In late October, 86 Swarthmore alumni submitted postcards with messages of support for student organizers targeted by the college administration for their Palestine solidarity organizing. These postcards were displayed at the Garnet Weekend vigil for Gaza attended by students, faculty, and alumni. Afterwards, they were sent to the Swarthmore administration. As members of the Swarthmore Alumni for Palestine collective, we are appalled at Swarthmore’s ongoing repression of student activism, choosing again and again to further align itself with the Trump administration’s attacks on Palestine solidarity activists in particular and free speech more broadly. Generations of students have taken their Swarthmore education to heart, fighting for change both on and off campus — from Vietnam War protests to the Black Student Movement to divestment from South Africa to the Spring of Our Discontent to fossil fuel divestment to Organizing for Survivors to the No Longer Minding the Light student strike to the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and beyond. We are moved to stand with the brave students who follow this proud Swarthmore tradition of urging the College to live up to its own professed values.
Note: Some alumni asked for their responses to be shared anonymously given the rising attacks against pro-Palestine speech and protest both at Swarthmore and across the United States.
