By Beth Lederer
As college campus protests over the war in Gaza spread both nationally and globally in April, student protesters from the University of San Francisco (USF), a private Jesuit university on the eastern edge of the Richmond District, joined with other pro-Palestinian student movements and erected their own student encampment on April 29, called "People's University."
For three weeks, ending on May 20, People's University was a sustainable encampment. Participants were hoping to spearhead change while using the university's tagline, "Change the World From Here." The student encampment was set up on Welch Field next to St. Ignatius Church on Parker Avenue and Fulton Street.
People's University was well organized and had its own Instagram page, @usfcastudents4palestine, which listed its daily schedule, events and communications. Everything came to a halt on Monday, May 20, when USF facilities workers moved in and abruptly started to dismantle the encampment, allegedly without giving the students any notice.
There is a discrepancy between the university and the students on the matter of dismantling the encampment. The university's administration wrote on its website that they started dismantling the encampment because most of the 50 tents were abandoned and the yellow tape around the perimeter of the encampment was removed.
This angered and alarmed many of the student protesters who were still occupying the encampment. They already had plans to dismantle that same day for the summer and to move to the next phase – going online.
The students said the facility workers came in and started packing up people's belongings and putting them in yellow bins to take to facilities. They felt the encampment was being raided and there was no regard for their personal belongings.
Susu Steyteyieh, an Environmental Studies major and third year student, was a student organizer and media liaison for Peoples University.
"As organizers of People's University, we had the responsibility and the duty to do right by people and give people back their stuff," Steyteyieh said. "We had planned to redistribute everything, and they misjudged and they came in and started cleaning the whole place and eventually we got them to back off. We were granted additional time to vacate Welch field until 7 a.m. on Tuesday."
By Tuesday afternoon, yellow chairs were placed in a circle on the artificial turf on Welch field erasing any signs of a student encampment.
In the encampment, it was reported there were about 80-90 tents at its peak, an altar to the victims of Gaza, along with a large canvas board which had student protesters' demands for the University. About 50-75 student protesters slept at the encampment nightly. There were several rallies which had drawn at least 150-200 people. During the day, more than 100 people would visit.
There were five major demands put forth by the encampment. USF stated on its website that some progress was made on meeting the student protesters' demands. Even though the encampment was dismantled, the University says it will still continue working with student organizers.
These demands had to do with disclosing and divesting from all Israeli endowments and investments, condemning genocide of the Palestinians, for USF to end all academic partnerships with Israel and to protect Palestinian students on campus.
On Tuesday afternoon, after the encampment was fully dismantled, 22 student protesters received notices for violating the university's Student Code of Conduct. On USF's website, a statement on recent student conduct notices explains the university's reasoning and policies for handing out these conduct violations.
The website also acknowledged that many in the USF community have expressed their support and concern for these students who are now on interim suspension.
It states they have the right to either respond to the allegations of conduct violations and take accountability or deny their involvement. The student protesters are very concerned about these suspensions and how it will affect summer school and internships. They would like to see these suspensions dismissed.
Steyteyieh is a Palestinian American who lives with the reality of what goes on in the Palestinian territories daily. She acknowledges she wears a hijab which could make her an easy target.
Steyteyieh's grandparents and great grandparents experienced expulsion from Palestine during the Nakba (catastrophe) by being exiled and displaced from their homeland. Her father lived in Jordan and Lebanon before emigrating to the United States. These stories are real for the Palestinian people.
For her, it was painful seeing Gaza being destroyed with bombs, artillery and gunfire and feeling powerless about the situation. It was natural for her to be an organizer, teaching and spreading the word of what Palestinians go through daily under the occupation.
Steyteyieh feels that the school was trying to change their narrative.
"They were trying to divide the student body by sending emails saying that we were being anti-semitic and to have people come forth and make reports into the system to get us put into the student code violations," Steyteyieh said. "It's so harmful because these malicious lies could be so damaging. We've been peacefully protesting and have Jewish comrades that have also been leading these powerful community circles that we've been having."
Steyteyieh said a really big part of what angered the student protesters was a statement the administration wrote protecting the Israeli students on campus instead of the Palestinian students. Everything deteriorated after the meeting with Father Fitzgerald, and a letter was sent telling the student protesters to dismantle People's University by May 14 for full amnesty.
Instead of dismantling, there was an interfaith rally called "All Out For USF People's University Rally" on Tuesday, May 14 at 3 p.m. which included rabbis and priests. This was to support the student protesters and the community came to their defense.
"Of course, I think the camaraderie, the community and the overall experience was super powerful," Steyteyieh said. "There were so many ups and downs, though to go through it with the People's University community has been an honor and privilege. I've been able to experience everything that they teach us in school and we're doing in this encampment. I've learned so much more than I could ever have imagined or in these classes taught by just white professors,"
Stephanie Andrade, a medic who is visually impaired, was touched by the amount of community outpouring of support and love. Andrade spoke for her own experience and not as a spokesperson for People's University. Members of the faculty came and made donations. Andadre also mentioned there were false reports of antisemitism and had Jewish Students for Peace and interfaith councils speak at the rallies.
"We put out the call for community support, we got it – donations, clothing and food," Andrade said. "We never went hungry. Local restaurants would come and provide food for us. We had local musicians come and play music. We did art building, open mic night, community library and community gardens. It's a shining example of what can be. A lot of faculty members visited. We had community healing circles, a safe place for people to come and talk. It benefited the community at large, people walking on the street would stop and come by and ask questions,"
Andrade also spearheaded the campaign to get all of the excess food and materials donated to the unhoused community and wanted to make sure that the local community benefited from the donations. She said several people from the unhoused community reciprocated and helped clean up the encampment and said that is something you do not see on the news.
Mary Walsh, a Richmond District resident, said her middle child has been involved in campus protests. She sees her daughter as looking at social issues as only black and white when many are very complicated. Walsh sees her daughter's involvement in social justice movements stem from her highly empathetic nature and being educated in progressive schools.
"I am worried that she is not looking at the nuance of the situation and looking at life through only a colonization and racial lens," Walsh said. "She is tip-toeing the line and identifying so much with the oppressed,"
Walsh also sees that the pandemic may have affected college student's mental health.
"They're angry at the world and they want to fight back," she said.
A teacher from the School of Education at USF was checking in on Tuesday after everything was dismantled on Welch field. She declined to speak for the school because she said they had their own press team, though she did clearly show that she was supporting the protesters and to see if there was anything else they needed. After the suspensions were announced, she mentioned that the students were being treated unfairly and that it wasn't true what was being said about them.
Now that the encampment is closed, Steyteyieh has more time to reflect on what the students accomplished and where they go from here. Their hearts have grown in gratitude for a community that came together, to work together on a united mission to attempt to get the students' demands met and fight for the plight of the people in Gaza.
"We still understand that this is a lifelong commitment and we're definitely not giving up yet," Steyteyieh said. "We're going to continue to work with the school to disclose and divest. We're definitely not going to back away just yet,".
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