Beginning at Columbia University on April 17, 2024 and spreading within weeks to roughly 130 college and university campuses across the United States, students organized Gaza-solidarity encampments demanding their universities divest from Israeli state and weapons-manufacturer holdings, transparency in endowment investments, and an academic boycott consistent with the Palestinian-civil-society BDS call.

The university and police response set off the largest single wave of campus arrests of the last 50 years: more than 3,100 arrests across the spring 2024 wave, with thousands more facing university disciplinary action including suspensions, evictions from on-campus housing, withdrawn degrees, and barred-from-campus orders.

We urge university presidents, district attorneys, and federal prosecutors to drop every charge from that wave.