For a brief moment on Wednesday morning, various educational building signs bore the names of Palestinians killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
These posters draped over signs in front of Lincoln Hall, Engineering Hall and the Electrical and Computer Engineering building, according to a post by the Students for Justice in Palestine on Instagram.
The posters were formatted in orange and blue resembling typical academic halls and displayed the names, photographs, biographies and descriptions of deaths of noncombatant Palestinians lost in the war, headlined with “We will honor all our martyrs.”
The ECE building’s sign donned the name “Hind Rajab Hall,” akin to Columbia’s April 30 occupation and renaming of their own Hamilton Hall into “Hind’s Hall.” Both demonstrations honored Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza on Jan. 29.
Lincoln Hall’s sign became “Hamza Al-Dahdouh Auditorium” — a dedication to the Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist killed by an Israeli airstrike on Jan. 7.
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The name “Ayman El-Mana’ama Hall” covered the Engineering Hall’s sign.
“Several 2-ton bombs” killed the Palestinian man for whom they made the poster as he stood outside the evacuation zone according to his poster’s biography.
However, the alterations didn’t last long into the afternoon; the University removed all signs as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The University established parameters for free speech through the portion of the Campus Administrative Manual that discusses expressive activity. The display directly violated portions of this policy, according to Robin Kaler, associate chancellor of strategic communications and marketing at the University.
“Affixing banners in unauthorized areas, such as on building signs, is not permitted by this policy and subjects those affiliated with the University to internal disciplinary processes,” Kaler said in an email statement.
