1. We stand in support of our students who acted out of principled conviction and with the aim of driving positive change at the College and beyond. The College continues to remain silent while the White House openly declares its intent to ethnically cleanse and forcibly displace millions of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The “ceasefire” does not mean the violence has ended. In the West Bank, the Israeli army has demolished hundreds of homes and displaced 40,000 Palestinians this week alone. The College cannot ignore the possibility that it may be complicit in this violence.

2. We reject the notion that the students created an environment that was “intimidating,” “hostile” or “unsafe.” These are unfounded allegations. To date, the College has not provided a single concrete example to justify these charges. The students inside Smith Union did not block any entrances, and they did not destroy any property. There seems to be no rule against sleeping in Smith Union, which is open 24 hours a day, and it remains unclear exactly what policies the students broke. The weaponization of discourses around safety is cynical and ends up making all of us less safe.

3. We urge a full and immediate amnesty for every student who participated in the encampment. The students were exercising their right to engage in peaceful protest. Bowdoin has a rich history of such protest, not least in the long struggle against apartheid South Africa, which is today rightly lauded. The students represent the best of this College’s traditions. Moreover, the College has responded with excessive punishments that break with precedent. In 2015, students participated in a two-day occupation of the President’s Office and demanded that the College divest from fossil fuels; they received no punishment. Why then are the students who participated in this weekend’s encampment facing far more punitive disciplinary actions?

4. We reiterate the need for the College to respect the results of the Solidarity Referendum and  make concrete moves toward disclosure and divestment from arms. What students overwhelmingly voted for is doable and just. It is unconscionable that we might be complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. There is no compelling moral reason that the College should continue to invest in and render profit from companies complicit in war crimes, genocide and apartheid. We agree with our students who say this is in flagrant violation of the College’s commitment to the common good, which explicitly claims a commitment to fighting inequities. The students are only demanding that the College live up to its own values.

Doris Santoro, Oyman Basaran and Meryem Belkaïd are members of Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP). For inquires, please contact bowdoinfsjp@proton.me.