For more than a year, student-led protests over the war in Gaza have defined student life on Cornell University's campus. Hundreds of students have marched across campus. They set up an encampment last year, calling for an end to the war and for the university to cut ties with weapons companies.
Now, as a temporary ceasefire in Gaza takes effect, members of the activist pro-Palestinian movement say they are feeling cautiously optimistic – but that their work is not done.
“I'm really hoping that the ceasefire sticks through, and that things don't return to bloodshed and destruction,” said Malak Abuhashim, who is Palestinian-American and graduated from Cornell University in December.
During her studies, Abuhashim served as president of one of the university’s main pro-Palestinian student advocacy groups, called Students for Justice in Palestine.
On Sunday, the first phase of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas began, pausing a war that has killed over 46,000 Palestinians and more than 1,200 Israelis since it started in October 2023. Three Israeli hostages taken by Hamas militants were released, as well as 90 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons.
However, even with the ceasefire, Abuhashim and other activists say the movement’s work is far from over, especially because the university has yet to cut ties with weapons companies. Several students who remain on campus told WSKG they plan to continue to call on the university to meet those demands.
To Abuhashim, who said she has family members in Gaza who have been killed or displaced since the war began, the agreement brings hope that the war will truly end and that her family can stay safe.
Before the deal was announced, Abuhashim said she had been losing hope that a ceasefire would ever be reached. When she heard news that Israel and Hamas had reached a tentative ceasefire deal last week, she said she was shocked.
“There were definitely moments of relief,” said Abuhashim. “As well as feeling heartbroken about all the unimaginable horrors and experiences they went through.”
Even if the ceasefire holds, she hopes campus movements of pro-Palestinian activism will continue, especially as over 2.2 million people in Gaza are reportedly displaced. Even before the war, some human rights groups criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“There's still a lot of work that needs to be done in rebuilding Gaza and helping these families that have lost so much,” Abuhashim said. “But also in liberating the Palestinian people so that they can have equal rights.”
‘Something much larger’
More than 20 students have been suspended and over two dozen students and staff have been arrested while protesting for divestment. Cornell University declined to comment on the ceasefire or on calls for the university to divest from weapons companies or the Israeli government.
The university hosted weapons manufacturers at a recent career fair and has academic partnerships with multiple weapons companies, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Protesters have also called for the dissolution of a Cornell campus located in New York City, created in partnership with an Israeli university that works with the Israeli military.
During a campus sit-in last March, Michael Margolin, who was then a university employee with the Cornell Outdoor Education program, was arrested alongside another staff member and 22 students. Margolin no longer works at Cornell.
Margolin, who currently works as a Jewish educator at the reform synagogue Congregation Tikkun v’Or in Ithaca, said he felt relieved when he heard about the ceasefire deal. He hopes it will be a first step towards long-term peace and safety in the region.
“I think the hopeful view is that in the long run, as we continue to focus on non-violence, solidarity and the importance of building relationships and supporting each other for our safety, I think ultimately that will win out,” said Margolin, who added that his perspective was not meant to represent Tikkun v’Or.
Over the past 15 months of war, Margolin has been an active participant in the pro-Palestinian, anti-war movement both in Tompkins County and at Cornell University.
At times during the campus protest movement, Margolin said he felt disheartened by the university’s crackdown on some student organizers through arrests and suspensions. However, he said he had also been inspired by the students who continued to show up to urge the university to divest from weapons companies.
“There's a sense of deflatedness, but there has also been a sense of digging in for the long term,” Margolin said about the protests, which stretched on for months. “Knowing that we're working for a ceasefire, and we're working for something much larger, that's going to take a lot longer.”
Ongoing effects
The first day of classes this semester was marked by pro-Palestinian vandalism of a campus statue, following a similar incident at the beginning of the fall semester. The Cornell Sun reported that anonymous pro-Palestinian activists claimed responsibility for both incidents.
Even with a potential end to the war in sight, the fallout from protests also continues to follow several Cornell students.
Last week, Yihun Stith, a junior, and Sriram Parsurama, a graduate student, attended a hearing at Ithaca’s city court over their role in a pro-Palestinian campus protest that shut down a career fair featuring weapons manufacturers. Both students faced charges of obstructing governmental administration and unlawful assembly, and currently face an ongoing temporary suspension.
A judge ordered the students to complete community service hours, after which the judge said their cases will likely be sealed and dismissed as long as they are not rearrested.
Parasurama said he is approaching the news of a potential ceasefire with caution. He and Stith have said that they and other student protesters still want Cornell to divest from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli government.
However, Parasurama added that he is overjoyed at the possibility of an end to violence in Gaza.
“Anything that leads to an end of this senseless killing and slaughter is worth celebrating,” he said.
