Around two dozen Stony Brook University students organized by the group SB4Palestine gathered at the Staller Steps on Wednesday, Aug. 28 during the first pro-Palestine demonstration of the 2024-2025 academic year.
The rally comes as the Stony Brook community continues to experience the fallout of the arrests that took place during the spring 2024 semester. In May, 29 individuals were arrested during a protest on the Staller Steps that took place after demonstrators and the Stony Brook administration failed to come to a peaceful resolution regarding ending the protest.
Prior to the start of the fall 2024 semester, Stony Brook administrators — including Interim President Richard McCormick and Vice President for Student Affairs Rick Gatteau — sent multiple emails to the campus community notifying faculty, staff and students of implemented policies regarding on-campus demonstrations.
But to SB4Palestine, these messages serve as a way for the administration to further divide the campus, according to Zubair, a spokesperson for the group who requested his last name remain anonymous.
“We believe that they’re just tactics to try to split the community on campus with the student body. We believe that they’re trying to pull us apart, trying to kind of make those organizations that we work with on campus turn against us,” Zubair said.
Throughout the protest, students chanted phrases to drum beats such as, “Gaza, Gaza you will rise / Palestine will never die,” and, “End the occupation now.”
Protestors passed round small paper handouts containing a QR code that led to SB4Palestine’s GroupMe, which demonstrators said will provide updates about the group.
Jeffrey Heinz, a professor in the Department of Linguistics at Stony Brook, attended Wednesday’s protest and voiced his dissatisfaction with the University’s handling of previous campus protests. He said he hopes that the fallout that continues to be experienced from the protests of last semester can be a learning for the community.
“If we look across the nation, there were universities that relied and cracked down on police force and surveillance,” he said. “Then, there were other universities that found a way to manage these situations peacefully through dialogue. I would like to see Stony Brook on the second path.”
Small groups of students gathered to watch the protest nearby; among them was Ash Leis, a junior majoring in journalism.
“I hope no one gets arrested again. I feel like this is a very peaceful protest that they’re doing. They’re not hurting anybody, and I don’t see anything wrong with this happening right now,” Leis said.
Taylor Gabrovic, a senior majoring in English, also witnessed Wednesday’s protest and communicated concerns about the emails sent out to students.
“I think that it can be kind of a slippery slope, because we are on a public campus and the right to protest and such is guaranteed for us as U.S. citizens…we have to be careful,” she said.
A small group of pro-Israel counterprotesters also gathered near the demonstration. One of them was Sam Shpack, a junior majoring in history, who stood in the shade of a nearby tree holding a large Israeli flag.
“[I’m] here to show that they are not the only voices on campus,” Shpack said. “And as a Jew, I will always defend my homeland, and the right of Israel to defend itself.”
The protest later moved from Staller Steps to underneath nearby trees to utilize the shade on the hot summer day, where SB4Palestine set up painting supplies and continued to pass out small pamphlets to students.
“I think [protests] should be viewed as learning experiences where we can bring people together to talk about what the issues are, and we can try to reach a better understanding of where they’re coming from and where others in the community are also coming from,” Heinz said. “That’s what I would like to see, and I hope that the Interim President is able to bring a new tone of that kind to the campus.”
In a statement, University officials highlighted their commitment to free speech, though they expressed that demonstrations could not disrupt the school’s operations.
“Stony Brook University fully supports free speech and peaceful demonstrations, however, these must not disrupt University functions. We are committed to maintaining safety for our campus community as well as to protecting the community’s First Amendment rights, and will consistently enforce our rules as highlighted in the president’s message earlier this month,” officials wrote.
