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Public health aims to liberate all people from the burden of sickness and disease. As members of the public health workforce, we provide our services and attention to the areas where it is most urgently needed. We must recognize every instance of preventable mass human suffering and teach our students to dismantle the institutions that perpetuate systemic injustice nonviolently. In keeping with our mission, the lack of organized and direct service toward Palestinian life has been deeply shameful. War results in more fatalities and disabilities than many major diseases, it is imperative that our period of silence ends now.  

It is a relevant historical observation that every genocide in human history has either been justified or denied by the organizations that perpetrate them. Recent scholarly observations of genocide highlight the many ways that mass murder can be obfuscated under the auspices of regular government business, often through the direct support of private interest. The typical image of genocide is that of outright violence and summary execution against a people or culture, often justified by what a government deems as militarily necessary, as was the case in the Armenian Genocide. Genocides can also happen passively and negligently via the misappropriation of vital resources to manufacture epidemics, such as the forced starvation of Irish people in the Great Irish Famine. Information has also been a critical tool for the propagation of mass violence by sewing feelings of moral threat and conspiracy. Examples of this can be seen in Nazi justifications for the Holocaust. As public health practitioners, we believe it is possible to support the need for a ceasefire without directing harm to Jewish members of our community. We are not interested in entertaining historical or sociological discourse about what constitutes genocide or a country’s right to self-defense. We find that these discussions are unproductive as we seek nothing more than an immediate end to the ongoing violence. This should be our greatest priority, as many of those harmed in the conflict have been serving in a humanitarian capacity.  

This week, on Monday afternoon, students demonstrated the only proportional and rational response to genocide by establishing Tulane’s chapter of the Popular University for Gaza. An encampment was erected in solidarity with student protests around the nation and pays direct homage to student movements against Apartheid South Africa and the American involvement in the Vietnam War. 

Tulane’s administration seems confused about the demands brought forward by this movement, as they labeled many of these students as violent outside agitators. We, on the other hand, are not confused about students’ demands. For hours into the night, students linked arms and chanted statements affirming support for a ceasefire and an end to asymmetrical violence against Palestinian people. Organizers kept students safe by sharing resources like food, water, and medical supplies throughout the night. Participants created art, music, and poetry throughout the day and provided peer education. Never once did the student organizers lose control of the crowd or allow violence to be initiated. When those from outside the encampment attempted to disrupt the demonstrations, the encampment was steadfast by repeatedly chanting, “Do not engage.” The only violence we witnessed that day was from the mounted police officers who repeatedly rode horses into crowds of unarmed people.   

Early Wednesday morning, as Tulane University administrators hid behind their pre-written statements, they supported the militant and violent raid of unarmed students housed in the encampment. State police armed in riot gear repeatedly pushed students to the ground, openly directed guns at groups of unarmed students, and threatened them with chemical irritants. Armored vehicles were also present at the raid. Tidewater residents saw this brute display of force as an ultimate act of cowardice and a supreme violation of trust within our community.   

As the oldest public health school in the country, we are proud to say that students from the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine were present at the encampment to support the efforts of the nationwide student protest movement. We find it barbaric that our administration is comfortable using violence against its students and members of its community. We want to express our explicit disbelief towards any statements made by Tulane University administration that attempt to paint our students as violent outside agitators. We find that the rhetoric used by our university administration has been dishonest and purposefully misleading as it disagrees with the documented experiences of those present at the encampment.    

Students, staff, and faculty of the Tulane School of Public Health publicly condemn the Tulane University administration for suppressing justified student activism. Enshrined in this condemnation is a set of demands that are necessary for holding our administration accountable. They go as follows:  

• We demand that any student facing disciplinary or legal action be waived of all charges. No student, staff, or faculty member should face retribution or retaliation for supporting the Popular University of Gaza. This includes withholding financial aid, scholarships, and compensation.  
• We demand that the group informally known as “The Tulane 7” be reinstated with proper standing. 
• We ask that Tulane Administrators stop mischaracterizing the encampment as ‘violent’ or ‘illegal.’ 
• We demand that an oversight committee review the university’s use of force procedures against students.
• We demand that the Tulane University School of Public and Tropical Medicine formally acknowledge the importance of reaching a ceasefire agreement for global public health.
• We demand that defense contractors be banned from Tulane Handshake and all university-affiliated recruitment. This includes, but is not limited to, Lockheed Martin, RTX, General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Pfizer.
• We demand that Tulane University establish an endowment oversight board for socially responsible investment.
• We call upon Tulane University to publicly reveal any assets supporting the military industrial complex.
• We demand that Tulane University divest from organizations that profit from the death of Palestinian people.