UW-Madison students continue protest as night falls; tents set up on Library Mall

MADISON, Wis. -- Hundreds of students took to Library Mall on the campus of the University of Wisconsin Monday, in protest of the Israel-Hamas war.

A group called "Students for Justice in Palestine - UW Madison" organized the event.

It defined its protest against "ongoing genocide and Zionist war crimes in Gaza, and against the new wave of student repression across the country."

Protesters have demanded for an end to the war, as well as for UW-Madison to divest from corporations that do business in Israel.

Speaking to News 3 Now, Students for Justice in Palestine member Dahlia Saba said her group wants UW to "end its complicity in the ongoing violence."

"I think it’s an incredibly strong statement that we have so many members of UW-Madison community both students faculty and staff out here to show that we demand that out university be accountable to us," Saba said. "I think it’s frankly embarrassing and shameful that the university is more worried about tents on a lawn than the genocide being perpetuated against the people of Gaza."

Another student who asked not to be named in this story said she wants the protest to also serve as a learning space.

"E specially as a Jewish student with members of my family who died in the Holocaust, I wanted to do everything in my power to protest what is happening with this genocide against Palestinians," she said.

UW-Madison Dean of Students Dean Christina Olstad, and UWPD Interim Chief Brent Plisch, warned all students, faculty and staff Friday in an email, that not following campus protest policies "can and will have consequences, both within our code of student conduct and more broadly under Wisconsin law."

UW-Madison leaders said on Friday no camping is allowed on campus grounds. News 3 Now crews witnessed multiple tents being set up on Library Mall.

In a joint statement Monday evening, UW-Madison officials including Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin and Provost Charles Isbell said that campus leaders are willing to meet with the organizers of the protest once the tents have been removed from campus.

"We continue to ask the protesters to voluntarily comply with state law against tents and encampments on university property," administrators said. "We hope that protestors will elect to avail themselves of the many alternative ways to protest and to express their views without tents or encampments on our campus grounds."

A News 3 Now crew said flyers were handed to protestors reminding them of UW's policy against camping and blocking entrances.

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