SUNY Purchase protests end in compromise, a P.C. student on campus calls it ‘liberating’
May 8, 2024 at 10:59 p.m.
Sophia Kamensky’s dorm room window was right above the encampment.
She had been monitoring the situation at SUNY Purchase all night on Thursday, May 2—watching when law enforcement officials from across the county swooped in to physically disband the protest she called peaceful, in a way she described as “brutal.”
“I had the perfect view of everything, so I watched because I was afraid to go join them. I didn’t know for sure if the police would come, I was kind of assuming. But it was mostly because the school did threaten suspensions,” Kamensky, a freshman on the campus who graduated from Port Chester High School a year ago, said. “It was really disappointing. It seemed like there were more police than students; ridiculous.”
Students at SUNY Purchase made history in comradery last week by joining dozens of other campuses in a movement—a chain reaction of protests that have spread across the nation, rooted in the young people’s pro-Palestinian outrage over the Israel-Hamas War.
Since Thursday, tensions have calmed at SUNY Purchase—with the school’s president Milagros Peña and the student activists of Raise the Consciousness coming to an agreement. But that’s not the story at most universities in the middle of similar contention, and the happenings of last weekend still left an impact on the pupils.
That evening, after students pitched tents in the university’s quad despite policy that forbade it, a mutual aid request was dispatched across Westchester for assisting backup from other law enforcement agencies, who gathered in the area a few hours later. Port Chester Police Captain Charles Nielsen confirmed six officers from the Village were sent to the campus, assigned to aid in supportive roles.
“We went there to help with traffic,” Nielsen said. “There were some Jewish supporters there as well, so we were there to keep everything nice.”
When ultimately over 70 students and faculty members were arrested due to their refusal to leave after quiet hours on campus began at 10 p.m., many were transported to the Port Chester police station to be processed. “Some had to come to us because we had the facilities,” he said. “We used five different police van (loads) to transport 24 people.”
Lieutenant J. Arnold, of the Rye Brook Police Department, reported they were also called to provide support services to SUNY Purchase on Thursday. “We have a designated number of officers respond to mutual aid requests,” he said. “I believe one officer was sent to the location.”
The protesters were calling for an end to the “university’s financial and political complicity in the genocide,” according to a statement from the student group.
“Protesters are demanding that the Purchase administration call for an immediate and permanent humanitarian ceasefire, as well as implement a strategy for the college’s complete financial disclosure of their investments and financial partnerships, and divestment from all companies, organizations, and entities that support or profit off of the Israeli occupation,” the statement reads. “(We) have vowed to continue the protest until those demands are met.”
During Thursday night’s incident, Kamensky ventured out of her dorm room to watch in the quad and joined in the demonstrations in the following days—because the students persisted.
“I was supportive of the cause, I support Palestine, but now I’m also upset that the administration called the police and impeded on free speech,” she said. “That was a big reason I joined.”
On Friday, the day after police intervention came in, the protesters reinstated the encampment. No arrests were made for several days, though there was a law enforcement presence. On Sunday, the tents were forcibly cleared from the quad.
But on Monday, celebrations echoed across campus, Kamensky recalled, because “the students had a five-hour meeting with the president, and they were able to meet the demands, to some capacity,” she said. “It feels like such a win.”
Per a statement from President Peña’s office: “I had what I believed was a productive meeting with students and faculty to discuss our path forward.”
The letter indicates that the university committed to establishing a committee of students that will play a part in discussing ethical investing with the relevant parties and vowed transparency regarding the school’s business engagements. Additionally, she promised to forgive disciplinary consequences for those who were arrested.
“When they made the announcement that demands were met, everyone was screaming and jumping, it was amazing,” said Kamensky, who was at a campus rally supporting the students during the negotiations. “I was literally crying. I was not optimistic, but they surprised me. It was exciting.”
“It feels liberating to be part of the moment,” she continued. “I also have a more positive outlook now because we ended up winning. I know it’s so bad at other schools—at Columbia, at SUNY New Paltz. It doesn’t feel like anyone is winning, so it feels good to have that. I think the community here really stood up and came through.”
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