Rally at Bowdoin College student occupation

 

  

These pics are from the Saturday rally outside of the student union occupation by Bowdoin College students in Brunswick, Maine. I'd say over 200 students and community people from around the state came in and out during the two hours I was there.

At the time of the rally 40-50 students were inside the student union in their protest calling for the college trustees to divest from all funds that are involved in supporting the Israel genocide against the Palestinian people. 

The Bowdoin student newspaper reported on Saturday about the events:

The crowd listened to speakers, chanted and sang in support of Palestine and participated in a dance circle. At one point during the rally, encampment members addressed the audience with a bullhorn from the windows of Smith Union’s second floor. Speakers from inside the building noted the powerful support they have received from the campus and Maine community.

“There was a moment where I felt in that room that 30 something of us turned into 100, 1,000, 100,000,” Olivia Kenney ’25, a lead organizer for SJP, said from the window. “It’s really hard to describe the beauty of being in here. I haven’t left this building since I came in here at 6 p.m. on Thursday.”

In the late morning on Saturday, as supporters remained gathered outside, some students in the encampment received an email that they had been placed on “disciplinary probation.”

“Your behavior was a violation of the standards of this community,” the letter from James Riley, associate dean for community standards, read. “Specifically, you are responsible for the following Social Code violations: Failure to comply with the reasonable request of a College official. / Disruption of the orderly processes of the College, including obstruction of College activities in Smith Union.”

One student organizer from Bates College [Lewiston], who preferred to stay anonymous, was glad to attend the rally and noted their inspiration at the work being done by Bowdoin SJP.

“Bowdoin and Bates and Colby [Waterville) - these other liberal arts schools around the area - their whole vision is creating a university in which students are able to have critical thinking, to work together and organize and create things that are going to make the world a better place. And this is exactly what that is,” the student said. “It’s so sad to see the administration being completely against it.… I think all of us want to see these schools do what they promised, which is make the world a better place.”

I will return later today to the protest. We've had another big night of snow so until the road is cleared from my home I am stuck here.

Bruce 

PS I went for an hour and did a walking picket line near the student union spot where about a dozen students were sitting outside the door studying in the cold. They came and went but always their numbers stayed about the same. Here are some photos from Sunday morning.