About 100 University of Central Florida students gathered Saturday afternoon at Memory Mall to protest Israel’s war in Gaza as graduation ceremonies continued nearby inside Addition Financial Arena.
This was UCF students’ second rally calling for a ceasefire and for the university to divest from companies with ties to Israel amid a nationwide movement across college campuses.
Saturday’s protest was peaceful as hundreds of police on bicycles lined Memory Mall. Students had until midnight to protest and leave and had cleared the area by 7 p.m.
The protest came on the anniversary of the 1970 Kent State University demonstrations that left four dead and wounded nine after the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of students protesting the war in Vietnam.
Protesters at UCF said the date was especially significant as about 2,000 students nationwide have been arrested for protesting the war in Gaza.
About 9,800 degrees were expected to be awarded throughout the weekend at the Addition Financial Arena, which comes after the State University System of Florida sent a statewide memo on Wednesday urging universities not to cancel or disrupt graduation ceremonies as students protest.
Students chanted “45,000 dead and you’re arresting kids instead” as crowds of parents and graduates walked alongside Memory Mall. Many chanted in support or filmed the scene on their phones.
One of those recent graduates, George Brussenskiy, stopped and watched in support of the protest minutes after receiving his PhD in electrical engineering.
“Hopefully UCF will take certain measures to listen to students and take meaningful action,” Brussenskiy said. “There’s so many innocent civilians dying in Gaza and they’re human beings just like you and me. So, if another human being is suffering, we have to speak up.”
George and his wife Natalee, who is from Palestine, want UCF to divest from any companies that provide weapons to Israel. They believe because the university has such a large student body, it could have a meaningful impact.
“UCF brings into the workforce a lot of engineers, especially students that work in the weapons manufacturing, so through divestment UCF could put pressure on these companies to stop selling weapons and arms to Israel,” Natalee said.
Protesters called for UCF to “disclose and divest,” a practice protest organizer and Palestinian Tamara, said has been difficult to get the university to do. She did not want to disclose her last name over fear of retaliation from the university. Tamara graduated recently from UCF with a degree in elementary education but is back to complete a masters.
“UCF’s investment profiles and portfolios are incredibly hidden and difficult to find,” Tamara said. “We want them to divest from these companies that we had to seriously search for to even find that they were partnering with.”
Tamara and the other protesters specifically called out UCF’s relationship to weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin and Siemens, who they want the university to cease relationships with.
Tamara said she feels speaking out is her duty.
“I didn’t choose to be here in America. My family left for our safety and I had the privilege to leave,” Tamara said. “The only difference between the people dying over there and me is a plane ride, so it’s my responsibility to take action and help them in whatever way I can.”
