Pro-Palestine encampment with Pitt students enters 3rd day in Oakland

University of Pittsburgh students and others entered a third day of a pro-Palestine demonstration Thursday morning with a growing encampment at Schenley Plaza across from the Cathedral of Learning.

The encampment included over 30 tents. They were surrounded by small Palestinian flags and banners reading, “Stop The Genocide” and “Ceasefire Now.”

A rally at the plaza was held Thursday afternoon.

Protesters want Pitt to divest itself from any war-related investment in Israel. They want the university to issue a statement condemning “genocide in Gaza.”

Listen: Chanting in support of the students at Columbia @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/iYLXz49nKR

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) April 25, 2024

The protest has been peaceful and is expected to last through Friday. It was organized by a group of students that have organized under the name “Pitt Divest from Apartheid.”

Elyanna Sharbaji, vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine and president of Students Organize for Syria at Pitt, helped organize the encampment. She’s expecting more people to participate as the week goes on.

“We’re not leaving until we get what we want, and if we don’t, we’re coming back,” said Sharbaji, 25, who is a senior studying psychology and political science at Pitt.

She said she doesn’t yet know if the encampment will extend past Friday. This week is finals week for Pitt students.

But academic obligations haven’t stopped students — and some faculty members — from participating.

“Some of the students have been coming in and out,” Sharbaji said. “Some are studying in here to do their finals.”

Since she has two more papers she still needs to submit before graduation, Sharbaji is taking advantage of the power banks available at the encampment to complete her work.

Schenley Plaza, adjacent to Hillman Library and across Forbes Avenue, is on city property just off campus. The encampment is set up with tents, food, water, literature and toiletries. Most of the supplies have been donated, Sharbaji said.

There are Palestinian flags set up in a perimeter around the encampment as a memorial displaying the names of kids who were killed by Israeli bombs and missiles, she said. Throughout the encampment, there will be various scheduled events like meetings, speakers, poetry readings, zine and sign making, kite flying and other activities.

The students announced their action Tuesday and said it is “in solidarity with students at Columbia University, Yale, MIT, Tufts, Emerson College, NYU, The New School, University of Michigan, Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who are advocating for Palestinian liberation.”

Happening now in Pittsburgh: Listen to a portion of the speaker event at the pro-Palestine encampment @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/ztowEjNt9G

— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) April 25, 2024

The demonstration comes as pro-Palestinian protests have swept college campuses in recent days, sparking arrests at schools including Columbia University and Yale University.

Pitt officials on Wednesday afternoon said they had no update and reported no incidents related to the protest. On Tuesday evening, Pitt spokesman Jared Stonesifer said the university embraced the right of demonstrators to protest. It asked that the crowd move from the Cathedral lawn to a more suitable location in the plaza.

“The demonstration was not a registered event and was taking place in an area that is not designated as an event space,” Stonesifer said.

Hosting a Seder

As a Jewish staff member at Pitt, Alexandra Weiner said participating in the encampment has been meaningful for her.

Weiner, 25, of the South Side, graduated from Pitt in 2021 and is a part-time instructor in the math department at the university.

“We’re here to make it known to the university that the wider community — students, faculty, staff — the Pitt community doesn’t support Pitt’s complicity in genocide, Pitt’s complicity in apartheid, Pitt’s complicity in occupation,” she said.

Weiner said the group wants Pitt to make a statement in solidarity with the Palestinian people, similar to how it did for the Ukrainian people. She would like to see Pitt cut ties and partnerships with Israeli universities.

She slept in a navy tent Tuesday night and will most likely stay the rest of the week.

“It wasn’t too bad … I got like seven hours of good sleep, which is about what I get on an average night,” Weiner said.

Weiner is a member of the Tree of Life congregation in Squirrel Hill.

On Tuesday night at the encampment, she helped lead a Seder, which is the traditional ceremonial dinner on the first two nights of Passover, she said.

“At other campuses … people will just call them antisemitic and say that it’s not safe for Jews to be at these encampments or to be at these protests, and it’s very safe,” Weiner said. “Fifteen people crowded around a Seder plate … I sang traditional song, I gave prayers, we ate matzah … and people were clapping in the background.”

She said she felt more than safe, as the group was in solidarity together.

“Passover is inherently a liberation story, but there is no liberation for us until there’s liberation for all,” Weiner said.

Finals week

Though Eithne Hartnett isn’t staying in the encampment, she helped set everything up Tuesday night.

“I’m happy to support them in any way that I can,” said Hartnett, 23, of Oakland. “I think it’s amazing the perseverance that they have.”

Hartnett is finishing her third year at Pitt as a philosophy and classics double major, and finals week happening during the encampment is a big concern for her.

“I have two tests today and tomorrow — I brought my papers out here to work,” she said Wednesday. “I mean, I’m getting it done. I’d rather get it done in community though … it wasn’t a hard choice for me.”

The encampment has given Hartnett an outlet to participate as a student instead of feeling stuck, complacent and unable to do anything to help. She’s willing to stay as long as it takes, though she said the demonstration could lose some momentum once students leave for the summer.

“I think this is a really impactful time to be doing this considering that the students are all still here before break,” Hartnett said.

It’s been great to see the local community assisting in the efforts, she said.

“Pittsburgh is a very diverse and divisive town, especially when it comes to Palestine,” Hartnett said. “But, it’s always been really beautiful to see support from the local community.”

Sharbaji spent Tuesday night sleeping in a tent in solidarity with the rest of the encampment. She said it was rainy, windy and pretty cold.

“That’s nothing compared to what the Palestinians are going through,” she said.

The experience made her reflect not only on what Palestinians are going through but refugees and people experiencing homelessness as well.

“Just … sleeping over for one day … it’s really hard … to know how Palestinians in Gaza and other camps as well … or in any other city are just, you know, going through,” Sharbaji said.

The current events have brought up trauma for Sharbaji. She is Syrian and a student refugee. She arrived in the United States in 2016.

“I lived in Syria … we had to move just for our own safety,” she said. “They have to leave their home — their home has gotten destroyed just like my home did.”

Despite the horrific memories, Sharbaji said it’s given her motivation to do something to help.

“We want to stop the genocide,” she said. “We don’t want to see more blood.”

Staff writer Bill Schackner contributed to this report.