Pro-Palestine student activists at the elite Stanford University have sent the school a litany of demands, according to a list that circulated on social media Wednesday.
The list declared that the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza is a “genocide” and urged the university to not express “neutrality” on the issue. The activists demanded that the university issue a statement condemning Israel and supporting the Palestinian cause. (RELATED: Columbia Pauses Annual Donation Day Amid Israel-Hamas War Protests On Campus)
The activists’ demands include that the university condemn “Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza as an international war crime” that it call for an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza” and the allowance of “humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Stanford Palestinian activists have released their List of Demands and it includes some amazing stuff
“Full round trip covered by University upon the signing of a ceasefire for students to visit their family and friends and grieve properly.”
Upon the signing of a ceasefire…… pic.twitter.com/J0HjvTk4vZ
— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) October 25, 2023
The students also demand that the university subsidize mental health counseling for students of Palestinian ethnicity, connect Palestinian students facing “harassment” with attorneys for free, provide “community alerts” for anti-Palestinian hate speech and, once a ceasefire is signed, pay for round trips to Gaza so Palestinian students can “grieve properly.”
The activists go on to demand that the university start an “investigative committee to correct the directives, faculty and research initiatives contributing the subjugation of the Palestinian people.” The hypothetical committee is encouraged to pursue these goals by “identifying opportunities to invite Palestinian scholars to teach, research and create original works centering the Palestinian experience and struggle for freedom and self-determination” and working to address the causes behind the university’s “one-sided response,” per the list of demands.
The students also insist that the school join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), which would involve the university boycotting goods aligned with the Israeli state, divesting from Israeli companies, and barring weapons manufacturers that work with the Israeli state from recruiting on campus or donating to the university, according to the demands.
“Without such actions, Stanford will remain an enabler of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” the demands read.
Elite universities across the country have faced backlash over their response to the Israel-Hamas war. A slew of left-wing student groups blamed Israel in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, provoking an exodus of donors and accusation of antisemitism.