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Palestine Solidarity and Campus Activism (1948–2025)

Overview

Hamilton College’s engagement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict spans more than four decades of campus debate, speaker programming, and — beginning in earnest after October 7, 2023 — sustained student organizing. From the early 1980s, when paired PLO and Israeli representatives debated on the Hill, through the 1989 visit of the Israeli Consul, the early-2000s wave of speaker controversies, and the 2009 campus email dispute over Operation Cast Lead, Palestine was periodically a focal point for campus discourse. A sustained, student-led activism movement emerged only after October 7, 2023, when the Hamilton chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) — in coalition with the Feminists of Color Collective (FCC), Black and Latinx Student Union (BLSU), and Hamiltonians for Divestment — organized a sequence of events including a Common Ground disruption (April 2024), Disorientation Week (September 2024), the “Week of Rage” (October 2024), the Opening Convocation walkout (October 2024), and a “University for Gaza” strike (November 2024). Throughout, the central institutional demand has been endowment disclosure and divestment from companies involved in Israel’s military operations — framing explicitly linked to the College’s 1985–87 anti-apartheid divestment campaigns and to national fossil fuel divestment precedents.

Key Points

Early Period: Campus Debate and Visiting Speakers (1982–2004)

• Two invited speakers in spring 1982 staged one of Hamilton’s earliest structured debates on Palestine. PLO Director Hatem Hussaini spoke on “Towards Peace in Palestine” and Israeli Press Secretary Daniel Pattir spoke on “The Inside Search for Middle East Peace” at paired campus lectures, presenting sharply contrasting positions on the conflict’s origins and resolution. (The Spectator, March 5, 1982)

• Israeli Consul Dr. Tsion Evroni lectured at Hamilton in April 1989 on the Palestinian uprising and prospects for peace. Speaking to the campus on April 10, Evroni criticized what he characterized as media bias in coverage of the First Intifada (which had broken out in late 1987) and defended the Israeli government’s response. He also spoke at Bristol. (The Spectator, April 14, 1989)

• A February 1991 Spectator article examined how the Gulf War focused campus attention on Palestinian issues. With 1.75 million Palestinians under curfew in occupied territories during the war, Jewish students on campus gave their views; Associate Professor of Religion and Jewish Chaplain Prof. Ravven was quoted, as was Dan Weiss ‘92. The article explored the intersection of the Gulf War and the Israeli-Palestinian situation. (The Spectator, February 8, 1991)

• Government Professor Yael Aronoff was quoted in February 2002 during EU debate over a Palestinian state. Aronoff stated, “Historically, Israel has perceived that Europe has a tendency to be more on the side of the PLO,” contextualizing transatlantic disagreement over Middle East policy. Muslim Student Association was also active in campus discussion during this period. (The Spectator, February 15, 2002)

• International scholar Raja Halwani lectured at Hamilton in November 2002 on “The Just Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” Halwani, from the Art Institute of Chicago, proposed a binational state he called “Isratine” and argued that the Palestinian right of return was “the driving force behind Palestinian aggression” while also saying Palestinians carry “anger, not hatred, towards Israelis.” (The Spectator, November 1, 2002)

• Daniel Pipes delivered a counter-lecture in January 2003, brought to campus as a direct response to Halwani. Pipes spoke on “The Palestinian-Israeli War: Where Did It Come From, Where Is It Going?” The event was organized by Jon Rick ‘05 and Hillel, with Hillel co-president Alexis Ribak ‘04 involved. Muslim Students Association and Prof. Etin Anwar were also engaged in the campus dialogue. Chaplain Jeff McArn stated: “very important to talk about and not to let it just lie fallow.” (The Spectator, January 31, 2003)

• An international scholar lectured against US support of Israel in February 2004. Ali Mazrui, described as an international scholar, lectured on American support for Israel. Chaplain Jeff McArn was again quoted; Prof. Etin Anwar organized the event. Mazrui stated: “The United States provides a kind of impunity to Israeli behavior.” (The Spectator, February 27, 2004)

• A March 2004 opinion piece debated the Israeli security barrier. The piece described competing views: “the Palestinians claim the fence is a future border, an apartheid wall, and that it greatly disrupts daily life while the Israelis contend it is a response to terror.” The piece cited Hague debate, a statistic of 942 killed by Palestinian terrorism, and Dr. Yossi Olmert (Syracuse). (The Spectator, March 5, 2004)

Operation Cast Lead and Interim Years (2009–2022)

• The Muslim Student Association’s January 2009 campus-wide email on Operation Cast Lead (titled “The Israeli Attack on Gaza”) ignited Hamilton’s first major email controversy over the conflict. MSA sent the email on January 10, 2009, in response to Israel’s military operation in Gaza. The German Club leadership responded with a contrasting blog quote, generating campus-wide reaction; students and faculty gathered in Kirner-Johnson for a peace and reconciliation forum organized by Guez and Spevack. The Spectator later described the episode as demonstrating how organizations could “abuse” campus-wide email privileges. (The Spectator, January 23, 2009)

• A Hamilton alumna founded “Hands for Peace” around 2011, bringing Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to the United States. The alumna, unnamed in coverage, created the program with a focus on conflict-resolution work. She attributed her capacity for the project to skills developed through her liberal arts education at Hamilton. (The Spectator, September 29, 2011)

• A January–February 2012 campus performance by “Standup for Peace” featured an Israeli-American and a Palestinian-American comedy duo. Scott Blakeman (Israeli-American) and Dean Obeidallah (Palestinian-American) performed at Hamilton, with their comedy duo reviewed in the Spectator. (The Spectator, January 19, 2012; The Spectator, February 1, 2012)

• HEARTBEAT, a musical group of young Israeli and Palestinian musicians, performed in Hamilton’s Barn in February 2014. Co-sponsored by Hillel, the Muslim Student Association, Tumbling After, the Chaplaincy, and the Arabic and Middle Eastern Club, the performance was described as part of a movement using music to build peace between Israeli and Palestinian youth. The group was founded after its American creator was inspired by divisiveness he saw between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian student groups at Georgetown during the Second Intifada. (The Spectator, February 27, 2014)

• Student Hady Hewidy ‘17 wrote in September 2014 on the impact of the Gaza conflict on campus life. Writing about the summer 2014 conflict, Hewidy also wrote an opinion piece about a Colgate Great Names event with Israeli President Shimon Peres, noting that an audience member who asked about West Bank settlements and children killed in Gaza was collectively “booed.” Hewidy wrote: “That truly was a tyranny of the majority moment.” (The Spectator, September 11, 2014; The Spectator, October 30, 2014)

• Hamilton College Republicans announced a lecture by Cornell Prof. William Jacobson (Hamilton alum) on “academic freedom and the BDS movement” in fall 2015. The announcement came in the form of a letter to the Spectator co-signed with Hillel. Jacobson, who blogs at Legal Insurrection, was brought to campus to address growing national BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) advocacy. (The Spectator, October 1, 2015)

• A 2016 Foreign Policy class discussion featured a student who “believed Israel to be a racist state undeserving of U.S. funding.” A student opinion piece in the September 2016 Spectator described the classroom exchange approvingly: “I support Israel, but I wasn’t triggered and didn’t rush to my safe space” — framing the disagreement as a model of campus civil discourse. (The Spectator, September 1, 2016)

• A 2018 Wellin Museum exhibition on Israel and the West Bank prompted reflection on the conflict. “This Place,” a photo exhibition by twelve artists who traveled to Israel and the West Bank from 2009 to 2012, was reviewed in the Spectator, noting: “Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, Israelis, Africans, Bedouins, and more all inhabit the state, creating high tensions where violence is a constant threat.” (The Spectator, February 15, 2018)

• Hamilton’s Spectator covered the Williams College decision in April 2019 to deny recognition to a pro-Israel student club, providing context for the national climate around campus Israel/Palestine organizing. At Williams, the College Council voted 13–8 against recognizing Williams Initiative for Israel (WIFI), citing the club’s stated mission to “support Israel.” The Spectator connected the debate to broader questions about who speaks for which constituencies. (The Spectator, May 2, 2019)

Post-October 7 Era: SJP Organizing and Divestment Campaigns (2023–2024)

• Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel generated divided campus responses and inaugurated a new era of Palestine solidarity activism at Hamilton. President Wippman issued a statement calling the attacks “a gruesome reminder to all of us that intentionally targeting civilians is abhorrent and criminal,” while noting community grief and anxiety. VP for DEI Sean Bennett also released a statement. Hillel and Chabad issued a joint statement: “We stand in solidarity with Israel and condemn unequivocally this terrorist attack on innocent civilians.” The Spectator ran multiple opinion pieces from students with sharply opposing views. (The Spectator, October 19, 2023)

• Professor Maurice Isserman resigned from the Democratic Socialists of America in November 2023 over its response to October 7. Isserman, a founding DSA member and Hamilton history professor, publicly quit the organization to protest “its leadership’s politically and morally bankrupt response to the horrific Hamas Oct. 7 anti-Jewish pogrom,” as he wrote in a nationally-published op-ed. (The Spectator, November 2, 2023)

• An SJP demonstration disrupted a Common Ground event on April 2, 2024, marking the group’s first highly visible direct action at Hamilton. During the event “Climate, Guns, Borders, and Beyond: How Can We Tackle Today’s Biggest Issues?” in the Chapel, SJP members hung a Palestinian flag over the second-floor balcony while others called for a ceasefire from the audience. Rep. Matt Cartwright ‘83 stated he had “written no fewer than four letters to the Biden administration urging ways to help the people in Gaza” but was against a ceasefire. Former Rep. Steve Russell stated the U.S. “doesn’t negotiate with terrorists.” Student Ambassador Sarafina Madden ‘26 said the demonstration “revealed to me that there is a lack of attention to the Israel-Palestine conflict on our campus.” (The Spectator, April 4, 2024)

• Hamiltonians for Divestment published an open letter to the Board of Trustees in May 2024 demanding endowment disclosure and divestment. The letter, authored by Scott Levy ‘25 and Joseph Fandrey ‘26, declared that Hamilton’s Investment Committee — managing a $1.4 billion endowment (the 61st-largest among US private colleges and 12th-largest among liberal arts colleges) — was “ultimately unaccountable to the student body and to the faculty.” The letter cited the 1986 anti-apartheid protests as precedent, argued that Hamilton’s endowment was invested in the “military industrial complex,” and made three demands: disclosure of all endowment investments, continued transparency after initial disclosure, and a democratically elected student body to review the ethics of the endowment. As national encampments spread across Columbia, UCLA, and UT Austin, the Spectator editorial board also weighed in. (The Spectator, May 2, 2024)

• SJP held a march for Palestine on September 19, 2024 — the first SJP action of the fall semester. The march preceded a second protest on September 24 in response to Israel’s airstrikes on Lebanon, organized at Sadove Terrace. A poem by Marcellus Williams (a Missouri death row inmate awaiting execution that evening) about “the struggles and smiles of children in Palestine” was read aloud. SJP speaker Diego Inzunza ‘25 stated: “we will… continue to show up and show out at these meetings and discussions and conversations to ensure that the College will commit to our ideals of disclosure of the endowment and divestment from any systems of oppression, including the ongoing materiel support for the state of Israel.” (The Spectator, September 26, 2024)

• Disorientation Week (week of September 11, 2024) brought SJP, FCC, and BLSU together for a coordinated program framing Palestine within a broader politics of decolonization. Organized quickly (“the span of like a day”) and aligned with National SJP’s framework, Disorientation Week included an SJP welcome meeting, an Introduction to Campus Politics event, a National Day of Action for Palestine outdoor teach-in, and an FCC meeting. A banner was hung over the Commons Dining Hall balcony. Joseph Fandrey ‘26 (SJP) explained: “The function of Disorientation Week was to bring like-minded people, communities together.” (The Spectator, September 26, 2024)

• At the October 3, 2024 investiture ceremony for President Tepper, students staged a walkout when Board of Trustees Chair and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon ‘84 took the stage. Protesters outside the Bundy Scott Field House held signs reading “Disclose” and “Divest” and chanted “Disclose. Divest. We will not stop, we will not rest.” This was the second public protest of the fall semester organized by SJP, part of their campaign to pressure the College to disclose endowment investments and divest from fossil fuels and the military-industrial complex. President Tepper stated: “We’re listening and we’re hearing, and they are putting forward a serious issue of moral importance to consider, and we appreciate that they’re doing that in a way that respects each other and respects the campus.” (The Spectator, October 3, 2024)

• SJP organized a “Week of Rage” walkout on October 7, 2024 — the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks — deliberately reclaiming the date. At 11:30 a.m., students left class and gathered at Sadove, placing stones in a circle around a tree (a Jewish mourning practice) before reading aloud the names of 250 Palestinians killed by the IDF since October 7, 2023. Scott Levy ‘25, who is Jewish, explained the stone-placing custom. SJP’s Instagram statement declared: “On this October 7th, we refuse to submit to the narrative that weaponizes October 7th 2023 to ‘justify’ Israel’s ongoing slaughter…we are anti-genocide and we stand for liberation.” That evening, the Center for Jewish Life (Hillel and Chabad) held a separate vigil at Sadove. An incident of antisemitic vandalism — swastikas on the Crossroads Community Mural — was attributed to Adyn Brenden ‘27 and reported by President Tepper, who called it “antithetical to everything Hamilton College represents.” The week also included an FCC teach-in, a fundraiser raising $270 for Palestinian relief, and a Friday chalking protest at Buttrick Hall (housing the President’s office) that substituted for a planned die-in due to low turnout. (The Spectator, October 24, 2024)

• Professor Nigel Westmaas (Africana Studies) published an essay in September 2024 contextualizing the SJP protests within Hamilton’s long history of student activism. Writing in the Spectator, Westmaas traced a line from an 1836 student debate on slavery, through the anti-Vietnam protests of the 1960s, the 1980s anti-apartheid sit-ins at Buttrick Hall (which led to 12 suspensions), a 2007 silent sit-in at a Faculty meeting (which produced the Days-Massolo Center), and a 2014 “Walk Out and Sit in” over police killings of Black people. He framed current Palestine activism within this continuum of student protest that was ultimately “on the right side of history.” (The Spectator, September 19, 2024)

• SJP conducted a daylong “University for Gaza” strike in the KJ atrium on November 28, 2024 as part of a national SJP campaign. Running 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the event included speeches by SJP members connecting Hamilton to the “military industrial complex,” discussions of Palestinian writers (including Robin D.G. Kelly, June Jordan, Zeina Azzam, and Samih Al-Qasim), poster-making, and chanting “Free Palestine.” The administration sent an email warning faculty that participation would impede student academic freedom; Dean Munemo stated “faculty are responsible for shaping that learning through active pedagogy.” Despite the warning, several faculty members participated, with one stating: “What I’m doing here is teaching. It is a piece of all the work that I do in my classroom.” SJP’s Derya Arikan ‘26 stated: “Your tuition money goes through layers and layers of bureaucracy, only to be funneled into companies like BlackRock.” (The Spectator, December 5, 2024)

Palestine Solidarity in the Trump-Era Higher Education Protests (2025)

• SJP wove Palestine solidarity into a broader coalition challenging federal education cuts and immigration enforcement in spring 2025. Following DOGE’s elimination of the Fulbright program (which Hamilton had led nationally for 21 consecutive years) and NSF grant cuts, Phi Beta Kappa organized four protests in March 2025. SJP members, including Derya Arikan ‘26, participated prominently — but also expressed frustration that faculty were only now mobilizing: “it’s kind of aggravating to see faculty now take up this banner of ‘you have to protect humanities and free speech,’ but only after their funding has been cut, and not because people are dying.” (The Spectator, April 3, 2025)

• The April 3, 2025 Spectator included reporting on the arrest and deportation threat facing Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian Columbia student, by ICE. At the Fulbright protest, Derya Arikan ‘26 stated: “Mahmoud Khalil, a grad student in Columbia, in our state, got abducted and disappeared. He was targeted because he is Palestinian and because he is loudly advocating for the humanity of Palestinians.” SJP member Soren Lera ‘27 criticized faculty who were protesting funding cuts but not the “genocide” in Gaza: “it’s I think it’s really gross how the people, especially academics, are wanting to present this protest as something that’s apolitical.” (The Spectator, April 3, 2025)

• A coalition of SJP, FCC, BLSU, and YDSA organized a Day of Action for Higher Education march on April 17, 2025, linking Palestine solidarity to anti-deportation and pro-LGBTQ causes. The march, beginning at KJ and proceeding along Martin’s Way to Burke Library, was one of 175 events held nationally that day. Chants included “Say it once, say it twice. We will not put up with ICE,” “Money for jobs and education, not for war and deportations,” and “One struggle, one fight. Queer rights are human rights.” SJP member Derya Arikan ‘26 challenged the framing of the event as “common ground,” criticizing Common Ground for “inviting right-wing bigots to campus all the time…as if people’s rights are up for debate.” (The Spectator, April 24, 2025)

• Obama’s April 2025 visit to Hamilton drew anonymous pro-Palestinian protest flyers. At the Sacerdote Great Names event on April 10, 2025, anonymous flyers were distributed criticizing Obama: “Obama normalized drone strikes — including double tap strikes — on civilians…Drone strikes, including double tap strikes, continue to terrorize Palestinians in Gaza today.” This marginal action illustrated the continued salience of the issue even during a high-profile campus event. (The Spectator, April 10, 2025)

• President Tepper signed the April 22, 2025 AAC&U letter “A Call for Constructive Engagement,” alongside more than 150 college presidents, protesting federal overreach. The letter protested “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” toward higher education institutions. Tepper told The Spectator that the national conversation about education was “missing student voices” and suggested building “a national campaign where students are speaking for themselves.” (The Spectator, May 8, 2025)

Open Questions

• Did Hamilton ultimately disclose its endowment investments in response to the Hamiltonians for Divestment campaign?
• Has the Board of Trustees formally responded to SJP and Hamiltonians for Divestment demands for divestment from companies supporting Israel’s military operations?
• When and how was SJP at Hamilton formally founded or recognized as a campus organization? Who led the chapter in its founding period?
• What is the current status of the protest rules clarifications issued in August 2024? Were the 48-hour registration requirements ultimately formalized or withdrawn?
• What specific companies or funds did Hamiltonians for Divestment identify in Hamilton’s $1.4 billion endowment as connected to Israel?
• Were any students disciplined in connection with the Week of Rage or the University for Gaza strike?
• How did the departure of President Wippman (2024) and arrival of President Tepper affect the administration’s response to Palestine solidarity organizing?

Sources

Related Topics

• Student Activism and Social Movements
• Anti-Apartheid Divestment Campaign (1985–1987)
• Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement (2012–2013)
• Student Government and Campus Organizations
• College Administration and Presidential Leadership
• Free Speech and Academic Freedom Controversies
• September 11 Campus Response
• Gulf War Response at Hamilton, 1991

Related Entities

• Hamilton College