The Daily Illini interviewed a student, Romi Rabinowitz, senior in Media, about the current Jewish gathering near Alma Mater.

DI: Can you tell me a little bit about what’s happening here today?

Rabinowitz: Today, we’re here not to counterprotest, but we’re here in celebration of Jewish life, and we’re here to support each other through the difficult times that we’ve been experiencing on campus so far, and just come together as one. We said a couple of prayers, we danced and sang. We are making sure that we keep the spirits up while everybody’s needing to lean on each other right now.

DI: How have the past couple of days been with the protests going on in front of Foellinger Auditorium?

Rabinowitz: The past couple of days, as well as the past six, almost seven months at this point, have been very difficult for our community. The protests on campus going on now are very difficult for us to see, especially because I know a couple of my friends have tried to interact with the protesters in a very respectful manner, just trying to open conversation, and haven’t been able to. And, you know, we’re just really here to have a conversation and understand each other’s point of view and each other’s sides, and some of the chants that we’ve been hearing recently on the Main Quad have been very scary to us, to be honest. A lot of hate speech, “From the River to the Sea,” basically calls for our people’s genocide while accusing us of genocide. So it’s been very difficult to be on campus in the past couple of days.

DI: Can you tell me a little bit about how you feel about the announcements and Massmails that have come out versus their reactions to it, the protesters’ reactions towards those announcements and Massmails?

Rabinowitz: I think our chancellor has tried his best to stay neutral and not support one cause more than the other cause. I think that I don’t know how much I agree with the fact that the encampments have been able to stay on the Main Quad, as it’s just generally disruptive to everyday life, as well as they have been told that the tents and other things are not allowed, as well as the hate speech that they’ve been chanting on the Main Quad. So I don’t know how supported I feel as a Jewish student by the administration completely, but I feel supported because of my own community.

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The Main Quad has students taking graduation photos while protesters are setting up. Although the protests are highlighted everywhere, campus life is still bustling despite the rise in activity from the protest groups.

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**This has been edited for clarity.**

The Daily Illini: Why did nothing happen yesterday and why today?

Protestor: Yesterday, the admin immediately deployed all forms of police. They sent UIPD, Champaign County, Urbana, Mohamet and Parkland College police here. They forced Facilities & Services to remove all our stuff even when they didn’t want to, they did not feel comfortable, and they thought we were allowed to be there. Campus Faculty Association released a statement, they said they fully condemned the University’s actions of trying to remove us. We have a lot of faculty here to support us — they felt like what the police did was so disgusting over some tents.

DI: Are you referring to yesterday at Spurlock or Friday at Alma Mater?

Protestor: On Friday, at Alma Mater. No one went to Spurlock.

DI: Why is that? Do you know?

Protestor: The University Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine will be putting out a statement with a lot more detail which will give you a lot more detail as to why we are sticking around here.

DI: You guys are meeting with the administration tomorrow at 5 p.m.?

Protestor: Some student organizers are meeting tomorrow to talk about divestment. I don’t know if you guys know this, but this University puts hundreds of millions of dollars into murdering children. They use our tuition money and they lie about it, and when we ask them and confront them, “Why are you funding this genocide? Why are you funding an illegal occupation?” These settlers tell us, “No, we are not in control of it. The University of Illinois Foundation is,” and “No, BOT is.” The BOT is comprised of admin Chancellor Robert Jones and President Tim Killeen. They’re just so wishy-washy, so back-and-forth, and we’re tired of it.

It has been almost eight months of an ongoing genocide that has been broadcasted in 4k. There is nothing that the admin can say, or any Zionist can say, that shows that the University shouldn’t stop funding this genocide. It’s completely disgusting and we are fed up with it.

DI: How long do you plan on staying out today?

Protestor: As long as we need to.

DI: Is there a reason behind the location change from Alma Mater to the Main Quad?

Protestor: Yes, for expansion. If we need to expand, it is much safer to be here. Usually, they threaten us with mass arrests and tear gassing, so we are hoping this area will keep us protesters safe because, clearly, the admin does not care about us. It was Tim Killeen who was pushing to mass arrest us right away. We have no support from the admin, they can lie and say that they care about our students, but police were assaulting other student protesters. We have it on video, we care about one another. I hope it shows you that there are a lot of messed up issues within UIPD, they need to be defunded. Our main point is divestment and to keep all eyes on Gaza because Israel is trying to invade. Over a million people have been displaced, like 1.3 million displaced Palestinians, and we need to protect them.

DI: There’s a charter bus out there, did people bus in?

Protestor: Chicago allies, many came out. Minimum of 50, possibly more. There are a lot of people mobilizing, like ISU. The bigger the crowd, the safer we are.

DI: On Friday, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Jim Hintz, negotiated with some protestors. Could you give us insight on that?

Protestor: It was not a negotiation, it was more of a, “You have to either leave and disperse, or we will mass arrest everyone and spray tear gas.” As negotiators, we wanted to do what we felt was most safe for all the protestors, which was to disperse and reconvene with a stronger newer plan. So yeah, they can say we agreed it was negotiations we have countless times when admin has gone back on their word when they have blatantly lied to us. They sent out three Massmails about the Palestinians, about the genocide — they tell us they’re pointless, they’re useless, it doesn’t matter. I would like to add that during the negotiations, the chancellor sent out a Massmail, purposely endangering the students. So it was not a negotiation. It was more like them commanding us to do stuff. It was pouring heavy rain. We still have 100 to 200 people out there ready to stand for this.

This has been going on for far too long. It’s disgusting. We are all complicit. We need to speak up right now. If not now, then when? I think it’s very important for you to realize Israel is getting away with this. What are they going to do next? The whole world is at risk right now. If designers stay, if they are allowed to do what they have done to the Palestinians, especially in Gaza for the past eight months, and no one has said anything, no one has lifted a finger, what are they going to do to the rest of the world? Who’s going to stop them?

DI: We did speak with the vice president for Illini Students Supporting Israel, and also the rabbi. One of the things they mentioned was the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” which they believe to be anti-Semitic. Could you speak on that?

Protestor: The chant has been used for the past 75 years. It means from the Dead Sea to the river, Palestine will be free. This means Palestinians can rightfully return to their homes, can walk freely through Palestine without checkpoints, they aren’t detained for the dumbest things that aren’t shown in broad daylight. They aren’t kidnapped, and their homes aren’t raided. There allowed to go pray at the mosque without getting beaten.

I’m Palestinian, my grandparents were kicked out in 1948 during the catastrophe, and I have not been able to return. It is because of the of the laws that Israel has. And even if you have done things properly, they still can detain you and prevent you from entering Palestine. Just the freedom of people being able to freely move throughout their own homelands is not anti-Semitic. Recently, they have been trying to spew anti-Semitism because people have realized that the anti-Semitism argument is so false. There are so many Jews here, we are going to hold Shabbat prayer here today. There are so many Jews in support of Palestine and a free Palestine. 

DI: Do you know what time the Shabbat prayer will be held here?

Protestor: I’m not 100% sure, there is a committee that is organizing all the plans and agenda for the day.

DI: Do you plan on putting up structures once again, like in front of Alma Mater, or are you going to stay away from that? 

Protestor: That is to be determined.

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Chancellor Robert J. Jones issued a campus safety update at 11:31 p.m. Friday, stating that the University administration had reached a “peaceful resolution to end the demonstrations outside the Illini Union.” 

According to the announcement, protesters will be relocating to the space west of Gregory Avenue and north of Oregon Street where Spurlock Museum is located. 

“This location will limit the disruptions to campus operations. The demonstrators will restrict their activities to a strictly defined area. We also will be able to maintain a wider area of separation between the demonstrators and our academic operations on Monday,” the Massmail stated.

Jones acknowledged that this decision will likely cause frustration among community members, stating “I made this decision after careful and lengthy consultation with our police department, the university administration and local authorities.”

Demonstrations at Spurlock will be permitted until the conclusion of a previously scheduled meeting between protest organizers and administration on Monday at 5 p.m. 

There was a clear understanding between the protestors and University staff that there would be “immediate action to disperse the group if their activities present any new safety risks or violations of state or local law,” the Massmail stated.

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“After remarkable steps spearheaded by Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois State Police in conjunction with the Cities of Champaign and Urbana, we were able to pull together the law enforcement staff needed for us to hold a safe and secure event,” the email read.

The center announced it will be holding a press conference in the coming days that will address the events that took place to keep the races ongoing.

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The protesters have dispersed for the night and are planning to resume their protests at 7 a.m. on Saturday at Spurlock Museum.

“This is a win for us,” a protester said to the crowd. “We are stronger than that.” 

The rain remains strong as the crowd lessens. Police are still in the area.

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I’ve been out here for a lot of the afternoon just making sure it does not devolve because the last thing we need is to have our Jewish community (or) Palestinian community hurt. It’s certainly a demonstration. But, you know, I’ve been meaning to sit down and try to understand how can the student government better help our Palestinian community, our Jewish community, make sure that the students feel comfortable in this university (and) have the support they need.

DI: Have these organizations reached out to you personally or the government, in general, to ask for advice or tips?

Lopez: Not yet, but we’re reaching out to them. At least, I know I am on a personal level and (on) a professional level as the chairman of this committee. I can’t speak to anyone else in the government, but I would not be surprised if they would. It’s a tough situation and, you know, we need the voices, we need the perspective. We can advocate for what they need.

DI: Have you, as far as today, had any updates with any people that you’ve been in contact with that you can talk more about?

Lopez: Not really, I’ve been following this since early morning when it started. I’ve been kind of coming back and forth between here and (the) Union just to try to see what’s going on. My main concern is, with these, there’s often the fear that it may become anti-Semitic and, obviously, you can’t accept that, (it) is never acceptable.

(We are) ensuring that we can find ways to support our communities that they (are) talking about. More specific ways, more than just generally like, supporting, maybe, specific programs or plans that the government has been involved with. I’m not aware of any specific plans at this time. The new session just got sworn in. I’m about two weeks into the job. So we’re still working it out, but I would be very surprised if we didn’t have anything out eventually to remedy any issues that may arise.

DI: Would you happen to know (the) motivations behind the protests that we have today? Especially regarding the encampments? Why are they so focused on setting up camps?

Lopez: I would not be able to speak to that. I’m not a part of the organization, I’m not affiliated with the organization that set this up. I don’t even know who it is. My impression is that they’re following the example of Columbia and NYU and other related universities around the country. I’m hearing a lot about divestment. I’m hearing a lot about transparency and stuff like that. And so my impression is they’re doing it to get a response from the University. But beyond that, I don’t have anything.

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Whether you choose to go out on a Tuesday evening or a Friday night, this brightly lit shop on the corner of Green and Fifth streets welcomes you on your way back home.

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers serves the wonderful community of sober folks and those who have had a little too much fun in their evening endeavors until 2 a.m.

The simple menu allows decisions to be made with little to no stress. A mumble of any number between one and four followed by “Combo” guarantees a fiendish friend for your stomach. Freshly fried chicken fingers, a delectable dipping sauce and a soft piece of Texas toast call your name as you walk away from your study spot or stumble away from the bumping music a few blocks west. 

If you’re feeling a little fancy, try asking for an Arnold Palmer as your drink of choice. The famously sweet iced tea is paired with its delicious lemonade, and when mixed, you can drink it pretending to be a legendary golf player. 

Head over to Raising Cane’s whenever you get the itch, whether you are sober or drunk. Raising Cane’s will love you no matter your state of being when you choose to walk through its doors.

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