Ismael Luz Romero

ENG 210

Audience: Students and Faculty

            War crimes around the world tend to create division between many groups of individuals. This can often tend to be between two parties which either stand against or are in favor of a war. Events like these often separate the world based on people’s beliefs or thoughts about these wars that are going on. In recent times, there has been a war in the Middle East which has turned into a huge catastrophe and as a result, many people are furious with what’s going on. In horrible moments like these, students began taking actions in CUNY such as protests and campaigns in which they demonstrate their feelings against this war. That’s where “CUNY GSE Five Demands” is introduced, which was made the mostly CUNY students in regards with CUNY’s affiliation with companies and personnel who may be involved in some way or manner with Israel. Students and faculty began this protest to show their anger towards the affiliation of certain companies with Israel and how they can provide weapons for their war. As a result, the students created these five demands towards the CUNY committee so they cut off all affiliations with companies who may have been taking part in the war. Overall, this creates a political separation between communities who may be against the war, and it has had a huge impact on the campus.

            In modern times, it is very easy to spread information with the internet and social media. Students can easily repost and post about certain events which are taking place in a certain location. Additionally, the news and newspapers are also sources in which information spreads out quickly. The point of this is to show how easily protests can be arranged and with sources like these, students and faculty were able to arrange a protest which took place in CCNY in which students stood against the recent war between Israel and Palestine. In “CUNY GSE Five Demands”, they begin with the first demand which was to cut off any contracts with companies such as Dell, IBM, HP, Lenovo, Cisco, and BMC Software, “who have “supply bombs and fighter jets to the “israeli” military.” The idea was clear, students were unhappy with CUNY being affiliated with these companies due to their tuition being used to pay these companies for their services. To add on, another demand which can be related to the first one is fourth Demand in which it involves the NYPD and other officials entering the campus and being involved in certain events. One specific event in which students speak was about “a senior official in the Israeli army was invited to speak about “israeli” military ethics at a John Jay event cosponsored by John Jay’s psychology department.” Students were unhappy about this event taking place and clearly, they want to avoid this in the near future. As a result, they have demanded that events like these cannot happen due to the situation they are in. Additionally, students don’t want the NYPD to get involved since they believe they are “designed to protect private property and uphold white supremacy,” Overall, students want to be heard about their beliefs and how CUNY can be affecting them in a certain way since they are “technically” supporting the opposing side in the recent war in the Middle East. These political disagreements lead to events like these in which students feel threatened and begin to show their anger towards CUNY for operating with such companies who don’t want peace.

            Although it can overwhelming for the students and faculty of the CUNY community, they begin to raise awareness of the recent wars in their country. Since CUNY has a diverse community, it can be very easy to trigger a specific community and as a result, CUNY needs to be aware of how they can release statements in regard to the students protests since it can easily trigger a community. Throughout these protests, we have the clear points in which the “CUNY GSE Five Demands” stands with and how recent events tend to create a huge division between people across the world but specifically in colleges. Hence why it is important to spread out information about the issues going on and how someone could help or at least give something in to help out the war that is going on in the Middle East.