RISD students occupy building in pro-Palestinian protest. Here's what they demand.

Jack Perry, Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE – A group of students from the Rhode Island School of Design and other "community members" have occupied a school administration building in support of the people of Gaza.

A group called RISD students for Justice in Palestine is leading the occupation of Providence Washington Hall and says it has renamed the building Fathi Ghaben Place.

RISD has asked the student to relocate "out of respect for their peers' academic experience," RISD spokeswoman Jaime Marland said Tuesday morning. In the meantime, the school is relocating classes that were scheduled for the building Tuesday.

"While we have and continue to affirm our students’ right to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and peaceful assembly, we also respect the rights of the many students who want to attend their classes," Marland said via email.

Students rally outside the Rhode Island School of Design building at 20 Washington Pl. on Monday afternoon where classmates are staging a sit-in and calling on RISD President Crystal Williams to divest from Israel. Photographed on May 6, 2024.
Students rally outside the Rhode Island School of Design building at 20 Washington Pl. on Monday afternoon where classmates are staging a sit-in and calling on RISD President Crystal Williams to divest from Israel. Photographed on May 6, 2024.

What do the protesters want?

The group posted video to social media showing protestors outside the building as occupiers inside unfurled a sign reading "Disclose Divest Defend Gaza."

Another video showed students inside chanting, "Free Free Palestine."

The group said students have barricaded the second floor of the building and urged others to come out and show support, saying "we need a crowd to force the university to divest, not arrest!"

The group said it will not leave until RISD President Crystal Williams meets the following demands:

  • "Provides total fiscal transparency of RISD’s investment portfolio"

  • "Commits to a holistic divestment from companies, corporations, and institutions that are implicated in sustaining Israeli Apartheid"

  • "Establishes a student oversight committee for future investments"

  • "Publicly condemns the Israeli Occupation of Gaza as a genocide."

More: What were the Columbia protests like from the inside? Mark Patinkin finds out from a student

How has RISD responded?

Williams went inside the building and met with students Monday night, the group said. A RISD spokeswoman confirmed that Williams and a provost "were on site meeting with them into the night."

The students claimed Williams gave them until 8 a.m. "to decide their next steps."

RISD issued the following statement: "We have and continue to affirm our students’ right to freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and peaceful assembly. RISD condemns violence and injustice, and we decry antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of hate. The wellbeing of all of our students has been and remains our top priority, and we continue to support all members of our community."

In announcing their plan to occupy the building Monday, RISD students for Justice in Palestine said 21 students and one Providence community member would sit in the building "until their demands are met."

Fearing arrest, the protestors were alarmed late Monday night when three Providence police cruisers pulled up.

"Update: they left after telling us to get off the road," the students wrote on Instagram at about 11 p.m.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Pro-Palestinian protests breaks out at RISD as students occupy building

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