Caroline Cubbin ‘25

Holding up cardboard signs reading “Palestine will live forever” and “Divest from death,” over 50 members of the community ranging from first semester freshmen to second semester seniors gathered on the South Lawn under the warm October sun. Moments later, organizers from the Sarah Lawrence Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group spoke to the student body from the steps of Westlands. Clad in keffiyehs and Palestinian flags, students eagerly listened to organizers as they shouted chants and calls to action.

Speaking the words of Sakir Khader—who posted a series of contemplative tweets on Oct. 6, 2024— Nazira Atalla, ‘26, an SJP organizer, said “As you remember your seventh we will remember our 24/7s for over 100 years and counting… It has been nearly 365 days of ongoing genocide, and I can't recall having ever witnessed anything remotely like this, a scale of violence so unyielding, so relentless, it defies any element of reason, any contour of probability.” As Atalla continued speaking, fellow organizers stood close, exchanging kind glances and offering their hands in support.

“The Sarah Lawrence way cannot apply here. It cannot be ‘Individualism wins,’” sophomore SJP organizer Vega Barrada Gullette said during the rally, addressing the students gathered on the lawn. “Don't follow the company line. Don't get everything from huge Western media. Actually think for yourselves. There's a place for you. We want you guys. We need you guys. Our job as political leaders on campus is to educate, and your job is to show up and ask questions.”

Communities surrounding Sarah Lawrence, including Yonkers and New York City, host a variety of action groups, protests and events aimed at involving wider populations of citizens. But for those who spend a large majority of their time on campus, SLC’s SJP coalition has served as a way to involve students. As Freya Moran-Olmsted, a freshman attendee of the Oct. 7 rally said, “I’m here because I felt like my words were empty, and I want to stop feeling that way.”

After an hour on the South Lawn, SJP organizers began to close the rally by asking students to show up the following day for a Westlands sit-in, a day-long teach-in in cooperation with SLC faculty and administration members, an open meeting later in the afternoon and a vigil remembering the lives lost in the past year in Palestine and Lebanon in the evening.

Following the 11 a.m. rally, student organizers left campus to join protests in the city. Attendees were invited to join, and those who stayed behind occupied the interior of the Barbara Walters Campus Center, where they sat holding cardboard signs from the protest.

In the spring semester of the 2024 academic year, students at colleges and universities across the country, SLC included, began pressuring their institutions to divest from financial ventures that can be traced back to Israel. This year, SJP intends to continue pursuing divestment efforts at SLC. “This will be the start of an escalation on this campus. We got nothing last year, and we understand that with the same tactics, we'll get nothing. So this is only the start,” says SJP organizer, Liam Sharif ‘25, in his final remarks.

Sarah Lawrence Students Reflect On The One-Year Anniversary of October 7