The Palestinian Solidarity Committee at Indiana University has been working day and night since the events that transpired on October 7th, 2023. Since the Israeli attacks on Palestine, the organization has sought to serve as a platform for spreading awareness and protest.
Bryce Greene was one of the students who the group really spoke to. Bryce is not a Palestinian but he believes it is our job to stand up and spread awareness. He stated that our job as being part of Democracy is to stand up and create unrest in the country so that our government has to respond.
As for Indiana University, their stance on the conflict has not changed since IU President Pamela Whitten released a statement about the event where she mentioned both parties. However, she would issue a second statement shortly after that seemed to omit any mention of Muslim students. This was met with unrest and many students were upset that she did not acknowledge Palestinian suffering.
Bryce answers different questions about his involvement and thoughts on how IU has handled it.
As mentioned above the PSC has been working hard to spread awareness, and the vigil held in Dunn Meadow showed support for Palestinian children who have lost their lives in the conflict. The vigil was meant to make it difficult for students to ignore what was happening, and simply challenge the idea of walking by and not thinking about it.
At the vigil there were many people from the PSC who spoke about what has been happening in the Middle East, chanting, and even personal accounts from Palestinians about their homeland. The Palestinians talked about the people from their home who they think about everyday, and it served to really put a face on the conflict and make it more personal for observers.
The flags were in Dunn Meadow for a week and then got picked up, but the PSC is continuously holding events on IU’s campus to continue to build awareness. The most common form of public events are rallies that include the general speeches about what the current status is of the conflict, chants aimed at IU and Israel, and sometimes a guest speaker who is outside the PSC.
However, as the protests have gone on and continued to happen there seems to be more animosity towards the university. This can be interpreted as Palestinian supporters getting tired of IU’s silence, and refusing to be quite and allow them to continue their support of Israel.
The reason IU has not given any support to Palestinian people can be interpreted in different ways, but it the general consensus of thought seems to be related to IU’s extensive donor base being pro-Israel. This is the thought because IU has a good quantity of Jewish students, IU Hillel reports that it ranges from 10-12% of the student body.
This has created some unrest between the PSC and Jewish organizations on campus, but the PSC has come up with some ideas to use that. One of those concepts the PSC has begun is including speakers who are Jewish and support Palestine, or at least oppose the actions of Israel.
Sasha Weiss discusses how being a Jewish supporter of Palestine has caused rifts in her relationships.
After the extensive amount of events and protests held by the PSC, there has still not been any statement made by Indiana University revolving around the conflict. Which is something Sasha Weiss mentioned, saying that being a student is being compliant with the universities policies and decisions, and to not speak up would be to support it.
The PSC continues to hold events with keynote speakers and even created a book club where they read Palestinian literature. All of this serves as a way to build awareness of the conflict and make students see that the effects of it are all around us even though we are thousands of miles away.
The PSC Instagram is a great way to check out any upcoming events, or further information on the group.
