Denison University latest site of college protests against Israel-Hamas war

A demonstration Tuesday at Denison University in Granville is the latest over the Israel-Hamas war in recent weeks on college campuses nationwide that have ranged from Columbia University to Ohio State University, where a protest last week led to 36 arrests and another protest is scheduled Wednesday.

There were no arrests or incidents when about 100 Denison students and faculty members gathered Tuesday on the campus calling for the university to provide transparency about its financial investments, divest its finances from companies and institutions with links to Israel, and to officially join the call for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine.

Students chanted phrases like "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," and "Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!" in between student and faculty speakers in front of the Slayter Hall Student Union.

"The energy and visibility generated by student protests in the U.S. is palpable and inspiring. But let us take this momentum and refocus it towards Gaza," Faye, a Denison junior who declined to give their last name, said to the crowd. "As Israel begins their invasion of Rafah, as the warming weather brings death by heat and infectious disease, as the suppression of humanitarian aid and the destruction of land from starvation, the demands of divestment and a call for ceasefire become more urgent than ever."

Greta Schreiber, a Denison senior and the co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Denison, told the crowd that there is a precedent for divestment at Denison. In the 1980s, students called on the university to divest all funds from South Africa and companies connected to the apartheid regime. Schreiber said the university tried to ignore the students' requests then, but did eventually divest from South Africa in 1987.

"The next time the administration tells us that we're being too disruptive, and that there's a time and place for proper protests, remember that the values and ideals that they advertise to appear as a progressive institution were forced upon them in the exact same manner," Schreiber said.

But there might be legal hurdles about divesting. After similar protests at Ohio State last week, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 9.76, signed into law by then-Gov. John Kasich in 2016 and amended in 2022, prohibits state agencies like universities from contracting with companies that are boycotting or disinvesting from Israel. The law doesn't explicitly state that universities are prohibited from divesting from Israel, but Ohio Attorney General's Office spokesperson Bethany McCorkle told The Dispatch that the state law has that effect anyway.

The Denison protest was peaceful and ended after about an hour and half in front of the Beth Eden building, which houses the Office of the President, Provost, Finance and Management, Business Services, and Registrar. The demonstration ended once Denison officials told students they could disperse or the university would call Granville police.

There was no visible presence from Denison's campus safety office or Granville police during the protest, but several campus officials were watching nearby.

Denison officials did not return a request for comment by publication time.

mdevito@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Israel-Hamas war: Denison latest site of college protests against war