Saturday, Feb. 15, Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a protest on Sadler Terrace as part of the national organization’s International Day of Action. The group advertised the city of Williamsburg protest as a stand against President Donald J. Trump’s ethnic cleansing, specifically Trump’s recent suggestion for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said during a Feb. 5 joint conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In response to the declaration, the College of William and Mary’s SJP chapter wrote in the caption of the post for the protest, “Palestine is NOT FOR SALE!”
Co-president Iqra Ahmad ’26 spoke on Trump’s harmful rhetoric and plans for the region.
“We’re here today to say no to Trump’s plan of ethnic cleansing,” Ahmad said. “The administration is very well aware of what’s happening on the ground of Gaza and the casualties caused by Israel. He plans to forcibly displace the remaining Palestinians.”
Reverend Max Blalock, who formerly worked at the College’s United Methodist Church-sponsored Wesley Foundation, also spoke at the protest. Blalock was replaced in April 2024 after 14 years of service in the campus ministry.
Blalock emphasized the importance of community in divisive times like these.
“I’m a community member and a local pastor, and I’ve come here to simply stand with y’all and to remind you that you’re not alone,” Blalock said. “It’s folks in this community and nation that come together. Folks want to make us feel like we’re alone. Folks want to make us feel like we’re divided and tell us who to care about, who to not, and who to be in solidarity with, and who to be against. But we know when we come together as people, as humans, to stand for what is right and stand for human rights for all. There’s nothing more powerful than when we do that.”
In a message to The Flat Hat, the SJP board further emphasized their disappointment with Trump.
“For the past two weeks, the rhetoric we’ve been seeing from the White House has entailed plans to expel the remaining ~1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza off their lands and out of their homes with US military force, relocate them to other Arab states, and have the US take it over and develop it into the “Riviera” of the Middle East,” the group wrote. “We knew going into Trump’s presidency that he would be no ally to the liberation of Palestine or in fact any marginalized people both at home and abroad. However, we also know he doesn’t have the authority to carry out any of these plans: his own team has walked back his initial grandiose statements, legislators of his own base have struggled to support the idea, and heads of multiple Arab nations involved in the process have outright condemned it. Palestine never was and never will be his to play around with.”
Monday, Feb. 17, SJP uploaded a collective statement on Instagram alongside other Virginia collegiate SJP organizations to express frustration on President’s Day with the leadership of their colleges and universities.
“This Presidents’ Day, we turn to the presidents of our own universities—the enforcers of repression on our campuses,” the statement read. “From censorship to arrests, they have actively silenced the Palestinian movement for liberation, weaponizing policies, police, and propaganda to uphold genocide and apartheid. They betray calls for justice, ignore Palestinian grief, and bow to donors complicit in oppression and violence. We know their so-called ‘leadership’ is nothing but cowardice. We refuse to celebrate figureheads of colonial institutions. We expose them. We condemn them. We demand accountability.”
Each organization in the collective also posted a graphic condemning its college president. For the College’s section, the post describes SJP’s continued disappointment with President Katherine A. Rowe’s perceived lack of support for Palestine.
“Katherine Rowe, leading an institution committed to ‘teaching, learning, and research,’ has spent 16 months showing how little W&M upholds these values,” the post said. “Since the genocide in Gaza began, she has failed to address the needs and safety concerns of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and their allies.”
The post also describes a series of disagreements between the Palestinian supporters and Rowe since the rise in demonstrations after the events of Oct. 7, 2023.
“In her first statement after October 7, she called the ‘brutal terrorism against Israeli civilians…abhorrent,’ but did not mention Palestine,” the post read. “She rightfully emphasized heightened antisemitism but failed to mention concerns of Islamophobic & anti-Arab sentiment on campus and nationwide, indicating an alarming inability to recognize crucial student populations and their pain.”
Additionally, SJP commented on recent revisions to the College’s code of conduct, per Governor Glenn Youngkin’s orders, to ban encampments on public academic institutions.
“Rowe’s administration cemented its stance with recent silent, but alarming policy changes targeting SJP and affiliated groups,” SJP wrote. “The most notable, a new clause banning ‘camping’ on university property, is an explicit attempt to preemptively suppress solidarity protests such as last spring’s encampments.”
The post concluded with the Virginia collective emphasizing their administrative grievances.
“On Presidents Day, we recognize the collective failure of Virginia university presidents, whose anti-Palestinian racism and refusal to act for justice expose their complicity in oppression,” the organizations wrote. “When university presidents ignore their students’ overwhelming dissent, it is not leadership– it is cowardice.”
Tuesday, Feb. 18, the College’s SJP tied 1000 ribbons on the Sunken Garden to commemorate the lives lost from the increased violence that has occurred in Gaza and the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023.
In the Instagram post displaying the 1000 ribbons, SJP described the emotion behind this act.
“We wake up today, on Day 500 of genocide, to 1,000 ribbons tied around Sunken Garden, representing 0.5% of the martyrs of Gaza,” SJP wrote.
SJP implored students to take time to honor victims of the conflict as they pass by the Sunken Garden.
“As you go about your day, pass by the area and take a minute to read the names and ages of the martyred,” the statement said. “Think about the hundreds whose lives were stolen from them before their first birthday, the thousands who should’ve been in high school and university with us right now, and the tens of thousands who had lived out their lives but still lost them too soon and in the cruelest of ways. As always, Free Palestine.”
At 12:30 p.m. the same day, SJP reported on their Instagram account that facilities management had mandated and removed the commemorative ribbons.
“By 11 AM, facilities management workers had the order to remove the ribbons,” SJP wrote on their Instagram story. “They contained no offensive or violent messaging, did no property damage, and incurred no financial cost. Instead, all they held were the names and ages of just 1,000 of the 200,000 martyrs of Gaza.”
Assistant Director of Media Relations Nathan Warters responded to The Flat Hat’s request for comment on the ribbons being taken down, forwarding a message from Senior Associate Director of Student Unions and Engagement Trici Rudalf.
“William & Mary’s Policy on Use of University Facilities by Recognized Student Organizations and Individuals requires that all non-traditional displays receive advance approval by the proper scheduling authority for the space where the non-traditional display is to occur,” Rudalf wrote. “Moreover, the policy requires a non-traditional display must clearly display the name of the posting sponsor. Today’s display was removed when it was determined that neither of these requirements were met.”
In the past, SJP has faced sanctions and issues with the College administration for breaking guidelines when demonstrating, hence the group’s probation in 2023.
According to the campus facility use guidelines, updated in 2024, registered student organizations must receive approval before posting any displays on College property.
“Non-traditional displays require advance approval by the proper scheduling authority for the space where the non-traditional display is to occur. Non-traditional displays are subject to the Policy on Use of University Facilities by Recognized Student Organizations and Individuals and are approved based on availability of space where the non-traditional display does not pose a hazard to university property and/or operations as determined by Student Unions & Engagement,” the College’s website reads.
The SJP board expressed how imperative yet vulnerable the right to demonstration is in the current political climate.
“We’ve already seen a clear crackdown on protestors, especially those at larger college campuses and those who aren’t already American citizens,” the board wrote. “Students and faculty who aren’t permanent residents or citizens have lost their student and work visas, been threatened with deportation, and more, all on top of the heightened levels of backlash they have already been facing just for being involved in campus activism.”
The collective also described how demonstration efforts are more than just the protests that occur.
“It’s important to also note that organizing and activism go well beyond large demonstrations; they’re about establishing strong communities and networks of support, recognizing the intersectionality of a lot of the problems we’re not fighting back against, and working collectively to protect and empower each other,” SJP wrote. No action of this administration will ever be enough to take down activism, especially amongst college students; we’re still here and we’re still fighting for our communities, even if how we fight just looks a little different for now.”
