Chants of “guilty!” echoed across the Nyumburu Amphitheater at University of Maryland (UMD) College Park as approximately 100 community members across the University System (USM) gathered to protest the USM’s investments in weapons manufacturers on Friday.
The University System of Maryland Divestment Coalition for Palestine held a “People’s Tribunal” aimed at holding Maryland’s public university system’s Board of Regents accountable for their actions, which students claim are directly and indirectly complicit in war crimes in Gaza and across the globe.
Student activists accused the Board of Regents — a 21-member board appointed by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), in charge of overseeing university policies and operations across the state — of being financially and academically complicit in the genocide in Gaza, for institutionalizing Zionism and repressing community members who speak out.
“The University System of Maryland Board of Regents, an unelected body of 21 members has knowingly maintained financial and institutional ties that directly enable and support the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” said Mohammed Abukhdeir, a UMD student and a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). “The board has time and time again chosen to be complicit. We the people, students, staff, faculty, community members, therefore assert that the USM board of butchers constitutes an illegitimate body operating against the interest of the people it’s supposed to serve.”
Prior to the tribunal, students testified at the USM Board of Regents scheduled public meeting at The Hotel at UMD in College Park.
Khadeeja Abdallah, a member of the divestment coalition, said she had previously been to six meetings and had never seen the level of security displayed at the convening on the morning of April 17. University of Maryland Police (UMPD) were stationed all throughout the hotel; attendees were not allowed to enter until the meeting’s scheduled time of 8:30 a.m.; and a sign was displayed outside of the meeting hall listing out rules attendees must follow, which Abdallah said was unusual.
“The use of the velvet rope preventing us from entering was never used before,” Abdallah said. “The rule that standing members had to leave was never previously enforced. Security has happened before but the searching through every pocket of every bag was not.”
USM community members held up signs with painted red hands, symbolizing blood, at the meeting. After sharing their testimonies, they disrupted the meeting, chanting “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest,” and walked out with UMPD officers following them.
“We, the students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members of the USM declare you all guilty,” said Abdallah in her testimony at the meeting. “We will continue to mobilize until victory, until divestment until the dissolution of the board and the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.”
‘We Are All In a Collective Struggle‘
For students and staff alike, the tribunal served as a moment to share grievances, work to hold leaders accountable, and offer a call to action for attendees and the USM Board of Regents.
Human rights activists and USM faculty talke about the role institutions play in the ongoing genocide of Gaza, as students across Maryland universities revealed their experiences of repression about protesting for Palestine on campus.
Due to UMD’s time, place and manner restrictions, speakers at the event were prevented from using any devices that amplified sound, which students say is only one out of many examples of institutional repression to prevent students from speaking out.
“I have to shout with my voice now because of some weird policy that says we can’t use amplified speech,” Zyad Khan, a UMD student and member of SJP, said to attendees.
In 2024, UMD’s SJP filed a lawsuit against the university, which attempted to ban the student group from hosting an interfaith vigil on Oct. 7 to commemorate the loss of life in Gaza. Students won the case and received a $100,000 settlement from the university.
“The reasoning behind [these policies] is to prevent us from organizing,” said Khan.
After speeches and student testimonies, Saad Ejaz, a UMD student and SJP member served as the judge for the tribunal and issued his judgment. Attendees shouted “guilty!” as he read the charges.
“The tribunal finds that despite years of organized demands from students, from faculty, from staff and from community members,” Ejaz said, addressing the crowd, “defendants have willfully refused to engage in meaningful dialogue or action.”
Petros Bein, the co-coordinator for Black Alliance for Peace, spoke about how the struggle for the liberation of Palestine is connected to many other struggles, specifically noting how the Baltimore City Police trains with Israeli military and police.
He said that the tribunal went beyond just symbolism, that it was a call for action.
“This isn’t just a spectacle or a show,” Bein told The Informer. “We are all in a collective struggle.”