UTSA students call for cease-fire in Gaza, accuse university of being anti-free speech

Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio marched through campus Wednesday in support of Palestine and to call for an end to U.S. aid for Israel and a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. 

The protest organized by the San Antonio Party for Socialism and Liberation also called for an end to the university’s military partnerships and criticized San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenburg for saying he would not end San Antonio’s friendship city relationship with Tel Aviv, the former Israeli capital, that then-Mayor Julián Castro established in 2011.

A little under a hundred students’ chants echoed through UTSA’s Sobrilla Plaza as onlookers surrounded. Before the protest, UTSA President Taylor Eighmy warned about the likelihood of campus demonstrations and said the university would not tolerate disruptive behavior, vandalism or antisemitism.

In March, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order calling on Texas colleges to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of pro-Palestine protests, including updating their free speech policies to include the state’s definition of antisemitism.

The university said it would increase law enforcement presence in light of Wednesday’s protest.  

READ MORE: Calls for Gaza cease-fire echo through San Antonio’s Main Plaza

Earlier this month, a student was arrested on campus after they were allegedly caught spray-painting a campus building with anti-Israel messages. 

Wednesday’s protests were peaceful despite a few counterprotesters from off-campus Christian churches. A rally was held at the plaza before students marched through campus. 

Anticipation leading up to the protest rose after several students were arrested at a similar protest at the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday. Pro-Palestine protests were planned on college campuses across the country in the wake of mass arrests at Columbia University in New York.

“I say to the governor, to the president, to this school, is it antisemitic to be anti-war? Is it antisemitic to be anti-genocide?” said Matthew Pena, a UTSA senior and organizer for PSL. “We’re leading this movement alongside Muslims, Christians and non-believers to reject genocide and apartheid. Do not let them tell you differently.”

Protester Moureen Kaki criticized the state government and UTSA, arguing that both “have decided that Palestine is exempt from free speech.”

“Whether or not you care about Palestine, whether or not you can locate Palestine on a map, this has to do with you because when they start suppressing one freedom, they’re going to come after the rest,” Kaki said.

In his statement ahead of the protests, Eighmy said the university was “committed to the safety of the entire university community while permitting freedom of expression in an appropriate manner.”

The protests come six months after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. During the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza’s health ministry.