Editor’s Note: A source in this story has been granted anonymity for reasons of personal safety and the ability to travel to Palestine.
The University of Minnesota’s Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) said new obstacles from the federal government will not stop them from continuing to protest but will change how they protect their international students and themselves.
In a Jan. 29 executive order, President Donald Trump outlined governmental efforts to curb antisemitism in the U.S., particularly on college campuses. Trump said he would cancel the visas of foreign student “Hamas sympathizers.”
In an emailed statement to the Minnesota Daily, University spokesperson Jake Ricker said federal laws governing freedom of expression have not changed, and the University has not changed any related policies.
“The University remains fully committed to freedom of individual expression,” Ricker said in the statement.
SDS and SJP said they will continue to protest despite the obstacles. They said the lack of protests in the last few months has been due to the cold weather, as it can result in reduced turnout.
SDS member Sasmit Rahman said future SDS campaigning and protests will shift to focus more primarily on opposing Trump’s policies, specifically protecting the University’s immigrant and international students, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and academic freedoms.
“I think it’s in times like these where people need to be protesting the most — when it’s the most important for our voices to be heard,” Rahman said. “In my personal opinion, to stop protesting now that there’s the slightest bit more risk would be very unfair.”
Rahman said in a progressive city like Minneapolis, it is SDS’s responsibility to keep protesting in the face of adversity.
Rahman said there was and still is a fear of international students being deported due to their participation in protests. She added that this fear is highest for Palestinian students.
“I’ve spoken to Palestinian students who, even last year, were afraid to be at protests without covering up their face because they are afraid of getting deported or like losing their status as a student,” Rahman said.
Going forward, Rahman said SDS aims for University administration to make commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and state the University campus will be a sanctuary for its students.
An SJP executive, who will remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said SJP will have to be more alert when it comes to protesting and how they go about it due to ongoing investigations from the Department of Education and the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.
The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced Friday it will be investigating nine universities, including the University of Minnesota, on allegations that they may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, according to a press release from the Office of Public Affairs.
There will be a big emphasis on protecting protestors by covering their identity in the forms of masks and Keffiyehs, the SJP executive said. Keffiyehs are traditional scarves worn around many parts of the Middle East.
The executive said SJP does not advise international students to come to pro-Palestinian protests as it risks deportation more now than previously.
“If you’re a student that came from thousands and thousands of miles away, just to be sent back for using the First Amendment right, which is enshrined in the law, it’s really frightening to see the power that this administration is willing to go and the lengths that they’re willing to go just to squash the pro-Palestine movement,” the SJP executive said.
The SJP executive said there is no current specific plan or set schedule for protests, though there will likely be more as the weather continues to warm.
