Yale Muslim Students Association holds silent protest on Cross Campus Yale’s Muslim Students Association joined other Connecticut MSA chapters in silent protest on Nov. 29 to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Words by Kaitlyn Pohly and Tristan Hernandez. Photos by Ellie Park and Collyn Robinson.
At a Nov. 29 protest organized by the Muslim Students Association, participants silently sat along a banner listing the names of Gazan civilians whom Israel has killed in the Israel-Hamas war. Each participant also stepped to the front to draw a red teardrop on a banner at the front of the gathering, representing Palestinian people killed by Israel.
The protest was part of a larger series of demonstrations organized by Muslim Student Associations across Connecticut. The demonstration took place outside of Sterling Memorial Library, where protestors sat on the stone steps with Palestinian flags laid out.
The protest was part of a larger series of demonstrations organized by Muslim Student Associations across Connecticut. The demonstration took place outside of Sterling Memorial Library, where protestors sat on the stone steps with Palestinian flags laid out.
“The silence was intentional - we wanted to have a visual impact and honor the lives of our Gazan brothers and sisters,” Yale MSA members wrote in a statement. The students spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of doxxing and harassment.
Protestors called on the University to divest from weapons manufacturers and U.S. and Israeli companies “complicit in the destruction of Gaza,” according to the statement. They also aimed to acknowledge the “more than 14,000 people that have been martyred in Gaza,” the MSA members wrote.
Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,200 people and taking 240 as hostages, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry as reported by the Washington Post. Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza, killing more than 13,300 Palestinians as of figures from the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, the Associated Press reported. More than three-quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million-person population have been uprooted, leading to a humanitarian crisis.
The Gazan death toll is probably much higher, the Associated Press reported, as officials have infrequently updated the count since Nov. 11, and the ministry says thousands more may be dead.
The protest on Wednesday came on the heels of a temporary ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which began on Nov. 24 and lasted for seven days. The pause in fighting was initiated to allow for the release of some of hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and to deliver necessary humanitarian aid to residents of Gaza, according to AP News. That ceasefire ended in the early hours of Dec. 1, when the war resumed full force with Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, the Washington Post reported, after Israel said Hamas was responsible for launching a rocket into Israel from Gaza and had thus violated the terms of the ceasefire in its final minutes.
The protest on Nov. 29 was part of a joint effort with other Connecticut schools in order to have a “bigger impact” when calling for a ceasefire, Yale MSA wrote. Those schools included Southern Connecticut State University, the University of New Haven, Fairfield University and Western Connecticut State University.
“The Yale administration needs to hear us, and through silence, we will make them listen,” a Yale student organizer told the CT Mirror during the silent protest. “We are not alone today. MSA’s across the state are in silence with us. Solidarity is what keeps us going. Solidarity is the reason why we are here today.”
Yale’s MSA chapter is also calling on Yale to take a stand against rising Islamophobia members have perceived on campus, including actions to denounce the anti-Palestine messages written on a Grace Hopper whiteboard last month.
In a post on the chapter’s Instagram, they also called for additional hiring of staff for Muslim life at Yale, such as a female assistant Muslim chaplain and more Muslim mental health counselors, and for the creation of resources to protect pro-Palestine speech and activism.
The group cited recent anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic events as the basis for their demands, such as the whiteboard incident and the alleged vandalization of an MSA bulletin board.
“We have been profoundly alarmed by the Islamophobic incidents on campus,” the same MSA member wrote to the News. “They have created an environment on campus at which we don’t feel safe or heard.”
They further wrote that some members, especially those who are “most visibly Muslim” — specifically those who wear a hijab — are fearful on campus, with some students leaving to go home out of safety concerns. Others, they noted, were fearful of speaking publicly about Palestine for fear of doxxing or retaliation. Before Thanksgiving break, a “doxxing truck” came to New Haven, displaying the names and photos of a number of Yalies it deemed the University’s “leading antisemites. The victims were mainly graduate students of color.
Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis told the News that since Oct. 7, the Yale College Dean’s Office has met with Muslim, Jewish and Middle Eastern North African groups and students about rising Islamophobia and antisemitism on campus. In response to MSA’s demands, he said that the YCDO would have more information next semester.
“It's very important to us that our students of all backgrounds feel safe to study on campus,” Lewis said.
The protest was held at Sterling Memorial Library, which is located at 120 High St.
Contact Kaitlyn Pohly at kk.pohly@yale.edu and Tristan Hernandez at tristan.hernandz@yale.edu.