Hundreds of students, faculty, and alumni of DePaul University in Chicago set up encampments on the main quad of the campus today, joining nationwide college protests across the country in support of the Palestinian people and calling on their schools to cut financial ties with Israel.

The camp began at 10:00 a.m., with students and faculty joining throughout the day. Protesting students shared lunches, conducted several teach-in programs, prayed together, and created collective artwork. 

Some of the students’ main demands are: “Acknowledge the ongoing genocide and ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza,” “Disclose investments, budgets, and holdings of the university with the greater DePaul community,” “Divest from companies that promote Palestinian suffering and profit from the occupation,” “Join the city of Chicago in calling for a cease-fire,” “Eliminate study abroad trips to ‘Israel’ that discriminate and normalize Israel’s occupation,” and “Establish an ethical advisory team on investment responsibility that includes students, faculty, and staff.”

With the ongoing encampments, DePaul students became the latest to join nationwide student protests across the country setting up encampments demanding that the school divest from Israel.

On April 29, students at the University of Chicago began the encampments, while students at Northwestern University ended their five-day strike after reaching an agreement with their campus.