A tide of campus protests nationwide focusing on the devastation in Gaza over the past seven months reached New Mexico State University last week as a small encampment was established in a quiet area on campus east of the Corbett Student Union building.
While 16 protesters on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque were being arrested and booked early in the morning on April 30, a smaller group of campers at NMSU were working to dry out supplies, clothing and prayer rugs that got soaked when, according to a spokesperson for the encampment, sprinklers came on to water the lawn during their first night sleeping on the grounds.
The camp was established Monday, April 29, with about a half dozen tents, a number that more than doubled by Friday afternoon. A prominent banner declared the area a “liberated zone” and handwritten signs posted on a tent near the camp’s center displayed community rules for the gathering as well as a list of demands the protesters are addressing to NMSU’s board of regents.
During its first week, the camp was a visible if quiet presence, where students walked, skated or scootered freely on concrete passways in clothing — shorts, tank tops, T-shirts — reflecting the warm, sunny weather. At times, not far from the camp, young people sunbathed on blankets spread over the grass. Campus police frequently rolled past, keeping one eye on the camp during a week when crackdowns on student protests at universities in other states became a focus of national news coverage and political commentary.
While confrontations between students and police erupted in Albuquerque and in other states, the NMSU group focused mainly on establishing its base and organizing community education.
Representatives of the camp agreed to speak to a reporter under strict conditions to protect the anonymity of the camp’s members, requesting no photographs be taken depicting the campers and that interviews be limited to designated media contacts who did not give their full names. Many of the campers wore masks. Although the protest is taking place on public property, the Bulletin agreed to the organizers’ terms in order ask questions about the camp.
“Not everybody here has signed up for the same level of risk factor,” a spokesperson who identified himself as “Nobody” explained.
UNM protesters arrested on April 30 had their names and booking photos reported in news stories, and at some universities — like Columbia University in New York — students have faced threats of suspensions and other disciplinary actions, generally in connection with occupying campus buildings, something the NMSU camp has not attempted.
During an interview, curious passers-by stopped to ask questions of their own and were offered bottles of water to visit and discuss the conditions between Israel and Gaza — which the spokespeople argued should not be described as a “war” but rather as genocide.
On a slope to one side of the encampment, a large representation of the Palestinian flag was stretched out on the grass.
On Oct. 7, Hamas — the group that governs the Palestinian territory of Gaza and has pledged to drive Israel from lands between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — executed a large-scale offensive against Israel, killing around 1,200 and abducting around 240, to which Israel responded with overwhelming military force. In the months since, nearly 35,000, per calculations by the Gaza Health Ministry, had been killed as of May 3 under bombardments and ground offensives in Gaza by Israel. Most of those, from figures reported by the Israeli Defense Forces as well as Gaza, have been noncombatants and children.
The warfare and destruction of civilian life has driven a wedge between the Biden Administration and the Israeli government while becoming a flashpoint in federal politics during an election year. Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice issued an order to Israel to refrain from actions that would violate the Genocide Convention as it considers formal allegations of genocide, which Israel has vehemently denied.
Although the group at NMSU showed no signs of occupying space beyond its small footprint near the student union, a walkout of some students and faculty in solidarity with the Palestinian people took place on the afternoon of May 2; and organizers said they plan to stay until the university agrees to a list of demands.
Those demands, as posted on the “Las Cruces for Palestine” Instagram account and repeated (in different wording) on signs at the camp, are: disclosure of the university’s investments; divestment from corporations or funds that draw profit from Israel’s military actions in Gaza; a call for a ceasefire from the university regents; and a boycott of Israeli educational institutions, including termination of international study agreements, grants, scholarships and similar arrangements.
A spokesperson identified as Sebastian said representatives of the camp had spoken with representatives of the regents, NMSU’s office of equity, inclusion and diversity, and campus police. He also said they had spoken with groundskeepers about the sprinkler issue.
In a memo to students and staff on May 1, NMSU’s interim president, Mónica Torres, wrote: “We know universities around the country are experiencing similar protests. Constitutionally, people in the U.S. have a right to protest peacefully, and public universities have a duty to respect, facilitate and protect this right. Efforts are being made to ensure First Amendment free speech protections are honored while ensuring the safety of our campus population.
“A team of university leaders met with protesters shortly after they set up camp, and again the following morning. I, along with outgoing Interim President Jay Gogue and Interim Provost Lakshmi Reddi met with this team yesterday afternoon. We encourage open dialogue to ensure all voices are heard at this time.”
The camp has maintained a schedule of teach-ins and reading groups on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as social organization and art.
“This is a welcoming space to anybody who wants to learn about the movement,” the spokesman going by “Nobody” said. “We do have ground rules, of course. Our camp is a completely sober and dry space: No alcohol (or) drugs of any sort are allowed.”
Organizers said they wanted to avoid the appearance of a “party atmosphere” and also to preserve a culture of safety and consensual interactions among those residing at the camp. They also discourage photography and video at the camp, and ask campers to deactivate location serve and GPS on mobile phones.
While the university was “accommodating of our presence here,” organizers said university leaders mainly seemed interested in how long the camp intended to remain and that there was little indication, during week one, of whether regents would consider acting on any of their demands.
The regents are scheduled to meet in special session on May 9. An agenda for that meeting is not available as of the publication of this article online, but is required to be publicized 72 hours in advance of the meeting.
For now, the camp's organizers described the situation as a “waiting game,” pledging not to decamp but also not hinting at any escalation.
The university did not comment for this story beyond sharing Torres’ campus message.
