Texas A&M students gathered outside of Rudder Plaza, continuing to protest for the divestment of funds from companies and organizations with ties to Israel. 

On May 7 from 5:30-8 p.m., Aggies Against Apartheid organized the protest as part of a national movement in support of Palestine. The protest also denounced Israel’s offensive on Rafah. 

Protesters also denounced President Joe Biden and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for their support of Israel. The coalition also announced its stance in solidarity with other universities in Texas that have had students protesting, including the University of North Texas, University of Texas, A&M-Corpus Christi campus and University of Texas at Dallas. 

The group marched from Rudder Plaza to the Academic Plaza where they expressed their sentiments on A&M’s partnerships with Israeli-affiliated corporations, then to the Liberal Arts and Humanities building where they sat and held a “Muster” recognizing the Palestinian casualties. The group then circled back to Rudder Plaza, concluding the march. 

One of the coalition’s organizers, History senior Aidan McPhail, said the main goal of this protest is to get A&M to divest from companies that are profiting off the conflict.

“We’re trying to get A&M to hopefully put more money in local-based movements and groups like the 12th Can, which feeds 400 Aggies every two weeks and they could do so much more if they had more funding,” McPhail said. “I feel it would be more productive for the university to put that money into local things that directly benefit both Aggies and community members rather than those who are already making billions of dollars.” 

Specifically with this protest, McPhail said the goal is to keep those that are engaged with the cause. 

“I think that momentum is important to remind the university we’re still here,” McPhail said. “The main goal of the summer is to keep student engagement and keep them engaged with community members and local businesses and religious institutions to show the university it’s not just an on-campus issue, but it’s an issue for everyone regardless of their status as a student.”

McPhail said Aggies Against Apartheid has continued coordinating with university administration.

“We’ve been coordinating with the university administration for everything so we can avoid some of the violent repression that other universities have faced, so the university knows we’re not trying to fight against them, and that we are trying to work with them,” McPhail said.