At campuses across Maine, students protest, question college investments in Israel defense
Students and community members at the University of Southern Maine in Portland last week held a rally to support Palestinian rights and criticize the support the U.S. has provided Israel in its bombardment of Gaza. (via Maine Students for Palestine)
As protests over Israel’s war in Gaza sweep college campuses around the country, students in Maine are also engaging in demonstrations and actions.
Protests featuring student encampments have sprung up at institutions ranging from Columbia University in New York City to Washington University in St. Louis, among others, leading to arrests in some cases. The ACLU in a recent open letter to college and university presidents called the arrests “disturbing” and urged institutions of higher learning to “not sacrifice principles of academic freedom and free speech that are core to the educational mission.”
In Maine, students and community members at the University of Southern Maine in Portland last week held a rally to support Palestinian rights and criticize the support the U.S. has provided Israel in its bombardment of Gaza. Students at the University of Maine at Farmington held a similar demonstration on Monday and Tuesday that featured signs such as “Free Palestine” and “End the Genocide.”
Furthermore, the Maine Coalition for Palestine, along with students and workers, will rally May 4 at 1 p.m. in Portland’s Deering Oaks Park to “demand an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank, an end to Israeli occupation, and no more U.S. military aid to Israel” — another in a series of demonstrations that have taken place in Maine since the war in Gaza began.
And at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, students are considering a referendum that would call for the institution to take a public stand against Israel’s “ongoing scholasticide in Gaza,” referring to destruction of educational systems in the territory.
The resolution also would urge Bowdoin to disclose its investment portfolio’s exposure to arms manufacturing, ask the college to commit to not investing in “defense-focused funds” and certain companies whose weapons have been used in the conflict, and call on the Board of Trustees to reinstate an independent committee of campus members to examine the social responsibility of Bowdoin’s investments.
Voting on the referendum opened Monday and will conclude on May 4, according to Bowdoin Students for Justice In Palestine.
The actions in Maine and at campuses across the country come as the death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza has risen past 34,000 Palestinians, with over 77,000 people wounded. The assault is in response to an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas that killed over 1,100 people in Israel and resulted in others being taken captive.
As the number of deaths in Gaza has risen, an expert appointed by the United Nations has accused Israel of committing genocide in the territory. In addition — as seen by the protests at college campuses along with declining approval numbers for President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict — anger is building over the military support the U.S. has provided for Israel.
Despite that, Biden signed a bill last week that provides additional aid to Israel — along with Ukraine and Taiwan — and reiterated that his commitment to America’s alliance with Israel is “ironclad” while also calling for Israel to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches people in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has announced an expanded investigation into antisemitism at colleges and universities and claimed the campus demonstrations represent a threat to Jewish students. But other political leaders, such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have argued that opposing Israel’s war in Gaza should not be conflated with antisemitism.
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