Students at Bowdoin University recently gathered to protest on campus, joining a similarly staged encampment inside the university to protest the institution’s lack of solidarity against mass death and displacement in the Palestinian region. The students banded together to demand the Board of Trustees publicly condemn the “ongoing scholasticide in Gaza” and divest from corporations that exacerbate imperial violence toward Palestinians.

The rising pro-Palestine movement among Maine’s students has mobilized a large number of young people to distrust the so-called “moral clarity” of many private institutions. Willow Cunningham, a student at the University of Maine and local member of Jewish Voice for Peace, stated, “I can’t be comfortable in my life knowing that I’m complicit with my financial choices of going to this school.” There is no way to tell what effect this could have on enrollment in Maine’s universities in the future if boards continue to withhold transparency as it pertains to arms manufacturing.

The large amount of support and media attention this cause has garnered exemplifies the ongoing statewide need for divestment and public support for Palestinian rights. Despite Portland’s unanimous decision to divest from Israel in September of 2024, public speculation is still widespread about whether Maine profits from genocide in the Middle East, which is illustrated through outrage toward Maine universities and businesses like General Dynamics, which manufactures artillery supplied to Israel.

Despite the recently enforced ceasefire deal in Gaza, Maine must continue to publicly fight the enablement of Israeli forces, although it is unclear how this will be addressed.

August Chandler
Portland