LUBBOCK, Texas — As pro-Palestinian demonstrations have popped up across the country in the past week, Texas Tech Students for Justice in Palestine joined the movement on Friday, April 26. The students gathered on campus to voice their concerns, with one central message being the call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
After student demonstrators were arrested on campuses such as the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University this week, the Texas Tech students who demonstrated on Friday wanted to show their support and solidarity for those students.
“It really is shocking, and it takes you back when you see these kinds of things happen at universities that you know and love,” Anum Javeed, who is a sophomore at Texas Tech said.
The students were on campus from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday. They began the day with a sit-in at the administration building and the Student Union Building. The group then had a prayer outside the Student Union Building and ended the day with another sit-in at the administration building.
Javeed and other students involved in Friday’s protest didn’t want the same story to play out as it did when students were arrested at other college campuses as they demonstrated. They worked closely with the Texas Tech Police and fire marshal to make sure the demonstrators and everyone on campus would be safe throughout their demonstrations, according to Adam Matter, who is the president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Texas Tech.
“We’re here to tell people that Texas Tech gives its students free speech and that we can always do it properly if you work with the administration and make sure that we achieve something,” Matter said.
Through the halls of the administration building and the Student Union Building, the student demonstrators kept their voices high – calling for key things such as asking their university to divest from companies that fund Israel, the release of innocent protesters arrested during college campus protests and a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We want Texas Tech to stop doing financial business with those companies to hopefully incentivize these companies to stop investing in the Israeli military,” Christopher Walker, who is a senior at Texas Tech said.
Walking side by side through demonstrations, the students who call each other “brothers and sisters” told EverythingLubbock.com that they’re leaning on each other and hoping to see their demonstrations make a difference.
“It is empowering to say the least. It is one of the most beautiful feelings banding together and feeling that unity in your heart,” Javeed said.
Matter said they’ll continue to demonstrate and call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“We’re not gonna stop until Palestine is free,” Matter said.
