SEATTLE — Pro-Palestinian University of Washington (UW) students protested outside a Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
Students also gave public comment in the meeting to the board for the first time since an encampment began on the university's quad on April 29.
As students chanted outside the meeting, some, like Hanady Shaqur, a Palestinian student, addressed UW's Board of Regents and shared how members of her family were killed in November in Gaza and how she continues to face loss.
"Every time I call my dad, every time I speak to him, he tells me either a cousin that was killed or someone that was seriously hurt," Shaqur said. "I can’t really give you how many times I've called him and asked him 'Hey who’s still alive? Who’s still here? Have you been in contact with anyone?'"
She dedicated her time to speaking to her cousin in Gaza who is unable to continue her education as the war continues.
"I think these personal stories are very important because we keep looking at these numbers, we keep looking at the amount of people injured and we don't equate a face to a number," Shaqur said.
Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel in October 2023, targeting and killing hundreds of civilians precipitating the Israeli military response.
Among the demands from UW students is for the university to divest from Israel and cut ties with Boeing because its defense division has manufactured aircraft used by the Israeli military for decades. Over the years, Boeing has donated $100 million dollars to the university, including $10 million for the new interdisciplinary engineering building.
"If not us, then who is the kind of way I think about it," said Yoseph Ghazal, a Palestinian UW law student.
Ghazal wants the board of regents to define what is happening in Gaza as morally reprehensible. Something he said the university has done before.
"They’ve divested from different companies in the past," Ghazal said. "South African apartheid, fossil fuels in 2022, tobacco and things like that. The university has precedent and they have divested in the past, this should not be any different than the divestments they’ve made in the past."
At this time, the university has not received a divestment proposal to begin the process with the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing.
"After the Executive Session, Board Chair David Zeeck stated his appreciation for the speakers who presented their views during the public comment period and thanked the audience and the Regents for listening and allowing the speakers to be heard — especially thanking those in attendance for the civility and respect they demonstrated to all the speakers," a university spokesperson said. "He emphasized that the public comments reflected the passions and engagement with the world that our students bring to the UW."