Shortly after the University of Montana’s clocktower struck 1 p.m. on Wednesday, calls of “free, free Palestine” rang out across the Oval.
More than 100 students and community members peacefully gathered at University Hall to denounce Israel’s actions in Gaza, calling for the university to disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
“Our main goal is to bring attention to Gaza … and put more eyes on the atrocities there,” said Linnea, an organizer with the group University of Montana Students for Justice in Palestine, who declined to give her last name for fear of retaliation. “We don’t stand for our U.S. taxpayer money funding this, we don’t stand for the university’s money going toward that. … We’re angry that we as students are complicit.”
Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians—two-thirds of them women and children—since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, a toll that’s brought accusations of genocide. Wednesday’s demonstration at UM is part of a wave of student protests that began at Columbia University in mid-April and has spread across the country, with increasingly hostile confrontations with police. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools, according to the Associated Press.
Following a march around UM’s Oval to continued chants of “free Palestine,” many protestors wrote messages in sidewalk chalk supporting Gaza and calling for an end to the war.
One student, who asked to be identified only as J, transcribed the message on his sign to the sidewalk: “Jewish Americans say never again for anyone.”
“As somebody who has family who fled antisemitic persecution in Europe, to see genocide in Palestine, I feel a sense of duty to stand up for peace,” he said.
UM student Alex Anderlik said he joined the march, which organizers called “Strike for Gaza,” because it’s important for students to engage in real-world politics. These protests bring to light the consequences of universities’ investments, he said, and the turnout at UM “demonstrates how people are committed to this.”
The University of Montana Foundation, an independent nonprofit that manages investment of endowed gifts to the university, issued a statement saying its board of trustees is “committed to responsible investment stewardship while seeking to generate the highest level of returns.”
“To achieve this, we believe in access to a broad investment opportunity set. Rather than divest from specific segments of the capital markets, the foundation board prefers a more inclusionary approach to the investment decision-making process,” the statement said. “The foundation’s endowment portfolio has no direct investments with weapons manufacturers.”
Missoula Rep. Zooey Zephyr, a Democrat whose district includes the university, said she came to show support for students gathering to condemn Israel’s siege.
“When students protest, we recognize that act of protest as a cry from the populace that something is wrong, something is broken,” Zephyr said. “Students see how this is broken and call for leaders, the university, to do what they can to stop the genocide.”
It’s not surprising to see a protest in Missoula where residents want leaders to put peace first, Zephyr added.
As protestors wrote messages in chalk, a lone counterprotester, Jon Murphy, paced the area, waving an Israeli flag and periodically responding to chants.
The Missoula resident said he was there to stand up with Jewish people as backlash to the war feeds antisemitism. If the protesters were just calling for a ceasefire, and not divestment from companies with ties to Israel, Murphy would agree with them, he said.
Linnea, the student organizer, said Students for Justice in Palestine includes Jewish, queer and Indigenous students, and stands against antisemitism and rejects the assertion that anti-Zionism is the same thing.
The student group formed in solidarity with Palestine because members were appalled by the footage coming from Gaza and possible war crimes, Linnea said. The group of about 20 organized the protest to take action before the end of the school year to show Montana this is an issue that students and voters care about, she said.
Missoula students stand in solidarity with Columbia University students “brutalized” by police Tuesday night, as well as students at the University of Texas at Austin, UCLA and others, Linnea said.
“But we want to keep the focus on Gaza,” she said. “Israel is committing war crimes, targeting hospitals. There are no more functioning hospitals in Gaza, no universities. … Thirty-five thousand people are dead, according to [the Palestinian Ministry of Health], and 100 journalists have been murdered. We’re here to say that’s not OK.”
Demonstrators march to denounce Israel’s deadly war in Gaza and call for UM’s divestment.
