On Thursday, April 25th, over 100 protestors, including CCNY students, faculty, and alumni, set up an encampment on CCNY’s Quad in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and college campuses across the nation. As reported by The Campus, CCNY’s Magazine, The CCNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment are demanding five major changes from the CUNY administration, including divestment from companies producing weapons used by Israel, academic boycott, and removal of NYPD presence on campus. Videos demonstrate students and faculty setting up tents on the quad, hanging Palestinian flags and banners across the flagpole, and students, megaphones in hand, leading chants such as “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”

Before noon, the 138th St. and 139th St. gates were closed, blocking off public access to CCNY campus. Though no arrests were made, CCNY security and the NYPD were present and a video posted on Twitter shows Dr. Vincent Boudreau, the president of CCNY, and Lieutenant Hickey, the head of campus security, separating police from the crowd of protesters.

According to The Campus magazine, “this encampment is planned to go on until the demands made by protestors are met by the CUNY administration”. With spring break coming to a close early next week, it remains unclear if the encampment will still be present when HSMSE students are welcomed back to campus.