IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa students celebrated graduation just feet from the final moments of a three-day protest of the war in Gaza.
Posing for photos in front of the Old Capitol and next to a Herky statue on the Pentacrest, students seemed oblivious to messages drawn in chalk that called for a ceasefire in Gaza; for the university to divest, for a free Palestine and even congratulating students on their degrees after noting “All of Gaza’s universities have been destroyed.”
A sign set up on the University of Iowa Pentacrest cites the university’s policies regarding protests.
About 40 demonstrators gathered in the waning hours of the protest, which began Friday and ended Sunday, May 5.
One person spoke to the crowd seated on the Pentacrest lawn, who could scarcely be heard even to those close by, while signs and pamphlets noted that demonstrators were calling for the university to divest from companies that they say benefit from Israel’s war in Gaza.
At college campuses elsewhere in the United States, protesters disrupted commencement ceremonies, while the University of Iowa’s commencement ceremonies are scheduled for later this month.
See more photos from the final day of the protest, below:
A great example of a Peaceful Demonstration. Universities need to pat attention. Destroying Fisher Hall was Criminal. NYC waited too long. Seems 1/2 the demonstrators were not students, but outside agitators. Is thsiswhat Iran & alQaida said they were going do do, to get back at the USA?