Student Union
- By Esha Sarai
Washington Prepares for ‘March For Our Lives’
A snow-covered Washington prepared for a protest against gun violence that is predicted to draw hundreds of thousands of marchers this weekend.
Washington officials estimate that as many as 500,000 people will march Saturday in a demonstration to urge politicians to prevent further school shootings.
“In the tragic wake of the 17 lives brutally cut short in Florida, politicians are telling us that now is not the time to talk about guns. March For Our Lives believes the time is now,” says that organization’s mission statement on its official website.
“On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington, D.C., to demand that their lives and safety become a priority,” the website says. “The collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard.”
Even in the month since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, claimed 17 lives, other high schools have been the scene of shootings. Most recently, a female student was critically injured by a shooter at a Maryland high school who was later killed in a confrontation with police.
Survivors of the Parkland shooting, including Emma Gonzalez, who, with several of her classmates, has taken the anti-gun violence debate national, supported the students at Great Mills High School.
March For Our Lives was largely organized by Parkland students, who have used social media widely and publicly to insist politicians stop taking political donations from the National Rifle Association and pass legislation to make gun access more difficult.
Cameron Kasky is one of the many Parkland students traveling from Florida to the nation’s capital this weekend to “stand together on the right side of history -- the side of life over money.”
In a letter to the organizers of the march, ride-hailing service Lyft said that it will offer free rides to students from Parkland traveling to and from the march. Many Washington-area households have opened their doors to students and protesters from out of town seeking a place to stay.
“Your bravery and intelligence have provided a renewed and much needed hope for our future. We are incredibly grateful for the example you are setting,” Lyft co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green wrote in a letter to the students.
AirBnb, an online lodging reservation service, told VOA that 8,400 arrivals are scheduled in D.C. for the night of the march - making it AirBnb’s second highest booked night in the city, only behind the Women’s March in January 2017.
Musicians Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Demi Lovato, and Common are among the celebrities who are scheduled to perform at the Washington march, according to organizers.
Washington’s Metro subway system said that it will operate at rush-hour levels of service throughout Saturday, starting at 7 a.m., to accommodate anticipated crowds.
“As the young men and women have been preparing for Saturday’s event, the district has been preparing to keep them safe,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told a press conference.
“Of course, First Amendment-protected events are not new to Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said. “...We are looking forward to these teenagers and everybody who believes that we must do more to have sensible gun regulation in our nation and to keep children safe in their schools, in their neighborhoods in cities across America.”
D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department will be fully staffed on Saturday.
“We will ensure that we have plenty of officers on hand to facilitate a peaceful and safe day for the rally,” Chief of Police Peter Newsham told a press conference.
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Pro-Palestinian protests in US could impact 2024 election
Despite the fact that many of their encampments at university campuses have been dismantled, pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the United States are standing their ground. If the protests continue, some analysts say they could have an impact on the 2024 presidential election. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias explains.
- By VOA News
Pro-Palestinian protest ends quietly at University of Southern California
Pro-Palestinian protesters at an encampment at the University of Southern California, one of the focal points of anti-Israel protests across U.S. college campuses, left the scene early Sunday after authorities warned them that they could be arrested.
Their departure came after university safety officers and Los Angeles police began clearing the center of campus, where police had arrested 93 people on April 24.
"If you are in the center of campus, please leave,” the university warned the protesters on the social media platform X, saying they could be arrested if they stayed.
Elsewhere, pro-Palestinian protests continued at several college graduation ceremonies on Saturday.
At the University of Virginia, 25 people were arrested for trespassing after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from the campus.
At the University of Michigan, demonstrators chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during graduation ceremonies. More protests occurred at Indiana University, Ohio State University, Princeton University in New Jersey and Northeastern University in Massachusetts.
- By VOA News
Amid internship pressure, international students should focus on self-care
That’s the argument of Edhita Singhal, an international student from India studying at the University of Southern California.
Despite the fear of not finding a good internship, it’s important to relax and take care of yourself, she writes in her biweekly column for campus newspaper The Daily Trojan. (April 2024)
- By Tina Trinh
Columbia students on edge as police presence remains on campus after raid to clear protesters
Police remain on Columbia University’s campus, even after clearing out student protesters and their encampment. But questions remain about how the university and the students move forward. Tina Trinh reports from New York.
Columbia University student journalists had an up-close view for days of drama
Student journalists on the Columbia University campus knew what was coming long before police with riot shields arrived to begin arresting the pro-Palestinian protesters.
They had watched the situation spiral as the protesters stood their ground, refusing to abandon Hamilton Hall and using a pulley system to bring supplies into the building they had occupied.
The reporters, working for university and online U.S. and international publications, suspected negotiations with administrators were going nowhere when the protesters began donning COVID-era masks to hide their identities. Some began sleeping on the floor in journalism classrooms or offices out of fear of missing something.
But when a journalism professor began writing the phone number to call if they were arrested in permanent marker on their arms, that was the moment it became clear: They were capturing history.
The police operation Tuesday night that cleared out Hamilton Hall capped two weeks of drama over the protests at Columbia, which student journalists at the Ivy League school lived through as they were covering it.
Other media were being kept off campus, so these reporters were the only ones who could capture what was happening.
"I just woke up and I was like, I'm going to go and take some pictures," said Seyma Bayram, a Columbia journalism fellow focused on creating a longform investigative podcast unrelated to the protests.
The encampments were a visual feast. There were musical performances, students reading and helping each other write papers for their classes. She wanted to document it all.
By Monday, students were facing suspension if they didn't leave. Crowds marched around the encampment chanting. Students were given written notices from the administration, warning them to go. They ripped them up, dumped them in trash bins. Rumors were flying.
That night, Bayram was unwilling to go home, sleeping on her office floor.
"How," she wondered, "are they going to remove the students. They're not leaving."
By Tuesday, she was exhausted. The student reporters charged their cameras and other gear and waited.
Many protesters were starting to leave, recalled Shayeza Walid, a graduate journalism student at Columbia, who covered the arrests for the news website Al-Monitor.
The sun was setting as they held hands and chanted, knowing they faced academic repercussions by remaining. Many had given up covering their faces by now, Walid said.
To her, the chants sounded like a hymn and she saw the protesters, some clad in Palestinian keffiyehs, crying. She doubts she will ever forget it.
"It felt so both inspirational and devastating because these were the kids who were willing to get arrested," she recalled.
And then police started assembling outside, setting up barricades. Even on campus, Bayram could tell by the photos posted on social media that police action was imminent. And then the police were there.
"I don't know, it was just like all of a sudden there were just like police, ... riot gear everywhere," Bayram said.
The student journalists were walking backward, filming as they went, Bayram said.
She was pushed off campus. Police buses and officers were everywhere. Around her, people were being arrested.
"Those of us who are pushed out, like student reporters and faculty, I think we were just all horrified that no press was present outside of, or inside of, Hamilton Hall," Bayram said.
Walid recalled that the reporters paired up for safety. Her partner, an international student, had never seen so many police in one place. "And frankly, I hadn't either," Walid said.
She said the police also seemed shocked when they came into campus and saw how few students were left. "It was very evidently disproportionate from where we were standing," she said.
Before the arrests, protesters inside the campus used a megaphone to lead those protesting outside in chants, recalled Cecilia Blotto, a graduate journalism student, who has been publishing photos and video to Uptown Radio, a project of the university's journalism program.
"Columbia, you are a liar," she recalled them chanting, along with "Disclose, divest! We will not stop, we will not rest."
Then Blotto saw police buses pull up, officers exiting with shields and zip ties. Then they played a recording saying that if the protesters didn't disperse they would be arrested.
"People were like being dragged out on the street, with like four cops holding a leg and an arm each. I saw some really, like, striking images of people, like, yelling shame at the cops, while they were dragging out students," Blotto said. She tried to film it all.
Emily Byrski, a graduate student who had a phone number written on her arm in case she was arrested, said the students weren't totally unprepared. There had been a training session.
Still, she said, there had been so many false alerts.
"It's like the boy who cried wolf. Like, there were two or three nights here where we were told, there was a rumor going around that the NYPD was coming, please come to campus," she recalled.
Byrski had knee surgery earlier in the year, so was unable to run as police descended. She limped along with her buddy.
"So we're sort of seeing this all happen from inside and trying to document it as the NYPD is grabbing people, like shoving them to the ground. It was pretty horrifying to see, like, right a foot away from me," Byrski said.
She said she has seen professors cry over the last week. She is pondering it all, uncertain what to make of it.
"I'm just sort of in shock," Byrski said. "I think we all kind of were in shock."
