OU Students for Justice in Palestine removed from Board of Regents meeting following disruption, protest

Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:18 p.m. on March 10 to include a statement from Rhona Seidelman and OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. 

The voices of OU Students for Justice in Palestine echoed through the Board of Regents meeting Monday afternoon. 

“We are Students for Justice in Palestine and we demand divestment from the weapons manufacturers that have dropped bombs on civilians and have killed over 200,000 civilians,” SJP member Yasmine Ali yelled during the meeting.

As Ali spoke out in the meeting, about 50 protesters chanted in the hall.

“We know what your meeting’s for: occupation, endless war.” 

Following Ali’s statement, OU’s Campus Event Response Team and law enforcement led the demonstrators from the room and removed the 50 protesters from the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

Cruz Richardson, an organizer of the protest, said he was proud that members made their voices heard and forced the university to acknowledge them. 

“They heard us loud and clear,” Richardson said. “We disrupted their meeting — not just interrupted, where they could hear us — we made it so loud they couldn’t even hear each other.”

The protest began at noon in front of the Bizzell Memorial Library before the protesters moved to the Union. The protest walked back to the library after being removed from the Union. 

Turning Point USA and OU College Republicans booth present on the South Oval was advertising activist Riley Gaines’ upcoming debate and Q&A. OU College Republicans chair Anthony Diulio said SJP “happened to be protesting” at the same time as their booth.

“We happened to have Israeli flags and we happened to have pro-Israel merch so we were able to lay that out and show the other side,” Diulio said.

Following the Board of Regents meeting, OU Daily posed questions to OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. for a statement about the protest. Harroz directed the Daily to OU Marketing and Communications. 

OU Marketing and Communications wrote in an email to OU Daily that the university supports the freedom of expression but remains vigilant in ensuring that campus operations continue.

“The University of Oklahoma will not tolerate disruption to our campus operation, and we are committed to ensuring official university business is conducted in an orderly and respectful manner,” OU Marketing and Communications wrote. “While we will continue to support freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest, we must also remain vigilant in ensuring the safety and continuity of university operations.” 

SJP continues to call for the university to divest from corporations who support Israel in the war in Gaza including members of what SJP calls the “triangle of death.” 

According to an SJP Instagram post, the triangle of death includes Lockheed Martin, Chevron and Motorola, companies that OU invests in and partners with. 

According to the post, Lockheed Martin partners with OU to transition students from college to the workforce. The post states that Lockheed Martin is “responsible” for the fighter jets that carry Israeli bombs.

“Lockheed Martin’s name is promoted to our students on campus to go work in their fields, to design the weapons that are dropped on our people in Gaza,” an organizer told the crowd. 

According to the post, Chevron owns and operates the EMG pipeline around Gaza’s shore. Former OU President James Gallogly served as the Chevron CEO in 2000 and OU continues to invest in Chevron, the post states.

“Chevron is a symbol of exploitation, complicity and injustice, profiting off the suffering of others,” Ali said to the crowd. “Chevron powers nearly all of Israel and intentionally deprives Palestinians of electricity and gas.”

The post states that as of 2023, Motorola is the sole supplier of the 4G cellular network for the Israeli military. Motorola is an official partner of OU Athletics and services surveillance on OU’s campus.

“These systems are not just tools of security, they are tools of oppression,” an organizer said. “They are tools to subjugate the Palestinian people.”

In an email to OU Daily Monday afternoon, Rhona Seidelman, director of the Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israel Studies, wrote that if SJP wishes for an end to violence they should instead protest Hamas' actions. 

"SJP’s calls today in the union “We don’t want no Zionists here” is appalling bigotry.  If students want to end the war and destruction in Gaza they should consider protesting against Hamas," Seidelman wrote. "They should call for the return of all the innocent Israelis being held hostage in subhuman conditions by Hamas terrorists. And they should advocate for Gazans to rebuild their homes free of Hamas and radical Islamists."

Seidelman wrote that only when this happens, can Palestinians and Israelis possibly begin the process of mending relationships.

Background 

SJP, formerly known as Student Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, is a student-led organization at the University of Oklahoma focused on educating, organizing and advocating for Palestine.

SJP became a registered student organization at the beginning of February. In January, SJP held an art demonstration in Gallogly Hall as part of a larger event by the national organization.

On Oct. 7, SJP and OU Hillel, an organization founded on campus that supports Jewish students, both held vigils for victims of the war in Gaza on the South Oval. SJP has held other protests over the past year on the South Oval; outside Dale Tower; and inside Evans Hall, Bizzell Memorial Library and the Union.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, launched a series of attacks on Israel that killed around 1,200 people, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The attack set off a series of retaliations by the Israeli Defense Force, including a siege of Gaza, that characterized the war in Gaza. According to Al Jazeera, 61,709 Palestinians have been reported as dead or presumed dead.

This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure and Ana Barboza.