Students Launch New Pro-Palestine Group

BY JO B. LEMANN AND ASHER J. MONTGOMERY CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS

Harvard President Lawrence S. Bacow has previously said it would be “inappropriate” for the University to remove the Sackler family name from campus buildings, citing “legal and contractual considerations” as well as the fact that Arthur Sackler’s passing before OxyContin was developed and marketed.

Bridget S. O’Kelly ’23, co-president of HCOPES, said she was “shocked” by the student turnout.

“I think this is an issue that touches a lot of people,” said O’Kelly. “It was really amazing to see all the students show up and kind of put their voices and their bodies behind this movement,” she added.

nia.orakwue@thecrimson.com sellers.hill@thecrimson.com

Graduate students across Harvard launched a new pro-Palestine activism group called Graduate Students 4 Palestine with an event Wednesday.

The new organization will create a network for graduate students in different schools at Harvard organizing around Palestinian rights, according to Harvard Divinity School student Elom Tettey-Tamaklo, an organizer for GS4P.

“The basic idea is for there to be an institutional home for all grad students who are interested in Palestine and advocacy around Palestine, and for us to advocate with a united voice around the questions of Palestine within the University and beyond,” Tettey-Tamaklo said.

Tettey-Tamaklo said he sees value in graduate students from different schools coming together in their advocacy for Palestine.

“The uniqueness of GS4P is within each school, folks are approaching the question of Palestine from their unique perspectives,” he said.

Organizers also said they hope to use their influence as Harvard students to create change.

“The brand of Harvard garners a lot of attention, so the things that we’re doing, the things that we’re talking about, how we’re advocating for Palestine, it goes beyond the walls of the institution, and it’s such a perfect space and opportunity for us to do this work,” Tettey-Tamaklo said.

The formation of the student group comes roughly a month after “PalTrek,” a funded, weeklong trip to Palestine over spring break that aims to “introduce trekkers to Palestinian culture, history, and people, to foster understanding of the reality of life under military occupation, and to highlight the Palestinian nar- rative,” according to the organization’s website.

Harvard Kennedy School student Maya R.F. Alper said she believes PalTrek created a new spur of pro-Palestine advocacy among Harvard graduate students.

“Coming back after PalTrek, there’s been this renewed sense of urgency around organizing around Palestine,” Alper said.

“The opportunity to be in Palestine, to hear from Palestinians in their own homes, on their own terms, in their own words about their story was incredibly powerful for me, and so I felt that call to relay those stories really urgently.”

HKS students outside of GS4P, including Alper, hosted a teachin on Tuesday to talk about their experiences on PalTrek.

Though Alper is not currently part of GS4P, she said she sees value in creating a united front of pro-Palestine advocacy across the University.

“Finding a way to bring all of the folks together — all these dis- parate grad students under one umbrella — is really important, since sort of the core of this kind of organizing work is solidarity and showing up for one another,” Alper said.

HKS student Kartikeya Bhatotia, who helped organize the teach-in, said he believed it was important to provide a Palestinian perspective to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the event According to Bhatotia, pro-Palestine organizers are hoping to increase the representation of Palestinians on campus by aiding them during the application process and brainstorming a longterm strategy to provide resources for Palestinians on campus.

“I was a participant on the Trek, but I am now participating in the post-Trek activities because we decided that it was important to bring Palestinian voices on campus, just to have a fair representation,” Bhatotia said.

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