UC Riverside students announced the end of their Gaza Solidarity Encampment Friday morning, May 3, after demonstrators and administration successfully negotiated an agreement.
Chancellor Kim Wilcox told students Friday that the peaceful resolution was “a credit to everybody here,” and acknowledged protest leaders Hibah Nassar and Samia Alkam.
“You couldn’t have better leaders,” he said.
UCR was the first in the University of California system to come to a peaceful agreement, spokesperson John Warren confirmed Friday afternoon.
The terms of the agreement released Friday include the forming of a task force of students and faculty to explore the removal of UCR’s endowment from the management of the UC Investments Office, posting public information regarding UC’s investments to the UCR website, and modifying study abroad programs.
UCR is just one of many campuses across Southern California and that have seen protests and rallies take place. They’re part of a nationwide student movement that began at Columbia, in New York, in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Pro-Palestinian actions have unfolded at other UC campuses too, including UCLA, , and . At some sites those actions continue, including at Pitzer College in Claremont and at .
Not all have been peaceful. Violence has broken out at some, including on The Palestinian Solidarity Encampment by pro-Israel counter protesters, 15 injuries. An into the slow response by the university and law enforcement has been initiated. The following night police in riot gear dismantled demonstrators’ massive encampment and detained dozens.
The sit-in at UCR Monday, April 29 beside the Bell Tower, led by the university’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
Demands included that the university disclose its investments and funding; that it “complicit in the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide” of Palestinians; that it end its silence regarding the genocide; and that it sever ties with Israeli universities, including student exchange programs.
One demand was met within hours, when Wilcox emailed a statement to the student body acknowledging the events in Gaza as a “humanitarian crisis.”
A negotiations meeting took place Wednesday, May 1, before that drew several hundred students, who marched from the encampment to UCR’s administration building and back.
After the meeting, students said they felt progress was being made, and Wilcox said he was “encouraged by the direction of the conversation.”
Friday morning, demonstrators gathered at the Bell Tower for an announcement.
Nassar addressed the crowd of students and administrators.
“We made the progress necessary to have all of our demands be met” — she paused as cheers erupted — “to fully end this university’s complicity in genocide.”
“You will all go down in history for today’s victory,” she told the crowd.
Alkam then announced the encampment’s dissolution.
“This encampment is our love letter to the people of Gaza and to the people of Palestine,” she said.
The lists the amended terms:
- All currently public information on UC’s investments will be posted to the UCR campus website. It will continue to be updated as the UC releases more information. The goal is to get full disclosure of the list of companies in the portfolio and the size of the investments.
- The UCR Administration agrees to form a task force that includes students appointed by ASUCR’s Diversity Council and faculty appointed by the Academic Senate to explore the removal of UCR’s endowment from the management of the UC Investments Office, and the investment of said endowment in a manner that will be financially and ethically sound for the university with consideration to the companies involved in arms manufacturing and delivery. The goal of this task force is to produce a report to present to the UCR Foundation Board of Trustees by the end of Winter Quarter 2025. The task force will be formed by the end of the Spring 2024 quarter.
- Commitment to bimonthly meetings with the (associate vice chancellor) of Auxiliary Services and an ongoing review of consistent with existing product review processes until we can find a resolution.
- The School of Business has discontinued Global Programs in Oxford, USA, Cuba, Vietnam, Brazil, China, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.
- UCR will modify its approval process for all study abroad programs to ensure compliance with UC’s Anti-Discriminatory Policies.
Wilcox said in a Friday the meetings were “productive, civil, and representative of multiple points of view on how to reach a resolution,” and credited the “constructive dialogue.”
“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination,” the statement continues. “However, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues.”
Following the announcement, Alkam spoke to students about what she said were the agreement’s logistics and the compromises made.
“I’m gonna be honest, the (University of California) is not happy about this. They’re not happy at all,” she said, adding that regents had called during a meeting with Wilcox asking to “scrap” the agreement.
The UCR administration has been in communication with the UC president’s office as well as the Board of Regents, Warren said via email.
Wilcox thanked all involved through the week, as they were able to reach an agreement.
“Thank you to every member of our campus community who has navigated the complexities of this week’s events with patience, grace, and civility.”
The statement says the encampment will end by midnight on Friday.
