On Feb. 21, 2025, members of the Hopkins Justice Collective (HJC) gathered outside of Gilman Hall at Keyser Quad to protest against President Donald J. Trump’s claim that the “U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip” and the University’s decline to divest its endowment from companies that have ties to Israel.
A flyer distributed by HJC started that the student movement “condemns [Trump’s] full endorsement of Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” and the protest aimed to “demand that Gaza is not for sale.”
The protest began at 4 p.m. with around 12 people. At 4:10 p.m., the event organizers began to play Palestinian music, pass out flyers and chant rhymes such as: “One, two, three, four — occupation no more! Five, six, seven, eight — Israel is a racist state!” and “Hopkins, Hopkins, you can’t hide — we charge you with genocide!”
The organizers of the event called for protesters to boycott businesses in support of Israel, bring people to join the rally and argue Hopkins’ support of genocide, citing the Applied Physics Lab (APL) as evidence.
“[We will] follow the footsteps of decades of activists that demanded JHU convert the APL from a manufacturer of death to a laboratory that conducts socially beneficial scientific research,” a speaker voiced.
The protests held signs, statings demands such as “JHU Divest Now” and phrases like “All out for Jenin.” Two speakers also spoke in front of Gilman Tower reading Palestinian poetry and excerpts from different texts while elaborating on their demands of divestment.
In one of the flyers passed around during the protest, HJC compares President Ronald Daniels to Trump. The flyers claimed that the two were “2 Sides of the Same Coin,” and while Trump “proposes ethnic cleansing of millions in Gaza,” Daniels holds “over $100 million invested in Israeli apartheid & genocide.” Additionally, the HJC states that Trump “plans deportation of pro-Palestinian students” while Daniels “develops tech for ICE, IDF and [the] US Military.”
In an email to The News-Letter, HJC elaborated on this comparison and highlighted the University administration’s recent silence on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“University systems are complicit in financing the systems that perpetuate occupation and apartheid. In the past, Hopkins has spoken out on significant threats to human rights [...] This month, however, Hopkins has remained conspicuously silent in the face of the escalating humanitarian crisis in Palestine.“ HJC wrote.
During the protest at Keyser Quad, one of the speakers discussed the University’s vote against the HJC’s proposal for divestment.
The speaker stated, “Hopkins has voted against HJC’s proposal for divestment, claiming Palestinian lives are not important enough to warrant divestment. Israel violates its agreement, continues to commit war crimes and Hopkins refuses to divest. Okay, now what?”
At 4:30 p.m., the crowd of protesters grew to about 25 before a march began. Taking the path from Keyser Quad to Hopkins Cafe, the protesters marched to the Blue Jay Statue. From here, the group spray-painted the statue with the phrase “Free Gaza” as another speaker recited two more poems. One of the poems included “Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People Are Dying” by Noor Hindi, a piece highlighting the plight of Palestinians.
Around ten minutes later, the group arrived at The President’s House, where a speaker criticized Daniels’ position as the chairman of the Israel Democracy Institute International Advisory Council, and membership of the Tel Aviv University Board of Governors, before comparing Daniels to Trump.
“[Daniels has] refused to condemn the Zionist campaign since over 500 days ago,” the speaker said. “[Similar to how Trump] called Gaza a demolition site…where Palestinians can be picked up and moved at will.”
The speaker then highlighted Daniels’ support of the demolition of homes in East Baltimore for University developments, which displaced Black residents.
“Ronald Daniels called the $1.8 billion East Baltimore development plan beginning in 2013 the cornerstone of his presidency. 88 acres near the Hopkins Hospital, in what is called Eager Park—and ironically—also called the Middle East,” they stated. “Daniels greenlit the demolition of thousands of properties, schools, retail stores and green spaces. Hundreds of Black homeowners and renters were displaced to make space for the University’s elitist infrastructure.”
The speaker then commented on Daniels’ email sent last week, in regards to the University joining a lawsuit against the cuts in funding to the National Institutes of Health.
“Daniels crawled out of his abode to send a mass email to students glorifying Hopkins’ partnership with the federal government. Not one word was uttered about the administration’s threats of deportation [of pro-Palestinian activists,]” they stated.
The protest concluded with a speaker outlining HJC’s goals, reiterating that while the University rejected their divestment proposal, they will continue to show their presence on campus though protesting.
Following the protest, HJC justified the demonstration and reiterated their responsibilities.
“We believe in the exercise of our First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. [...] We will continue to advocate for our four key demands for divestment from Israeli apartheid, boycott of israeli academic institutions, conversion of the APL, and abolition of the JHPD,” they wrote.
