Wanting to stay peaceful, Mercer students protest Israel-Palestine conflict. What we know
With student demonstrations occurring on college campuses across the United States in response to the Israel-Palestine conflict, a group of Mercer University students chose to hold one themselves Wednesday.
Matthew Simmerman, a psychology student at Mercer and one of the event organizers, said the pro-Palestinian protest would be “an entirely peaceful demonstration and educational event that stands in solidarity with student protests that are occurring.”
“We want to address the issues with Palestine and other genocides that are happening over the world,” Simmerman said.
The number of Palestinian deaths caused in the fight between Israel and Hamas has been often criticized as a possible “genocide,” with the International Court of Justice ruling it “plausible,” according to media reports. Israel has refuted the allegations.
Students also wanted to respond to an incident on campus last month that ended with a Mercer student being charged with simple battery. The student was arrested after an altercation with a guest speaker, Jennifer Grossman, who was giving a speech on campus. Grossman is the CEO of Atlas Society, a conservative nonprofit group.
The student was charged after interrupting Grossman’s speech to confront Grossman about the deaths of Palestinians, which led to an argument. The student was accused of making contact with Grossman.
After the incident, students met with the Student Government Association in hopes that they would issue a statement condemning the events that unfolded. Simmerman said Mercer’s SGA hasn’t responded.
Concerned students argued Grossman’s invitation to speak at the university didn’t align with the values of the university, which emphasize that Mercer officials “affirm and respect the dignity and sacred worth of every person and celebrate both our commonalities and our differences.” There were members of the student group who participated in Wednesday’s event, but the group didn’t organize it, planners said.
They’re urging the SGA and the university’s administration to come to review their response to the initial protest and make a statement in support of minority students and transgender people, review its speaker selection process to prevent hateful speeches in the future, and allow students the ability to protest in the future.
The organizers created an online petition with those requests, which will be forwarded to Mercer President William D. Underwood and other administrative officials.
“We believe that Mercer University should work to protect the free speech rights of students, while also ensuring that all Mercer students feel safe on campus,” reads the petition, which had 51 signatures Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s important for students at Mercer University to know about what’s going on on campus and the world,” said Forrest Glazier, a psychology and women’s gender studies student and another event organizer.
The protest was held on Cruz Plaza, the lawns in front of Stetson Hall. As the demonstration continued, more students and faculty approached the lawns to show support, with Palestinian music playing through a speaker. The demostration started around 11 a.m. and demonstrators left around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Organizers established rules at the event, which urged the protesters to remain peaceful and not engage with agitators. If any issues escalated, the organizers advised the crowd to let the organizers handle the issue. Attendees recited poems from Palestinians and reiterated their demands for a response from the student government and university administration.
Mercer’s response
Mercer said peaceful, non-disruptive protests carried out by the campus community are fine.
“As a matter of practice, peaceful protests by students or other members of the Mercer University community are allowed on campus as long as they do not interfere with vehicular traffic and ingress/egress to buildings, are not disruptive to scheduled activities, and otherwise adhere to the Student Code of Conduct and non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies,” said Jennifer Fairfield, director of media relations at the university.
The Mercer SGA didn’t respond to a request for comment before publication.
Reverend speaks during demonstration
The event organizers invited Rev. Amanda Schuber, minister of the High Street Unitarian Universalist Church, to speak to the crowd on her experience as a facilitator in non-violent protests while sharing some advice.
“I understand that in our society, police presence and police action has a disproportionate impact on people of color, people with disabilities and people of the LGBTQIA community,” said Schuber. “We also know that the police in our campus are doing their job. Their job is to keep people safe. We’re going to assume good intentions.”
Shuber said she was proud to see students engaged and “doing what they need to do to live their values.”
