UPDATE: May 6, 5:30 p.m.
During SJP’s rally on the Main Quad on Monday titled “Hands off Rafah: Solidarity with our Students,” The Daily Illini spoke with a University faculty member who wished to remain anonymous for safety concerns.
**This interview has been edited for length and clarity.**
DI: Could you tell me a little bit about why you are out here with the rest of the faculty members today?
Faculty member: I’m out here for several different reasons. One is to support students that are in the encampment, who are trying to challenge the ongoing genocide in Gaza and elsewhere. Another is to keep the spotlight on what’s going on in Palestine, particularly in Rafah.
I’m here to call on the higher administration to honor their promises to meet with the students, to listen to them and to find a way to divest our institution of higher learning from supporting the war machines in those lands.
The last reason is to ensure that the students who are taking up this noble cause are not in any way punished for doing so.
DI: Have you been a part of the conversations with the administration and the students?
Faculty member: I have.
DI: And how do you think those are going currently?
Faculty member: We are discouraged that the administration has repeatedly failed to meet with the students after making promises to do so.
DI: How do you feel about the state representatives coming in today with the Jewish community?
Faculty member: I do want to say this: I think there are plenty of Jewish students that are in these encampments and they support this cause.
I think it’s a misrepresentation to suggest that there’s some kind of clear binary between those of us who are supporting this and those who are trying to “protect the Jewish students from harm or harassment” — that’s not clear. At least it’s not neat. Indeed, there’s a long history of critical Jewish dissent, and several Jewish colleagues and students who support us.
DI: Have you seen any sort of progress in the conversations with Jim Hintz?
Faculty member: I mean, I’m glad to see the police aren’t around like they were last Friday. It was a rather surreal experience to see several different police forces encircle families, people engaged in prayer and students engaged in non-violent protest.
So yeah, there’s been progress in that respect. The camps are still here, and there’s been no move to push them off yet.
That said, I really want to reiterate this — we need upper administration, whom Hintz and others are in conversation with, to honor their agreements to meet with the students of SJP.
DI: How did you gain the students’ trust with you being here? What was the process like of you joining the students’ side?
Faculty member: Not sure what you’re asking me there. I mean, I show up — I guess the best way to put it; I listen to them. I respect them. I work with them closely.
