BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – A pro-Palestinian student encampment remained in place Thursday at the University of Vermont for a fifth straight day with no signs it is going anywhere.
Roughly two dozen student workers walked off the job Thursday in support of the nearly 100 UVM students gathered on the green. They are calling on the administration to meet a list of five demands, including divesting from weapons manufacturers and Israeli companies and canceling this year’s commencement speaker, U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield.
“We have walked off of our shift or joined our friends that have walked off of our shift to reject business as usual across campus,” one student worker told WCAX.
Despite organizers urging student workers not to go back to work, university officials say they did after the rally. The encampment appears not to have grown any larger and consists of about two dozen tents.
Students not involved in the protests say it has shifted their daily routine. “It’s definitely been a really big change of pace in things around here. I wasn’t expecting it going to this school, to see protests, but I guess it’s just a part of college,” said Tyler Sheehan, a UVM student.
Others say they’ve seen what has happened at other schools across the country, but note that protests here have remained peaceful.
“We’ve gotten emails from the administration about it and they seem to be pretty supportive so long as the protests are peaceful. And I’m just glad that UVM has been generally pretty supportive of it and I think it’s unfortunate that other universities and institutions haven’t been,” said UVM student Perry Wilson.
UVM officials would not comment about protests at other colleges and universities but maintain that students have been notified about the violation of campus policies and UVM’s code of student conduct.