PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Friday, May 17, 2024; Palestine Task Force Cle &Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Encampment Sanctionee Press Conference, Cleveland Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch, 1962 Stokes Boulevard: Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Ohio Chapter Fatah Odeh outlined ways Palestinian students and their organizations have been sanctioned by CWRU’s administrators and said, “Palestinian students do not feel safe on Case Western Reserve University’s campus.”

PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Friday, May 17, 2024; Palestine Task Force Cle and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Encampment Sanctionee Press Conference, Cleveland Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch, 1962 Stokes Boulevard: Yousef Khalaf, a CWRU junior majoring in Mechanical Engineering, hails from the West Side of Cleveland and is an alumni of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Bard High SchoolKhalaf described the encampment of CWRU students at the encampment showing their concern for the people of Gaza as being Christians, Muslims, Jews, black, white, and brown. He called living in the camp with other CWRU students “one of the best experiences of my life.”

PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN

Friday, May 17, 2024; Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Encampment Sanctionee Press Conference, Cleveland Public Library Martin Luther King Jr. Branch, 1962 Stokes Boulevard: Graduating CWRU undergraduate student Jad Oglesby, who says his dual identity is Palestinian American and African American, said he is proud of students, faculty and community members who stood up for a just cause on behalf of the people of Gaza despite being sanctioned by CWRU administration.

By Chuck Hoven

   (Plain Press June 2024) Ten Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) graduates attending Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) were among the roughly sixty students, faculty, and community members to receive emails from CWRU declaring they were banned from the campus or subject to interim suspensions due to their involvement in an unsanctioned pro-Palestinian encampment on campus grounds.

   CWRU student Yousef Khalaf, a Palestinian American from the West Side of Cleveland and a graduate of Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Bard High School-Early College, a leader in the pro-Palestinian organizing on campus, says the involvement of ten CMSD graduates from high schools all over the City of Cleveland represents a significant portion of the CMSD students attending CWRU. He said there are only forty-four CMSD graduates in the CWRU student body.

   Yousef Khalaf, a CWRU junior in the Mechanical Engineering program, was one of the speakers at a press conference held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Branch of the Cleveland Public Library to protest the disciplinary process CWRU administration has launched against those who participated in the pro-Palestinian encampment and other pro-Palestinian actions on campus. Joining Khalaf in the press conference were two graduating CWRU undergraduates, a graduating CWRU law student, a CWRU alumni who is a member of Jewish Voices for Peace, and the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Ohio.

   Yousef Khalaf called participating in the encampment at Hind Oval on CWRU campus “one of the best experiences of my life.” Khalaf said the encampment included Christian, Muslim, Jewish, white, black, and brown students united in the belief that “everyone deserves to live in peace.”

   Observers of the eleven-day encampment saw students camped in tents on the grassy oval, with many on their laptops studying for finals. The encampment held regular workshop on history, culture, religion and politics, yoga classes, and students received food donations from the community including from the group Food, Not Bombs. The encampment occurred during Passover and students in the encampment shared a Passover meal.

   Khalaf called upon CWRU to provide amnesty for all students involved in the peaceful protest. He urged CWRU administrators to stop weaponizing the code of conduct which has resulted in fifty plus student being punished, banned, or suspended from campus. He called upon the university to instead stand with the students.

   Khalaf noted that the CWRU student government passed a resolution in 2022 calling for the university to divest from its support of the State of Israel. He noted that CWRU was behind in the 1980s in divesting from support of the South African government and they are behind now. Khalaf said CWRU graduate students recently joined in calling upon CWRU to divest from support of the State of Israel.

   Despite these resolutions from the students, Khalaf said CWRU President Eric Kaler “has not even spoken with us. He believes we are racist and violent. He refuses to engage with us.”

   Khalaf said the actions of CWRU administrators do not align with the ideas about academic freedom conveyed to him and other CMSD graduates when they were accepted as students at CWRU.

   Khalaf said “Palestinian students don’t feel our university has acknowledged our suffering.”