SJP Advocates for WSU Divestment from Boeing

In response to the Israeli operations in Gaza, which the UN has recognized as genocide, WSUV saw the introduction of its own chapter of National Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-palestinian organization supporting similarly-minded student groups across the US, Canada and New Zealand.

While WSUV’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter became an RSO in Fall of 2024, it started in Spring of that year. Their 2025-2026 Mission Statement can be found here. 

“We were a group of very concerned and angry students who saw the injustices being perpetuated in Gaza and with some familiarity of the history of colonization of the Gaza Strip and of Palestine, we followed in the footsteps of several other student organizers, both historically in the case of resistance to apartheid South Africa as a primary example, and also following in the footsteps of national SJP.” Says Kate Petersen, a Fourth year English Lit Major and the current president of SJP. 

Vice President of SJP Oziah Wilson spoke on the partnership between WSU and Boeing, which as described by a WSU webpage is a decades-long partnership between Boeing investing in WSU and “thousands of highly skilled and well-prepared WSU graduates who have become Boeing employees and a key part of the company’s success.”

“The chapter [of SJP] on campus was specifically founded to get WSU to stop its investments with Boeings and military-industrial-complex companies more broadly, and to specifically advocate for a liberated Palestine,” Wilson said.

“Essentially, we create the engineers and the bodies that produce weapons of war to be used abroad. And that includes a success center that is established by funding from Boeing that Boeing sponsored. “Petersen said. “In general, WSU has platforms that are really focused on both Boeing with their historic partnership and other weapons contractors. They really do not prioritize ethics in engineering, and we are a school that funnels a lot of people directly into those sorts of career fields.”

SJP officers Iqra Ahmed and Alin Jasmine Gonzalez both spoke of their discomfort regarding the money they pay for tuition with being tied to warfare and violence.

“Today, I woke up and I paid my tuition and then I went online and then I see extreme violence being enacted against Palestinians. I think knowing that your money might have some tie to that is very unsettling,” Ahmed said.

“I felt really sad,” Gonzalez said. “I felt like my money was going towards violence and death instead of what I would think like paying our professors more, having hot food on campus, or just investing back into education. I feel like there’s been a lot of cuts to education, and WSU, instead of funding our education, there’s so many ties to Boeing. It’s like, it’s really disheartening.”

SJP has been continuously vocal about their opposition to WSU’s contribution to Boeing and other military-industrial-complex companies. They have created a list of demands for the WSU Board of Regents, written open letters in the Vancougar, and continuously reached out to WSUV admin. WSUV has not made any changes as far as SJP can tell. 

Wilson said that WSUV has not made any changes to align with SJP demands. Petersen said among the reasons are the lack of influence SJP has currently and how difficult it is to stage protests.

“I’m sorry, the idea of scheduling a protest and getting a space reserved for protest is so absurd to me. There’s all those sorts of institutional checks. The same with our posters getting taken down. These are all activities that are limited by just the institutional structure of WSU. And I very much doubt that more faculty will come in support of SJP,” Petersen said.

Recently, SJP has been focusing more on mutual aid, more specifically on helping both families in Gaza, and families in the Portland-Vancouver area affected by ICE. On Saturday March 21st, they worked in tandem with the Oregon Deportation and Defense Coalition at Ethos Music center to raise over $420 for families they sponsor in Gaza. The event as a whole raised over $800 to support families affected by ICE. 

“I’m Mexican American, so I felt really disheartened when my community specifically was being racially profiled by our government.” Says Gonzalez. “So when I saw SJP really advocating for helping people’s families that were affected by ICE, organizing on campus in events, trying to get people to donate to these families that are affected by ICE, I felt really touched. And it was really endearing actually to see my fellow officers really work together to fight against this like racial prejudice from the government.” 

At Ethos, Wilson gave a speech emphasizing the need for community in this uncertain political time, and spoke about how the money donated is going to directly help people in need. They ended the speech with “Thank you again to everyone who made this possible. Thank you all for coming out tonight. F–k ICE, F–k 12, F–k the IOF: glory to the martyrs and free all oppressed people around the globe.” Petersen later clarified that by Martyrs, SJP means all Palestinians who have been murdered by Israeli attacks. 

While speaking with the Vancougar, SJP wanted to emphasize that in no way do they support Anti-semitism or bigotry of any kind, and have a strict policy against it. 

“Anti-Zionism is a political position where you are against the idea of Israel as a concept, as an ethno-state. Right? Anti-Semitism is a hatred of Jewish people. We are not that. And so fundamentally, if someone comes into our club spouting anti-Semitism, if they’re not willing to understand our position, they’re not a part of our club. That’s it.” Says Wilson. 

Petersen said “At SJP, we have very strict policies. It’s in our bylaws against all forms of hate speech. We are a relatively broad leftist coalition. We try to maintain that so that everyone feels welcome, but of course we do not tolerate intolerance. It is a serious problem. There are many people who attempt to co-opt the pro-Palestinian movement in order to spread anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism conspiracy theories.” 

To get involved with SJP, you can follow either of their Instagrams (Alternate Instagram) Join the discord, or visit their linktree. 

 “If students really heard us out, came to our teach-ins, and became more educated and really took those teachings to heart, that would be a really big win for Students Justice in Palestine.” Says Gonzalez.