A dedicated cohort of students gathered Oct 11 to advocate for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Movement building in the SUNY system.
Gathered in the Plaza between E. H. Butler Library and the Campbell Student Union, protestors held signs, chanted, wrote statements in chalk, and listened to speeches given by organizers of the demonstration.
Buffalo State staff members were seen attempting to distribute flyers and disrupt the demonstration. According to one of the organizers, one of the employees threatened to confiscate the megaphone they were using, citing the prohibition of sound amplification, but ultimately did nothing.
When asked for a statement, the employee emphasized free speech policies and declined to comment further on the demonstration.
After leading the crowd in call and response chants, one of the organizers of Buffalo State Students for Justice recited a moving speech about the financial interests of institutions like SUNY.
“SUNY and Buffalo State support the Israeli terror state. They didn’t give a fuck about the South African apartheid state and they don’t care now.”
The message and mission of the demonstration was clearly stated by the organizer: “We demand disclosure and divestment.”
Maureen Milligan, a faculty member at University at Buffalo, as well as a member of the steering committee for SUNY BDS, gave a speech detailing her involvement protesting apartheid in South Africa as a student at RIT in the 1980s, noting the parallels of injustice that occurred between then and presently in occupied Palestine.
Reading an excerpt from a 1986 publication of the RIT student newspaper, Milligan made connections to the proposed question of whether or not divestment is an appropriate political act for an educational institution.
“Investing in these companies is in and of itself a political stand”, states Milligan. “When we invest in Israel, we are making a political stand.”
After her speech, the first speaker asked attendees of the demonstration to chalk the area with quotes and information while they chanted.
The crowd dispersed peacefully.
Later in the day, it was discovered that some of the art made with chalk had been erased, to the disappointment of some students in attendance.
Buffalo State’s parameters regarding freedom of speech are detailed on the university’s website, including the barring of chalking on vertical surfaces, though it is not known when this specific limitation was put in place.
One of the action items Buffalo State Students for Justice has asked the community to partake in is the calling of representatives of SUNY to divest from Israel.
If you are looking to get involved with local initiatives, below are a few good places to start:
Buffalo State Students for Justice Instagram
Liberation for One, Liberation for All (LOLA) Buffalo Linktree
Communist Student League Instagram
