NORTHAMPTON — As Smithies made their way around campus at lunch hour on Thursday, 20 or so protesters stood in numbingly cold rain, lining the sidewalk along Elm Street to decry what they allege is the school’s “complicity with genocide,” and voiced three demands.

Led by Demilitarize Western Mass, protesters called on the college to erase a new campus policy that they say is aimed at muzzling students who are pro-Palestinian, to “divest every single penny” from companies that they say support genocide, and to make a public statement against Israeli “scholasticide,” a term that originated in 2009 and refers to weakening enemies or foreign powers by killing teachers and students.

“We community members implore you: Wash clean your blood-soaked ivory towers by following your students’ lead in opposing a genocide,” said Jennifer Scarlott, who also spearheaded a letter to Smith officials on these demands in conjunction with the protest.

Limiting protests,quiet on scholasticide

In October, Smith President Sarah Willie-LeBreton announced the college would adopt a new policy governing the time, place and manner of “expressive activity.” The new policy sets standards such as not being able to protest with face coverings to conceal identity, and laid out what the college saw as “appropriate,” for instance, by forbidding protesters from interrupting academic life.

The change in policy came in the wake of protests last March at which hundreds of protesters took over the campus’s administrative building for days, in conjunction with protesters across the world who set up encampments to take a stand for victims of war in Gaza. Those present at Thursday’s protest commended such actions.

“We know in fact that like so many other U.S. colleges and universities, Smith used the summer months to frantically devise ways to shut down the activism that was so vibrant at Smith last year,” said Scarlott. “You claim to be a school that encourages activism, and yet when it comes to genocide, not only do you not celebrate your courage, you seek to silence, question, and condemn.

“We see that you comfortably fit in with those institutions of higher learning,” she said.

Smith responded Thursday with the following statement: “Smith is a strong supporter of free speech and the right to assemble. However, it is important to note that this gathering was held on Northampton city property and was not a Smith-sponsored event.”

Officials did not address the demands made at the protest.

Meanwhile, protesters were bothered that the school has yet to make an official statement against Israeli scholasticide, which she said has included the “deaths of tens of thousands of students, teachers, and university professors, and the destruction of all 12 university campuses and the majority of schools in Gaza.”

Scarlott went on: “Israel has deliberately targeted mosques, churches, libraries, archives, and cultural heritage sites,” citing United Nations data.

Divesting

As far as divesting, Nick Mottern of Demilitarize Western Mass and Veterans for Peace explained that military contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, L3Harris and Northrop Grumman are all loosely associated with Smith via stock investments and mutual funds.

Mottern believes these companies are tied to war crimes. By divesting, Smith would, at the very least symbolically, confirm that people cannot “kill without consequences.”

Mottern argues that while Smith doesn’t invest in these companies directly, the college does invest in companies that do so, and is thus enabling and receiving an “indirect benefit” from genocide, more specifically, of Palestinians.

He was not able to name any of the investment or stock firms the college uses that have such companies in their portfolios, but he cited research conducted by students that showed Smith’s investments were benefiting these military contractors.

This pressure for Smith to divest has been a prolonged fight for Demilitarize Western Mass as well as other groups. Last March, college trustees concluded that the request to divest, because so little funding is involved, “does not meet the threshold for taking action,” adding that the “endowment’s investment in military contractors and weapons manufacturers is negligible and entirely indirect.”

But Mottern is convinced the school just doesn’t want to stir the pot or “spoil its prestige.”

“Board of trustees members don’t want to have a shadow cast on their so-called careers in the investment industry” by taking the stand to divest, he said.

Johanna Rosen, a Jewish graduate of 2002, said that while the school may not feel inclined to divest, many alums are choosing to divest from their alma mater due to its stance on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. She said 750 have already voiced they would no longer contribute to the school via an online campaign: Smith Alumni for Palestine.

Persephone Sinnis-Bourozikas, one of the only Smith students in attendance on Thursday, testified that the school has been cracking down and thanked those there who were willing to combat her school.

“It means a lot to us that you are all willing to spend time in the cold and the rain to show your support for us, and oppose Smith’s ridiculousness,” she said.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.