The pro-Palestinian encampment constructed on Trotter Lawn on April 30 by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and demolished May 3, 2025, bears many similarities to the encampment the group constructed Spring 2024. However, one of the most striking differences between the two encampments was a significant drop in attendance this year. The Phoenix estimated at the time that well over a hundred students, faculty, staff members, and members of the local Swarthmore community entered the 2024 Parrish Lawn encampment at some point to show support. The 2025 Trotter Lawn encampment’s participants numbered closer to two dozen, with only one current Swarthmore student left at the time of arrests. The Phoenix spoke to many veteran organizers at Swarthmore, some of whom argued that the encampment’s decreased attendance can, in large part, be attributed to the culture among SJP leadership culture growing increasingly insular, toxic, and ineffective.
In a statement to The Phoenix over social media direct messaging, however, SJP argued that the reduced numbers at the Trotter Encampment were a result of increased disciplinary action from the school such as the recent suspension of a student.
“Reduced attendance at this specific action is due to fear of administrative retaliation. Last year’s encampment on Parrish Beach did not come with any risk of disciplinary consequences and so had broader support.”
All activists reached out to by The Phoenix for this story were explicitly clear that they had not changed their minds on issues of Israel-Palestine. Many organizers were hesitant to voice criticism on the record about a movement whose broad goals they strongly supported, and some declined to be interviewed for this story for that reason.
All were still in favor of pushing the school to divest from products and companies tied to Israel, and many were adamant to make their position clear, describe the ongoing violence in Gaza as a genocide, and to refer to themselves as anti-Zionist. However, The Phoenix spoke with a number of people, including some who were once core organizers with SJP, who had taken a step back from the organization at some point in the past year. All students who spoke to The Phoenix for this story were granted anonymity, given credible fears of administrative or legal repercussions for being associated with pro-Palestinian activism.
A recurrent criticism expressed by activists when speaking to The Phoenix was the perception that SJP had little interest in convincing or even talking with those on the fence or opposed to their goals. One student organizer with experience working with SJP, referred to here as “Adam,” wrote in a message to The Phoenix: “Convincing skeptics is seen [by SJP leadership] as a waste of time or worse, as capitulation to moderates.” They referenced specific instances where otherwise sympathetic students with genuine questions or doubts about particular issues were ridiculed or ignored. Adam also wrote that SJP took an increasingly adversarial tone towards the general student body.
“In group chats, conversations, and social media posts, everyone who does not participate in SJP actions is called a coward or a Zionist.”
Adam believes that a large majority of Swarthmore students support Palestine and, in particular, support SJP on the issue of divestment, however, they felt that “instead of leveraging or building on this support, SJP purity tests and raises the bar for engagement. The problem has become worse over time and has been pretty clearly reflected in declining attendance at their rallies and actions.” Adam referenced an application form that SJP required new members to fill out to become members starting in the fall of 2024. The form probed members’ beliefs about highly controversial nuances of the conflict and was cited by a student who spoke to The Phoenix as the main reason for their disengagement with the group. Question five, for example, asked, “Agree/Disagree, elaborate: Palestinians have a right to resist the occupation of their land,” according to copies of the form obtained by The Phoenix.
“Beth,” a former core member of both SJP and Swarthmore’s chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), felt similarly. They argued that JVP’s awareness that many of its members grew up in and were socialized into Zionism better equips them to outreach to those they disagree with and potentially change their minds. “I don’t think [SJP] have enough appreciation for the way Zionism is a cultural norm. Because if you understand that, then you ought to be more willing to try and reach out to people, to break down those barriers,” they said.
SJP responded to a question about its willingness to engage with students with mixed feelings, writing that “SJP is committed to political education.” SJP also wrote that “The issues being addressed by this national movement are not ‘Palestinian issues’ but rather Zionism, the largest moral crisis of our lifetime.”
Both Adam and Beth were harshly critical of the efficacy of SJP’s tactics. Adam wrote in comments to The Phoenix that “SJP is unambiguously ineffective at achieving its stated goals.” Beth agreed, saying, “We were closer to a boycott campaign my freshman year than we are now.”
“Charles,” who described themself as an “active participant” in both the 2023 Parrish Hall sit-in and the 2024 Parrish Lawn encampment, also took issue with SJP’s recent protests and how students connect their activism with those experiencing violence in Palestine.
“At times, I feel that SJP is conducting a sort of LARPing [live action role playing], drawing the proximity of their own experiences and those of Palestinians in Gaza as close as possible, in order to justify aggressive, militant action.”
Charles said those not willing to participate in these escalated actions are often derided and referred to as “cops, pigs, piggies, klansmen, crackers, Zionists” or “pussy-ass bitches.” They also expressed concern that the group’s increasing paranoia in the face of surveillance and discipline from the college meant that it often failed to adequately inform members of the risks of attending protests.
Adam attributed the group’s lack of success to misplaced priorities, saying “Despite their complete lack of material victories, SJP members seem to regard their work as successful. Success is measured by how publicly, radically, and intrusively SJP can ‘resist.’” Adam pointed to the calls for violence in graffiti on the Big Chair and other Adirondack chairs written during the encampment, arguing the action “feels radical” but “alienated many would-be supporters and allowed Val Smith to call them antisemitic.”
The Phoenix reached out to SJP for a statement on the content of the graffiti which has been widely photographed and shared. SJP responded that “we have no information on [the graffiti] so we cannot provide a comment.”
When asked about allegations that it was tactically ineffective, SJP wrote that “The tactics that SJP has used are based in historical analysis of the anti-apartheid movement that Swarthmore once criminalized and now celebrates,” and argued that “our encampment must be placed within a broader national context.”
SJP also emphasized that leverage and pressure – not necessarily broad support – has been its goal. Additionally the organization argued that effective action necessitated risk.
“We have seen that popular support does not equal power or leverage. Thus, our goal is to not only strengthen political consciousness around Palestine on campus, but to also build our power and leverage in order to pressure the institution of Swarthmore College to divest from genocide. This inevitably comes with disciplinary consequences. Any and all effective actions against the administration will provoke a defensive response, leading them to target students they perceive as a threat.”
SJP said it ultimately views the Trotter Lawn encampment as a success in “that it forced the mask off of Swarthmore College” and “accomplished consistent revolutionary political education.”
Adam, Beth and Charles all agreed that the shifting culture of SJP was largely responsible for the diminished attendance at the Trotter Lawn encampment. Charles wrote that “Since the encampment of last year, SJP has been hemorrhaging participation.”
Beth echoed this sentiment: “They’ve been bleeding members for a long time, which is why the encampment relied mostly on outsiders.” They believed the encampment on Trotter Lawn was a tactical mistake and were concerned that it drew attention from the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, “It’s no longer centering Gaza. The message we need to be sharing now is: stop starving Gaza. There has been no food let in for 60 days, and I did not see that same messaging from the Swarthmore encampment.”
The Left is so good at doing this and destroying itself. This kind of thing is so good at destroying an organization that outsiders who want to destroy you even sneak into groups and use it.
Anyhow, I hope you all can figure out how to rebuild solidarity.
I realized I might not have been clear. Requiring people to follow the “party line” is what destroys the left. It’s something people have done in many movements.
Will the Phoenix ever write an article about the genocide that’s happening or is repurposing admin’s talking points more pressing
2025 Swarthmore SJP: makes a farce of protesting Swarthmore’s investment in the genocide by: referring to fellow students using misogynistic and racial slurs; making light of white supremacist torture and lynchings of black people by referring to fellow students, incl. students of color, as “klansmen”; functionally endorsing trump by encouraging people not to vote in the 2024 election; throwing fuel on the fire of popular Zionist rhetoric by inviting outside agitators onto Swarthmore’s campus; forcing fellow students to pass a moral purity test via a series of questions on a written form when you know this could land people in danger; decentering and drawing attention away from Palestinian voices and the reality of the occupation and ongoing genocide; continuing to engage in organizing tactics that have proven ineffective with no perceptible goal besides self-victimization; calling for bombing civilians in Tel Aviv; fetishizing Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, terrorist groups and movements that variously deploy suicide bombers against civilians, enslave children into becoming combatants, deny the Holocaust, call for the massacring of LGBTQ people, enslave and torture women, and call for massacring jewish people at large; refusing to engage in constructive dialogue with people who aren’t 100% on board with all of these things
2025 Swarthmore SJP: how could the phoenix do this?
100%
Clock em one more time for me
thank you for saving me the time of coming up with this comment! 100%
PS – I think we need a weekly srsly like be so fr rn Phoenix column
wait so SJP does not care about what people think/popular support, but the encampment is a success because it made Swarthmore look bad? did the encampment force Swarthmore to make changes or negotiate?
Yeah…… LARPing is about right. There are a whole lot of people who are strongly opposed to what Israel is doing in Gaza. You could probably build a very significant movement without much trouble to protest that. The issue is… these kids clearly don’t care about that. They care about feeling self-righteous. To wit– the use of “Zionist” as a slur. Somewhere between 85 and 90% of Jewish people identify as Zionists of some form or another, while Jews remain a very significantly Democratic voting bloc. When this movement goes far beyond “Palestinian people are entitled to a state with autonomy and dignity” to “we need to dismantle the Jewish state,” you’re losing the overwhelming majority of Jews. And when these people hold up the Jews in their movement, it’s… about as convincing as Republicans pointing to Clarence Thomas and Candace Owens as reasons they aren’t racists. Not all anti-Zionists are antisemites but… a whole lot are.
If they cared about the plight of Palestinians, they’d go organize actions to get the party that cares just a little bit about Palestinians elected. They’d pressure that party to take concrete steps to pressure Israel’s government and end the war (in the short term) and the occupation (in the long term). They instead spray paint “Hamas” on campus, yell about “genocide Joe,” and declare that Val Smith is some reactionary militant. It’s patently ridiculous.
For a group of students with alleged sympathy for the Palestinian cause, Beth, Charles, and Adam surely worked with ardor and devotion to smear the singular group on campus consistently undertaking *any* work toward Palestinian liberation. It is truly nonsensical, and fallacious at that, to lambaste your peers online for making decisions with which you do not agree, in complete ignorance of the exact repressive, militarized, and deeply anti-Palestinian political context identified here. Though you wouldn’t think it necessary to reiterate this to Swarthmore student, allegedly some of the brightest in this country’s higher education system, here goes nothing: engaging in gross vitriol against a group named “Students for Justice in Palestine” on the internet — which, mind you, remains forever — is perhaps the least strategic move you could take in advancing the cause. So, sure, Beth, Charles, and Adam: hide behind pseudonyms and terse words while your peers risk their livelihood to fight for the Palestinian people. You are protected by your anonymity here (the veil is thin, might I add), though unwilling to protect your so-called “comrades” in the moments of most danger. You haven’t shown your faces for a year, as you so openly admit. Be proud of that! Abandoning the fight against the worst human catastrophe in recent history in favor of your own self-righteousness is truly admirable! In any case, no change has ever been achieved historically — be that in the context of Apartheid South Africa, French Algeria, or Vietnam, to name a few — without strict and revolutionary ideological and practical coherence capable of thwarting oppressive power. Merely because you are opposed to the exact principles espoused by the diverse Palestinian resistance on the ground, which you claim to valorize, does not grant you the moral superiority to sully a cause to which you have no connection. You speak to the crowding-out of Palestinian voices, and yet, none of you are Palestinian. You accuse SJP of “LARPing” (deeply unserious language, by the way — and certainly not a term used by someone who sees Palestinians and their allies as human beings, incapable of being “role-played”) Palestinians in Gaza, while you take the time to assume intimate knowledge of their society and opinions, to which you have no access. So yes: I, as someone not in SJP, can see the rather obvious reality that smearing activist groups in service of oppressive forces — be that Swarthmore’s administration, the federal government, or the “Israeli” state — take your pick, because indeed, you are parroting the words of each and every one of them; assuming you have the voice of Palestinians at your disposal, as Beth in the end sloganeers on their behalf; revealing private onboarding documents and interpersonal communications with SJP members, actions not only grave security risks but also true manifestations of a dire lack of social and soft skills; and simultaneously abandoning the only avenue to participate in activism on Swarthmore’s campus DOES, in fact, place you on the side of Zionists. Because you fled at the first sign of risk, again, condemns your cowardice, and rightfully so. It takes only a few minutes of critical thinking, I’d hope, to realize the horrible flaws in the rhetoric espoused by these supposed “allies”. Talk about, as Adam so artfully stated, “unambiguously ineffective”.
Lmfao the self-righteousness here is hilarious and proves the point
Personally I think the least strategic moves you could make in advancing the cause are declining to condemn the glorification of terrorism, throwing around terms like “klansman” willy nilly, and insisting that your nominal cause puts you above good-faith criticism, but hey, that’s just my opinion as someone whose capacity for critical thought isn’t limited to whatever the echo chamber tells me to believe.
“Fight for the Palestinian people” is rich. And darkly funny. If you actually care even a little bit about the Palestinian people, the most important thing might be to build a broad based movement. Instead, every single step these kids take can only be explained by a desire to center themselves and play the main character. To wit– no one without a direct connection could care less what a small liberal arts school does with its endowment. “Divestment” amounts to shooting your returns in the face while achieving absolutely nothing.
But that’s far from the worst part. Even if their goals weren’t supremely useless, they’re determined to chase away anyone that is both disturbed by Israel’s campaign in Gaza (imminently; and its occupation more broadly) but, you know, also acknowledges that Jewish people have an overwhelming interest in safety and self-determination. While I have very significant and deep issues with Israel as currently constructed, there’s no way in hell I (or the vast majority of American Jews, or really the overwhelming majority of people) is going to join groups that venerate Hamas in pursuit of their goals. That’s gonna be a hard no. It’s like launching a campaign professing to help poor people while wearing Klan hoods; it’s not gonna go far.
I think your comment perfectly encapsulates this all-or-nothing sentiment that is being thrown around. There are multiple ways to support a movement. Your peers may be donating or partaking in other activities for the movement that are not showcased on Instagram stories. You do not define what activism is. Showing your face, as you say, is not the only nor the best way to support a movement. We could stretch this sentiment real far and say those actively paying tuition dollars and partaking in the continued success and functioning of this college are on the wrong side of the fight. For example, if you’re really in this fight, why not give up your academic privilege and drop out of the school to avoid contributing to its success? Then donate everything you have. Sell all of your things made unethically (all of them, probably) and donate all of that money to the cause. Why not do that, is it perhaps that you are only willing to go as far as your situation allows?
Using your own logic, perhaps you’re not as different as those you condemn?
It is very misguided to suggest that any organization which purports to fight for a just cause is beyond critique. In particular, it is absurd to suggest that it is anti-Palestinian to criticize the Students for Justice in Palestine regardless of their actions. Unfortunately, many students can testify to how these organizations with secretive leadership structures, inextricably woven with social cliques, make dissent and discussion nearly impossible. In that case, where are the students who are frustrated with the direction of the organization supposed to make their simultaneous commitment to Palestinian liberation and criticisms of the organization clear?
To step back from the SJP in no way indicates that anybody has abandoned the fight. If one believes that the tactics used by the SJP are a step backwards rather than a progression towards stronger organization, power, or leverage, however one may want to think about it, then it is completely viable to step back and think about another way to engage. And in my opinion, I do not think it is obviously the right thing to place oneself at such risk when the gain for the struggle is quite unclear. I understand that some of the students who have been suspended, arrested, disciplined, etc. have engaged in real acts of courage against the institution for a just cause, but being met by repression does not mean that the organization tactic was effective. Swarthmore can suspend any number of students, and that will not bring the Students for Justice in Palestine closer to Swarthmore’s divestment. It will not affect Swarthmore in any way. Engaging in the most intense action possible does not mean that you will get the best outcome. Sometimes it just means that you will be repressed and made an example of by the powers that be. To make the calculation that you want to live to fight another day and take a more strategic approach does not in any way indicate cowardice.
I hope that these criticisms can be used to create an organizing paradigm which pays more attention to the safety of students involved, thinks about more effective ways to build power (and minimizes alienation of potential sympathizers), and maintains urgency. It is important for these critiques to take life, otherwise they are just words.
Great article! Can’t agree more with how nuanced it is. But alums are still organizing! Contact us at: reverseswarthmore at gmail dot com
I am glad this article came out. I think these perspectives are really important. Fully support the College divesting from all companies that directly support the horrific crimes being carried out against people in Gaza. The College administration has been very consistent, though over the last decade, in not negotiating with students who participate in civil disobedience and other radical forms of protest. It has been a line that the administration has drawn over and over again, and so I struggle to see what good it does to continue with tactics that simply don’t work. It feels like from the outside that these continued actions are coming from a place of students wanting to feel like they are doing something tangible and radical in response to the crisis but the reality is no actual tangible change is going to come from it asides from the administration being even more unwilling to work with student activists in the future.
these students fail to recognize there will never be any peace in Palestine until such time as the Palestinians govern themselves, with their desires at the forefront. While hamas or any other organization that is bent on the total annihilation of Israel as its primary goal represent the people. there will never be peace. and the note the growing Gaza movement of denouncing hamas? and also note those protesting against them are disappearing? Palestinians are being used as cannon fodder, simply put.
City, Gaza in April 2022. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
CNN
—
The military leader of Hamas has said he believes he has gained the upper hand over Israel and that the spiraling civilian death toll in Gaza would work in the militant group’s favor, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, citing leaked messages the newspaper said it had seen.
“We have the Israelis right where we want them,” Yahya Sinwar told other Hamas leaders recently, according to one of the messages, the WSJ reported Monday. In another, Sinwar is said to have described civilian deaths as “necessary sacrifices” while citing past independence-related conflicts in countries like Algeria.