Temperatures have begun to drop on the Main Quad as day two of the encampment draws to a close. Small clusters remain speckled throughout the encampment, however, activity has largely settled down with many protesters heading into their tents for the night. 

Day two was relatively uneventful compared to activities from earlier in the weekend, with minimal police presence and protesters largely left alone. At this point, there are still no negotiations occurring between the University administration and members involved with the encampment. 

Several attempts at negotiations have fallen through, including a meeting between protesters and the University originally scheduled to occur Monday afternoon. Both parties are currently claiming the other is responsible for conversations not moving forward.

Reporters from The Daily Illini will continue providing updates throughout the night, along with livestreaming on Instagram. 

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**The student has elected to remain anonymous for safety. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. When this interview was originally conducted, representatives from the encampment stated they would be playing “The Occupation of the American Mind.” Instead, “The Battle of Algiers” was played. It is unknown at the moment whether the encampment plans on playing “The Occupation of the American Mind.”**

The Daily Illini spoke with a representative from the encampment about its current programming and plans looking ahead to finals week.  

DI: What do we have going on here right now?

Representative: We are preparing to set up a movie. This is our last programming event of the day. The film is called “The Occupation of the American Mind.” From my understanding, it focuses on the effect of Israeli propaganda on American citizens and educates us on the institutions that perpetuate that sort of propaganda. 

DI: What kind of learning experience are you hoping to get from this movie and hoping everyone gets from this? 

Representative: To really hammer home the fact that institutions like the University of Illinois, like our government, are all complicit when we look at this genocide and look at, you know, the perpetuation of Western hegemony across the globe. 

Obviously, propaganda is one of the biggest tools, media is one of the biggest tools that is used to divide people and spread misinformation. It creates a complicity for this colonial state. 

DI: Is this a movie you guys were planning on showing yesterday?

Representative: I think it is. Yes, we had to get some more supplies to be able to even show this because we’re dealing with very limited resources here.

DI: Is there any plan to do this again tomorrow or a different movie similar to it?

Representative: Yes. We have a programming committee, and I’m a part of that committee, so we schedule engaging activities throughout the day. We chose the movie for the nighttime as well. One, because the projection only works in the dark but as something less engaging for people, but something they can sit and relax and watch. But tomorrow we should have another full day of programming. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but earlier we had two teach-ins and that was really engaging. It was a space to express how they felt, you know, being a part of this movement and they felt this related to what they’re doing here at the University.

DI: You guys have programs set up and events set up for students to do while they’re sitting here. What about the students who have finals coming up? What are your plans for that?

Representative: Pretty much everyone here has finals coming up that they need to fulfill. We plan to have areas where grad students and faculty can grade papers and things like that. Students can have resources to do their work. They need laptop chargers, they need pens, pencils or homework help. We plan to have that. As finals approach, we are definitely committed to putting academics first because we all are students here. It is important that we emphasize the fact that even though we’re out here protesting, it’s so important to get the things that need to be done.

DI: So if this continues on into finals week coming up, do you expect to see students leaving in mass?

Representative: No, I think we have all made sacrifices and I think people will continue to make sacrifices. I think, you know, with the support of the community and the faculty here, we’ve been able to engineer a really great setup that allows people to get their work done, keeps people fed, keeps people safe and really just fosters communities. So honestly, I think during finals week more people will show up. I’m really hopeful and I’ve seen, you know, the power that we have in engaging students.

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**The student has elected to remain anonymous for safety reasons.**

A student representative camping out on the Main Quad spoke with The Daily Illini about their experiences inside the encampment over the last couple of days, along with how they hope the encampment is viewed by members of the community. 

“We definitely plan on staying,” the student said. “We’re hoping to get more people to sleep here so we can sustain the camp longer. It seems like more people are going to come, especially without the possibility of rain.”

The student encouraged those interested in the encampment to join them, emphasizing the laid-back environment the place is trying to promote.

“We want to let people know this is a chill area. If you need to study here or take a nap, go ahead. We have a library if you need to read,” the student said. “We’re going to screen a movie … which I’m personally really excited for.”

While the protesters aren’t approaching passersby to join, they welcome any who inquire to stay.

“We always tell them they’re welcome to any food snacks if they want to lay down, even if they want to sleep in a tent,” the student said. “I just don’t know how safe it is for (us) to ask people.”

The group continues to stand firm in its position, with plans to continue indefinitely until negotiations are made to their liking. Even with the weather last night tents remained dry and they haven’t run into problems worth noting. 

“I think it was my tent that got a little rain in but there was night patrol and I was like ‘Could you guys put a tarp on my tent?’ And it was perfectly fine,” the student said. “We have shifts. We make sure everyone gets enough sleep.”

However, the student noted that conditions make sleep sometimes difficult.

“I tried to go to sleep and it was hard to because (there are) so many unknowns,” the student said. “I just got anxious.”

The encampment acknowledges that burnout is a potential but they are set on avoiding that by considering everyone’s condition.

“Every decision we make, we make together with the full camp. We always make sure to get temperature checks and (ask) how they’re feeling,” the student explained. “We want to make sure everyone’s the most comfortable protesting.”

With the encampment on the Main Quad approaching its third day, hygiene and other needs are vital. So far, protesters have had systems in place for dealing with this.

“For bathrooms, well, during the day all the buildings were open. I don’t know if I should disclose where we go at night just in case it’s a risk,” the student said. “We try to go home and change and shower as fast as humanly possible. When we’re away from the camp for too long, we get anxious.”

At this moment, there have been no reports of serious reasons for departing the encampment such as exhaustion or illness among its members.

“Thankfully we have been OK,” said the student. “People have been really caring. You can feel a strong sense of community.”

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A group of about 20 people with Israeli flags congregated on the northern end of the Main Quad, at around 6:30 p.m. The Daily Illini had a conversation with group member Ethan Morady, a junior in Business, who identified as a Jewish and Israeli University student. Morady did not consider the group to be a counter-protest.

DI: Why did you guys decide to congregate here on the Quad today?

Morady: I started over there (the southern end of the Main Quad), just because I wanted to hear what they were kind of talking about. I came for a little bit yesterday, to also kind of hear what they were talking about, then I was at the (protest) at Alma Mater. Because like, as a Jewish student, as an Israeli student, this isn’t an issue I take lightly. This is something I take a great deal of effort into learning as much as I can, really understanding every issue at hand because it’s not something light. There are a lot of people dying, and some of those people are my family, some of those people are their family. And it’s not okay.

DI: This group here, are you guys a part of any organization here on campus?

Morady: I guess it looks like a little bit of a collection. There’s a little bit of the Jewish community here, there’s some people from Hillel, some people from Chabad.

DI: Is there any message you would like to share with us here?

Morady: They’re not the first people to come after us. They won’t be the last, unfortunately, but like, we just want them to know that we’re happy about being Jewish and we’re not going anywhere. 

One thing I will share, which is the reason I disdain some of these protests, like theirs over there, is because I feel bad for the Palestinian people. I do. They don’t have a lot of resolve, they don’t have a lot of future. But it’s not really because of the Israeli government. They conflate it with the Israeli government because it’s an easy cop-out. If they actually want to change, they’d pull out Hamas, they’d pull out the Islamic regime, the PIJ, Ismail Haniyeh, and the rest of the so-called Palestinian leadership that has turned Gaza into a cesspool of terrorism and devastation. 

If the leaders of Hamas, and the PIJ and the Palestinian people actually cared, they wouldn’t have made themselves billionaires off of the suffering and pain of the Palestinian people. Hamas does this constantly, where they provoke Israel just so that Israel will respond, and they have more news stories. It’s the reason why in Israel, every single house has a bomb shelter in it — in the side of the roads, there’s bomb shelters everywhere. In Gaza, they have nothing, because Hamas just uses all the supplies and stuff for themselves. 

I’ve said this before, as a Persian, my grandparents are from Iran. I love the Persian people, culture, society, all about it. What I don’t love, and what I can understand, is that it’s the Ayatollah and the Islamic regime that is ruining my country and my homeland. They’re the reason I can’t go back and see where my grandparents are from. 

What bothers me is that (the protesters) can’t separate Ismail Haniyeh from the regular Gazan people, and that’s the major difference. A lot of these Palestinians and Gazans are stuck. But if you continuously support and love Hamas … and Gaza, and the West Bank and all these other places, they will have no resolve. 

I’ll say this too. I don’t like Netanyahu (and) Ben-Gvir. They’ve also profited on radicalizing parts of the Israeli public, and they need to go too. But if you’re putting sole blame on Israel, you’re not looking in the right spot. But that’s just my two cents. 

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Organizers are distributing policy-related written materials to visitors and protesters in the form of printed pamphlets.

One of the texts identified by The Daily Illini was a recent essay entitled “First we take Columbia” from illwill.com, a website performing self-described “partisan analysis of the present.” Another text was a report from organizers at California Polytechnic State University.

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