On Friday, around 100 students rallied in support of the 113 pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University on Thursday.
The protest intentionally coincided with A Day on College Hill, during which admitted students and their families toured campus. It also coincided with an installation by Brown Students for Israel which paid tribute to approximately 130 hostages believed to be in Gaza during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Organizers of both demonstrations said they had been unaware of the other鈥檚 activities.
At around noon, the protesters gathered at the intersection of George and Brown Streets as ADOCH attendees passed by.
Organizers said that the demonstrations by the Brown Divest Coalition and Jews for Ceasefire Now came as a response to the who had been camping on Columbia鈥檚 campus and calling for divestment from Israel.
A BDC statement shared with The Herald described Columbia鈥檚 deployment of the New York Police Department and Brown鈥檚 pursuit of criminal convictions as 鈥渋nstances of the rise in police presence and arrests in universities鈥� responses to student activism.
The statement also noted that many of Brown鈥檚 accomplishments, 鈥渋ncluding the establishment of the Open Curriculum, need-blind admissions, the and divestment from South African Apartheid,鈥� came on the tail of student activist campaigns.
鈥淚ncoming students ought to be aware of the true history of Brown鈥檚 response to student activism,鈥� the statement read.
The BDC also organized around a dozen people to chronicle nearly 251 years of activism on the University鈥檚 campus on the sidewalks of the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle using chalk.
Sam Theoharis 鈥�24, one of the demonstration鈥檚 lead organizers, told The Herald that BDC planned for their activities to coincide with ADOCH programming. 鈥淭his is a history that we鈥檙e really proud of,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to share this history with both current students and prospective students alike.鈥�
Theoharis said he hoped visiting students would come away with the impression that 鈥渟tudent activism in particular is inseparable from Brown.鈥�
鈥淧rotests are a lot of the reason why Brown has become the diverse community that it is,鈥� said Sarah Ogundare 鈥�24, one of the other lead organizers of the demonstration. 鈥淧art of acknowledging that history is also carrying that forward.鈥�
Both Theoharis and Ogundare said that there has been 鈥渁n escalation in University repression鈥� towards activism on campus, referring to the 61 arrests over two sit-ins at University Hall in 2023. The University has escalated consequences between the first group of 20 demonstrators and the second group of 41, The Herald previously reported.
The University did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
This is the second year in a row that activist demonstrations have coincided with ADOCH. At last year鈥檚 admitted students鈥� day, Sunrise Brown and Students for Educational Equity hosted a rally calling for Brown to increase its voluntary payments to the city of Providence, commonly known as Payments in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT agreements. The city council approved additional payment agreements in October 2023.
Additional reporting by Ryan Doherty and Owen Dahlkamp
Tom Li is a Metro Editor covering the Health & Environment and Development & Infrastructure beats. He is from Pleasanton, California, and is concentrating in Economics and International & Public Affairs. He is an avid RIPTA passenger and enjoys taking (and criticizing) personality tests in his free time.
Avani Ghosh is a Metro Editor covering politics & justice and community & activism. She is a sophomore from Ohio studying Health & Human Biology and International & Public Affairs. She is an avid earl grey enthusiast and can be found making tea in her free time.
