Campus Gaza Rallies May Subside, but Experts See Possible ‘Hot Summer of Protest’

 Protesters stand and link arms during a demonstration in support of Palestinians, at the Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado, US May 7, 2024. (Reuters)
Protesters stand and link arms during a demonstration in support of Palestinians, at the Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado, US May 7, 2024. (Reuters)
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Campus Gaza Rallies May Subside, but Experts See Possible ‘Hot Summer of Protest’

 Protesters stand and link arms during a demonstration in support of Palestinians, at the Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado, US May 7, 2024. (Reuters)
Protesters stand and link arms during a demonstration in support of Palestinians, at the Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado, US May 7, 2024. (Reuters)

About a dozen students arrested by police clearing a sit-in at a Denver college campus emerged from detainment to cheers from fellow pro-Palestinian protesters, several waving yellow court summons like tiny victory flags and imploring fellow demonstrators not to let their energy fade.

Just how much staying power the student demonstrations over the war in Gaza that have sprung up in Denver and at dozens of universities across the United States will have is a key question for protesters, school administrators and police, with graduation ceremonies being held, summer break coming and high-profile encampments dismantled.

The student protesters passionately say they will continue until administrators meet demands that include permanent ceasefire in Gaza, university divestment from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.

Academics who study protest movements and the history of civil disobedience say it's difficult to maintain the people-power energy on campus if most of the people are gone. But they also point out that university demonstrations are just one tactic in the wider pro-Palestinian movement that has existed for decades, and that this summer will provide many opportunities for the energy that started on campuses to migrate to the streets.

Signs spelling the word "Divest" hang among white flags symbolizing each child killed in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, at a protest encampment at the Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado, US, May 10, 2024. (Reuters)

EVOLVE OR FADE AWAY

Dana Fisher is a professor at American University in Washington, DC, and author of several books on activism and grassroots movements who has seen some of her own students among protesters on her campus.

She noted the college movement spread organically across the country as a response to police called onto campus at Columbia University on April 18, when more than 100 people were arrested. Since those arrests, at least 2,600 demonstrators have been detained at more than 100 protests in 39 states and Washington, DC, according to The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization.

"I don't see enough organizational infrastructure to sustain a bunch of young people who are involved in a movement when they are not on campus," Fisher said. "Either the movement has to evolve substantially or it can't continue."

Following the initial arrests at Columbia, students there occupied a classroom building, an escalation of the protest that led to even more arrests. Similarly in Denver, police on April 26 arrested 45 people at an encampment protest at the Auraria campus – which serves the University of Colorado-Denver, Metropolitan State University and the Community College of Denver.

Then on May 8, Auraria protesters staged a short-lived sit-in inside the Aerospace and Engineering Sciences building, developed in part with a $1 million gift from arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

Students in Denver say the movement's spread from the coasts to the heartland and to smaller universities shows it has staying power. Student protests also have flared outside the US.

"We're keeping our protests up and our encampment going until our demands are met, however long that takes," said Steph, a 21-year-old student on the Auraria campus who declined to give their full name for fear of reprisals. "We'll be here through summer break and into next fall if needed."

Fisher, the academic, said the police response to protests has helped ignite a sense of activism in a new generation of students. She thinks the current campus demonstrations foreshadow a "long, hot summer of protest" about many issues, and that the Republican national convention in July and the Democratic national convention in August will be ripe targets for massive protest.

"The stakes have gotten much higher, and that's very much due to the way that police have responded in a much more aggressive and repressive way than they did even back in the 1960s," Fisher said, referring to student-led protests against the Vietnam War.

"And then you just plop right down in the middle of all that the presidential election?" she said. "It's a crazy recipe for one hell of a fall."

Tents are set up at an encampment in support of Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, at the Auraria Campus in Denver, Colorado, US, May 10, 2024. (Reuters)

AFTER GRADUATION, A GHOST TOWN

Michael Heaney, an American lecturer in politics at the University of Glasgow in Scotland whose research and books have focused on US protest movements said the campus demonstrations are just one tactic in the wider movement to support Palestinians, an ongoing effort that goes back decades.

Heaney said that the geographical diffusion of the university encampments to places like Denver is an opportunity to bring the message of the wider movement to places where it may not have been before.

Heaney added that "protests for any movement are episodic" and pointed to the various manifestations of the African-American Civil Rights movement in the US, going back 200 years. Just because one moment of protest ends does not foretell its overall demise.

He said pro-Palestinian protests in American cities this summer could grow if Israel's offensive in Gaza continues, and that such demonstrations would have been stoked by the widespread university activism.

On Denver's Auraria campus, while students were cleared from the classroom building, about 75 tents remain on a grassy quad, where protesters say they serve 200 meals each day in a mess hall tent. One of the student protest organizers, Jacob, 22, said he's convinced the facts on the ground in Gaza are what will sustain the encampment.

"After graduation it may be a ghost town on this campus - but we'll still be here," he said. "We're not going anywhere."



From 'Conclave' to 'White Smoke,' a Glossary of Terms Used in a Papal Transition

Birds fly as sunlight hits St. Peter's Basilica, following the death of Pope Francis, Vatican City, April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Birds fly as sunlight hits St. Peter's Basilica, following the death of Pope Francis, Vatican City, April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
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From 'Conclave' to 'White Smoke,' a Glossary of Terms Used in a Papal Transition

Birds fly as sunlight hits St. Peter's Basilica, following the death of Pope Francis, Vatican City, April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Birds fly as sunlight hits St. Peter's Basilica, following the death of Pope Francis, Vatican City, April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

A change in popes - through death or resignation - is a complicated process, with centuries-old rituals involving the transition in leadership for both the spiritual head of the global Catholic Church and the Vatican´s head of state.

These are the need-to-know terms - some of them in Latin - to help make sense of news in the coming days:

This is the "chamberlain" - the cardinal in charge of formally verifying the pope´s death - and then sealing his room and study. Between then and the election of the new pope, the camerlengo administers the "goods and temporal rights" of the Holy See. The current one is the Irish-born American Cardinal Kevin Farrell.

There are 252 cardinals worldwide, and as a body, they are in charge of the Holy See´s affairs in-between popes, albeit with limits. Of them, 135 are "cardinal electors," who gather in the Vatican to choose the new pope. For centuries, they have chosen one of their own. The vast majority of the electors - 108 - were made cardinals by Pope Francis, according to Vatican statistics.

This is the closed-door meeting of the cardinal electors to choose the new pope in the Sistine Chapel. Its name, literally "with a key," was used in the 13th century to describe the process of locking up the cardinals until the election is completed. It must begin no more than 20 days after the death or resignation of a pope. The electors are sequestered from all outsiders for the duration; the last three popes were chosen within days.

The current dean is Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. He is the head of the College of Cardinals who informs the rest of the cardinals and the ambassadors to the Holy See of the pope´s death once he learns of it from the camerlengo. He convenes the conclave and presides as the electors take their oaths. Once a new pope is chosen, the dean asks him if he accepts and what name he wants to be called.

This Vatican guesthouse, built in 1996, specifically houses cardinals during a conclave and is used at other times as a hotel for visiting priests and Vatican officials. Pope Francis never moved out after he was elected pope, choosing to live in suite 201, rather than the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace.

A Latin phrase for "all out," it's spoken by the master for papal liturgical celebrations, currently Italian Archbishop Diego Ravelli, to ask all those present except the cardinal electors to leave the Sistine Chapel to begin the voting process during the conclave.

Each pope gets this ring at the Mass marking the beginning of his pontificate. It bears this name because Jesus told St. Peter, the first pope, that he would be "a fisher of men." Until the 1990s, it was destroyed upon a pope´s death. Now, it´s "annulled," or marked in such a way that it can´t be used as a seal.

This is the name given to the gathering of all members of the College of Cardinals after the pope´s death and before the start of the conclave to discuss major church affairs. All cardinals who aren't infirm take part in this meeting in the Vatican´s Apostolic Palace. They also discuss preparations for the conclave, under oath and in secret.

This Latin phrase translates to "We have a pope." These are the words used by the "protodeacon" of the College of Cardinals to announce from the loggia of St. Peter´s Basilica that a new pope has been elected. He then says the new pope's birth name and the name he has chosen to use as pope, also in Latin. The current protodeacon is French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti.

These are the three cardinals, chosen by a random drawing from the electors, who are charged with gathering the ballots of any electors who are ill during the conclave.

This is Latin for "having had mercy and choosing him" - a phrase that Francis chose as his motto when he was elevated to bishop and kept as his papal seal. It was drawn from the homilies of St. Bede the Venerable, an 8th century monk. It comes from the Gospel narrative of St. Matthew, a tax collector whom Jesus called to follow him.

These are the three cardinals, chosen by random drawing from the electors, who are charged with reviewing the ballots during the conclave.

This is the document, or "deed," listing key details of the pope´s life and papacy that is placed in his coffin. It´s written in Latin by the master for papal liturgical celebrations. A copy is kept in the Vatican archives.

These are the three cardinals, chosen by random drawing from the electors, who are charged with reviewing each ballot and announcing it to the assembled conclave after each round of voting. They then tally the votes - to win the election, two-thirds of the votes are necessary - and they also burn the ballots.

This is Latin for "vacant seat," the period between the pope´s death or resignation and the election of a new one.

This is the basilica in Rome where Pope Francis said he wants to be buried. Francis is breaking with the tradition of his predecessors who are buried inside the Vatican, saying he wanted to be near his favorite icon of the Virgin Mary, the Salus Populi Romani, a Byzantine-style painting of the Madonna draped in a blue robe, holding the infant Jesus who in turn is holding a jeweled golden book. The icon is located in the church first built in the 5th century and devoted to the Virgin Mary. In his will, Francis said he wanted a simple underground tomb with only "Franciscus" written on it.

This Latin phrase means "the Lord´s whole flock." It´s the Vatican constitution that regulates the processes from a pope´s death until a new one is elected. St. John Paul II issued it in 1996 during his papacy, and Pope Benedict XVI twice amended it, most significantly by removing John Paul's provision that after about 12 days of balloting a simple majority could elect a new pope rather than a two-thirds majority. If the conclave lasts that long, the top two vote-getters go to a runoff, with a two-thirds majority required to win. Neither of the top two candidates casts a ballot in the runoff.

After each round of voting in the Sistine Chapel, the ballots are burned in a special furnace to indicate the outcome to the outside world. If no pope is chosen, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene (a component of coal tar), and sulfur to produce black smoke. But if there is a winner, the burning ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke. Bells also are rung to further signal there is a new pope.