Zac Schultz:
Student protests on campuses around the nation have led to violent police crackdowns, so when pro-Palestine encampments sprung up on the UW-Madison and Milwaukee campuses, organizers and officials weren’t sure what to expect. “Here & Now” reporter Marisa Wojcik talked with students and community members on both sides of the issue and has this report.

Dahlia Saba:
We have seen that the university has refused to take us seriously after months of protests, and so we are here to stay.

Marisa Wojcik:
This week, protesters like Palestinian-Americans Dalia Saba at UW-Madison and Amin Atta at UW-Milwaukee joined the broader campus movement to support Palestinians under siege in Gaza.

Ameen Atta:
My people are suffering from a brutal bombardment that has lasted over 200 days and they have full support from the American government. So here at UW-M, what can we do? Our job is to focus on every space that we enter and pressure to divest from Israel and cut all ties to Israel.

Amadi Ozier:
Students at our university are extremely exhausted by the war and they do not want to participate in the war, and they also want the administration to openly acknowledge their relationship to that war, and I think that’s completely reasonable.

Marisa Wojcik:
Of the demands, students want the university to divest from companies that profit from selling weapons and equipment to Israel.

Abbie Klein:
We’re asking to know where our money is going, the money that we give this school, that the school makes off of us.

Marisa Wojcik:
On Monday, the students put up tents in concurrence with campuses in other states and other countries.

Sara:
The tents are a symbol. There are people in Gaza who have lost their entire belongings, their homes, their livelihoods. They’re living in tents and now they are being bombed in tents.

Marisa Wojcik:
The tents also represent a breaking point for students.

Sara:
It’s interesting that we’ve only had the ear of the chancellor since the tents have been put up.

Marisa Wojcik:
The encampment violates university policy, a sticking point for UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, who initially refused to meet with students until the tents were taken down.

Abigail Smith:
It’s important to us that the focus is not on our right to protest or our right to be here. The focus should be on our message and our message is to disclose the university’s funds, to divest from companies that are funding the genocide and for the chancellor to fully meet what our demands are, and we will not leave until we do that.

Marisa Wojcik:
On Wednesday morning, the chancellor authorized three law enforcement agencies to dismantle the encampment at UW-Madison and protesters resisted. More than two dozen students and faculty were arrested, popping Madison into national headlines. So far, UW-Milwaukee has not met the same fate.

Zachary Ogulnick:
With the rising tensions in combination with finals season and all of that, it’s really, you know, had our minds completely scrambled.

Marisa Wojcik:
Students at the UW Hillel Foundation, a Jewish group on campus, take issue with the protesters’ methods and their message.

Ben Newman:
These are people who have taken the administration hostage to a set of demands that are unreasonable and unmeetable by any stretch of the imagination. And so I understand why the chancellor might not want to meet them.

Erika Klein:
They have been screaming her name, saying Chancellor Mnookin, you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide. From her perspective, I would see that as a threat. She’s a Jewish woman. All of these chants, antisemitic chants, they’re also threats.

Jordyn Geller:
Hearing the word genocide, knowing how it correlates back to the holocaust as Jewish students, is very upsetting.

Marisa Wojcik:
There are a number of Jewish students, faculty and community members who stand with the protesters.

Esty Dinur:
I am an Israeli-American and I am very, very disturbed by the fact that both of my governments supporting what is unquestionably a genocide currently against the Palestinian people.

Marisa Wojcik:
For Esty Dinur, tens of thousands of Gazans killed in the war is history repeating.

Esty Dinur:
I’m the daughter of a holocaust survivor who was also a holocaust historian, and as I was growing up, among people with numbers tattooed on their arms, the big question was how could that happen with the whole world watching?

Marisa Wojcik:
A core issue for many, no matter their background, is the question of whether antizionism equates antisemitism.

Tsela Barr:
That conflation of antizionism or criticism of Israel with antisemitism is extremely dangerous.

Abbie Klein:
I’m Jewish. I grew up in a Zionist family, and I took time unlearning a lot of what I learned growing up and reconciling what I had been told and I truly believe that what is happening here, what’s happening across the nation, across the world in terms of standing in solidarity with Palestinians is not antisemitic. In fact, it is holding so firm to our Jewish faith to leave the world a better place, to care for others.

Jordyn Geller:
It feels like in order to be what they consider a good Jew, you have to give up your beliefs of Israel and Zionism and support their cause fully and it’s hard to do that when we’re hearing them chant these words that, again, may not meant to be harmful but are.

Esty Dinur:
I mean, I don’t necessarily agree with every slogan that is being chanted here, but when you make coalitions with other organizations, you have to accept that you will not agree with everyone.

Marisa Wojcik:
Hours after police cleared the Madison encampment, new tents went up. By Thursday, a group of protesters met with UW-Madison officials. As more talks linger on the horizon, no one can yet say what will come out of the conversations.

Ben Newman:
I feel that the group of people who are out there in the encampment are — represent a small section of the population of 44,000 undergrad here. I believe that most people actually don’t care that much.

Sara:
If the university is dissatisfied with those demands, they can take it up with the values that they instilled in us.

Marisa Wojcik:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik in Madison.