior, said the locked doors represent a “genuine fear” of SJP by OU administration. According to Hassany, OU knows SJP is becoming increasingly popular and avoids speaking with its members.
“It's shameful and cowardly that Joseph Harroz refuses to meet with us and refuses to have our voices be heard,” Hassany said. “I hope they keep running away; I hope that it shows that we have that material leverage.”
In an email to OU Daily, an OU spokesperson wrote that the doors were locked so business operations would not be interrupted.
“After receiving reports of disruptions around Evans Hall, the building was temporarily put on card access to ensure the continuation of normal business operations,” the email read.
The OU spokesperson did not answer OU Daily’s other questions, including why the doors were locked, whether warnings given to students before the doors were locked, who decided to lock the doors and whether administration and staff, including Harroz, were still working in the building at the time the doors locked.
At 12:15 p.m., OU Daily confirmed that no cars were present in the parking spaces reserved for the Office of the President in the Parrington Oval.
Rania Farhan, a sophomore, said while administration locking Evans Hall was “offensive,” it won’t silence protesters.
“You don’t have to be Muslim or Arab, just human to really stand up for people being slaughtered,” Farhan said.
According to one speaker, Thursday’s protest reflected nationwide student protests during the week of Oct. 7.
“We join thousands of students across the world today, organizing for Week of Rage, commemorating one year of genocide and one year of resistance against our people,” a speaker said.
According to speakers, the university partners with weapons manufacturers, including Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.
SJP speakers also criticized the university for supporting Israeli universities through study abroad programs. According to the Education Abroad portal, OU offers two study abroad programs at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Neither program is currently accepting applicants.
“We stand here today making our voices heard for our university to divest from death, and we will not stop until we make this university meet our demands of disclosure and divestment, because we refuse to be complicit in genocide,” a speaker said.
Another speaker said they will continue to demand divestment, a demand OU has yet to comment on.
“We must make our demands so unavoidable,” the speaker said. “We must create a moral and political crisis here on campus that makes divestment impossible to not attain.”
During the walkout, David Surratt, OU vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, told OU Daily, when asked for comment on the protest, he was focused on monitoring the protest and asked OU Daily to email him afterward.
Hassany said the war is a global issue all people should care about.
“I don't think of myself just as an American,” Hassany said. “I'm a citizen of the world, I'm a human being. I'm a human being; it's my responsibility to help other people around the world.”
Another representative for SJP said Harroz should support SJP’s cause, citing Harroz’s Lebanese background.
On Oct. 1, Israel began a ground invasion of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, a militant, Iran-backed political group.
“Israel is also bombing your people,” the speaker said. “Where is your conscience?”
In an interview in Evans Hall on Sept. 25, in response to a question regarding the on-going conflict and his feelings concerning Lebanon’s recent involvement, Harroz told OU Daily he wants students to think freely without his input in regard to Israel’s conflicts.
“I don't tell students on charged issues what I think they should think and I also avoid trying to editorialize on my own opinions,” Harroz said. “We shouldn't teach students what to think. We should teach students how to think.”
Around four counter-protesters stood by throughout the first hour of the walkout, waving “Make America Great Again” and Israeli flags. One counter-protester who did not want to be named, a member of Turning Point USA, said they were present to show “respect to the country.”
“They were the very ones who started the war,” the counter-protester said. “We also want to make it clear, as one of our signs says, divest from the terrorism you guys started on Oct. 7 … it was a huge sign of disrespect when they planted their Palestinian flag on the South Oval.”
Referring to the over 40,000 Palestinian death count reported by The Associated Press, the counter-protester compared Hamas to the Nazi party in 1920s-1940s Germany.
“There were a lot of innocent German citizens that had died when (World War II) had started,” he said.
A student attending the walkout said OU doesn’t want to make a “big deal” about the walkout.
“They're going to do whatever they can to keep us under control, keep us under wraps,” he said. “They don’t want us to have our message heard.”
Hassany said SJP has kept up momentum for their cause even as the conflict in Gaza passes its one-year mark.
“I've never seen the amount of positive feedback and reactions as we see when we organize for Palestinian liberation,” Hassany said. “Because we don't just organize for Palestinian liberation, this cause speaks to all people on campus.”
Speakers said once the university has divested, they will continue to call for complete liberation.
“We, the student intifada, have changed organizing conditions for Gaza forever,” a speaker said. “We have made our voices heard.”
Intifada is an Arabic term for an armed Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, according to Merriam-Webster.
Over the past year, SJP has held multiple protests regarding the war in Gaza. Last October, around 150 students staged a walkout across the South Oval, where they chanted and held signs calling for OU to divest from weapons manufacturers.
In March, over 150 students congregated in the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israeli counter-protesters gathered in the food court to advocate for their stances.
At a May Day rally in May, SJP and the Student Socialist League organized over 100 students to protest Gov. Kevin Stitt’s executive order calling for a review of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the closure of OU’s Gender + Equality Center and OU’s corporate partnerships, including those with Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Last month, around 60 students held a rally in the Oklahoma Memorial Union, again calling for divestment from OU’s corporate partners.
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure, Ana Barboza and Ismael Lele. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
