On April 29, 2024, approximately 100 University of Oregon students established a camp on the Eugene campus to support Palestinians in Gaza and demanding action from administrators.[1][2][3][4] As part of the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, demonstrators requested for the university to divest from “the state of Israel, Israeli companies, and any weapons or surveillance manufacturing.”[5]
On May 1, the University of Oregon president, Karl Scholz, made a statement regarding the encampment. While explicitly supporting the student right to protest and exchange ideas, he criticized protester demands for divestment as having a "performative aspect."[16] Despite this, 74 university faculty and staff have signed an open letter in support of the encampment.
May 5–6
By May 5, the encampment had grown to nearly 150 tents.[17] On the afternoon of May 6, encampment spokespersons alleged that they had received a letter from university administrators threatening to revoke academic amnesty from protesters should the camp remain the following day at noon. This came amidst complaints from some Jewish students among whom the encampment had caused discomfort. In response to this, one protester stated that the demonstration calls for formal protection for Jewish students, and that Jewish student-represented organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace have helped in setting up the encampment.[18]
May 15–16
On May 15, the first criminal charge in relation to the occupation was handed to a student protestor for applying posters to campus buildings. On May 16, the encampment relocated to Johnson Hall and a total of 17 meetings were held between the protestors and various representatives and negotiation teams from the university.[19]
May 22
On May 22, the protestors came to an agreement with the University of Oregon negotiation team. This agreement included the end of Sabra Hummus sales on campus, a new Middle Eastern North African cultural space on campus, new initiatives to expand opportunities for Palestinian scholars to study at University of Oregon, the creation of the UO Senate Working Group on Ethical Investment, Purchasing & Contracting, and a ceasefire statement to be made by President John Karl Scholz. [20]
^"US college protests: Who are the student groups and others involved". Reuters. April 30, 2024. Archived from the original on May 10, 2024. Retrieved April 30, 2024. Among the lead student groups in the coalition are the Columbia chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine. The two decades-old anti-Zionism advocacy groups that protest Israel's military occupation have chapters across the country that have been key to protests on other campuses.
^Treisman, Rachel (May 1, 2024). "How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words". NPR. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2024. It's one of several schools around the country where professors are getting arrested at demonstrations, circulating letters in support of arrested protesters and holding no-confidence votes in their administrations.
