Fordham University student Kara Gilbert, 22, found it difficult to get to class Wednesday due to pro-Palestinian demonstrations at her campus.
Fordham University, located at 113 West 60 Street, is just the latest Manhattan college to be invaded by the disruptive protesters since April.
“It’s hard to get around in the building just because the entrances are closed off. But I did make it to class,” Ms. Gilbert told The Epoch Times.
By 3 p.m. in the afternoon, there was not only an encampment of tents inside the main building but also protesters obstructing two entrances and a group on the roof leading people on the street in song.
“At a Jesuit university, you want to think any religious persecution is going to be addressed properly,” Ms. Gilbert said. “Fordham said they would hire more religious staff from different religions to help students feel more safe and understood. But that hasn’t happened yet.”
Fordham University is a Jesuit and Catholic college. Ms. Gilbert, a senior majoring in communications, was just one of hundreds of bystanders watching the protesters who are calling for disclosure and divestment of the school’s ties to Israel.
The encampment breakout happened just hours after the New York Police Department descended upon Columbia University and City College of New York and arrested 282 people after nearly two weeks of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
“I am concerned for them but every student who’s protesting here right now is aware of the possibility of arrest and most are looking for the attention,” Ms. Gilbert added. “So the arrests are what is going to happen and what needs to happen to bring attention.”
At City College, 173 were arrested compared to 109 at Columbia University, where students and outside activists broke windows and doors to gain entry to Hamilton Hall.
Students occupying the Columbia University school building face expulsion, according to Columbia University officials.
“I’m a little bit more scared to be suspended than arrested,” Fordham University student Riley Kerr told The Epoch Times.
Ms. Kerr, 20, is a third year student majoring in American Studies and Comparative Literature who helped organize the rally.
Originally, she’s from South Carolina.
“I feel Fordham University, like everyone’s been saying, should disclose and divest because our demands are specifically to stop any investment and any study abroad programs in Israel,” Ms. Kerr added. “What’s at stake is continuing to support genocide and the future of everyone’s perception of what justice is.”
Fordham University officials did not respond to requests for comment by press time but Fordham’s vice president for student affairs Michele C. Burris issued notices that students participating in the encampment are suspended and banned from campus.
In November 2023, Hamas released 105 of the 253 hostages they captured during an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel.
This week, Israel offered a 40-day truce in exchange for the release of hostages. Hamas has yet to accept or reject the offer.
Pro-Palestinian protesters contend that Israel’s response to Oct. 7 targeting Hamas in Gaza is an attempt to eliminate all Palestinians from Israel.
“I’m disgusted because all they’re doing is encouraging Hamas to act more violently,” Madeline Levine, 74, told The Epoch Times.
She feels strongly about Israel, after having lived there for two years.
“I think they’re uninformed, they’re uneducated, and they don’t know the whole story,” Ms. Levine said. “What Israel is doing is horrific but Hamas started it. Hamas never built a hospital, never built a road, never built a school, and it’s using its own people as hostages.”
“We should appreciate and admire freedom of speech, especially in our case where this speaks up for humanity and for justice and for something that we, as people of morals, should respect and admire,” Mr. Feldman told The Epoch Times.
“I can only encourage politicians here in New York City to respect those students, hear their demands, and speak up for what is right.”
