Students marked the anniversary of Oct. 7 with memorials and demonstrations on Monday. Some organizations held an evening vigil for lives lost to Hamas’ attacks, while a group of students convened to protest in solidarity with Palestine.
Here’s how students around campus observed the date.
Hillel, Chabad, Friends of Israel hold memorial to honor victims of Oct. 7 attack
Tufts Hillel, Tufts Chabad and Tufts Friends of Israel held a joint memorial service at 7 p.m. to honor those killed when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. University President Sunil Kumar and Provost and Senior Vice President Caroline Genco joined the students and faculty in attendance.
In addition to the memorial service, the groups held a full day of programming, including an open space at Hillel for students to connect, a communal lunch, an afternoon prayer and a full-day table at the Mayer Campus Center.
“We hope students walked away feeling like they have a community that stands with them on this somber anniversary and every day,” a representative of Tufts Friends of Israel wrote in a statement to the Daily.
Rabbi Naftali Brawer, executive director of Tufts Hillel and Tufts’ Jewish Chaplaincy, opened the service by encouraging attendees to support one another in their shared grief. Approximately 1,200 people were killed and over 200 were taken hostage during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. 101 hostages are still being held in Gaza, including four hostages taken in 2014 and 2015.
“Now, a full year on, perhaps the shock has worn off. That’s what happens with time. But the pain remains. Our world is still shattered, and we still have no words to articulate the full extent of our grief, anxiety, fear [and] loss,” Brawer said. “And yet, this moment demands of us that we find some language, inadequate as it may be, to memorialize the tragedy, to honor the murdered, to pray for the wounded body and spirit, and critically, as time is running out, to pray for the hostages and their safe return.”
Brawer told audience members that the memorial would focus on “poetry rather than prose” and “prayer rather than pronouncements.” He then sounded a shofar, an “elemental, unadorned raw sound” which he said evoked human crying yet also hope for the Jewish new year.
Throughout the next part of the service, students recited poetry and lit two candles for the Jewish tradition of Sabbath to honor lives lost and pray for the return of the hostages. A presentation was also displayed with photos depicting the impact of Hamas’ attack on Israel. Some students and faculty held hands and wept silently.
At the end of the memorial service, Rabbi Tzvi Backman, director of Tufts Chabad, delivered final remarks, reflecting on the challenge of finding a way to properly honor the lives lost on Oct. 7.
“The core, deep desire of their beautiful souls to impact this world must not be forgotten,” Backman told the audience. “So many of you have made a decision following Oct. 7 to live more deeply, more lovingly, … [and] in this way, … you have remembered the lives lost and you have allowed their souls to continue to impact this world through you.”
Backman then led the room in prayer.
Students rally in solidarity with Palestine, continue calls for divestment
More than 100 students marched across campus and held a day-long sit-in at the Science and Engineering Complex, condemning a year of Israel’s invasion of Gaza and honoring the Palestinian lives lost. Over 42,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
“In the past year, israel has intentionally starved and killed thousands of people, each life being infinitely precious,” a representative from Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine, who organized the protest, wrote in a statement to the Daily. “We are doing the absolute bare minimum anyone in the imperial core should be doing in order to support the Palestinians and the Lebanese who are freeing themselves from israeli and US imperialism and fighting for a more equitable and more dignified future for themselves and all of humanity.”
Beginning around noon, protesters began to gather by the Jumbo statue near Barnum Hall, with many carrying Palestinian flags and signs that read, “No one is free until everyone is free” and “Tufts investment office funds genocide.” Several protesters delivered speeches to the group, drawing attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where nearly 60% of buildings have been destroyed and the healthcare system has collapsed.
Speakers also reiterated the group’s four ongoing demands: that Tufts disclose all of its investments, divest from companies that contribute to the war in Palestine, cut all “academic and institutional ties with Israel” and end study-abroad programs in Israel.
One counter-protester at the rally, who wore an Israeli flag draped over their shoulders, expressed criticism over the group’s decision to hold a demonstration on Oct. 7, which they said should be a day for mourning the lives lost during Hamas’ attack on Israel.
“[The protest] is on Oct. 7., so I think that in and of itself is so incredibly problematic, to essentially laud the massacre as something that could be anything but horrific,” the student told the Daily. “Anything but condemning violence is just … unacceptable.”
At around 12:30 p.m., the group marched down Packard Avenue and across Professors’ Row, leading chants like “Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The group entered the SEC and sat on the floor next to Kindlevan Café.
“We are here to reclaim space that the university uses to churn out workers for the war machine. U.S.-backed Israel is relentless, committing one of the worst atrocities of our lifetimes with our university’s money and cooperation,” a speaker said at the start of the sit-in. “This is a space for community and solidarity and honoring all those who have given their lives fighting for a free Palestine.”
Protesters continued the sit-in until approximately 6 p.m. Throughout the day, they created posters with pro-Palestine statements and participated in workshops including a “Palestine 101 Teach-In” and a “Space for Grief and Reflection.”
The protest came just days after Tufts placed SJP on an interim suspension due to violations of university policy, as well as an Instagram post where the group promoted their Oct. 7 demonstration with an image of individuals holding weapons. Under the terms of the suspension, SJP is prohibited from holding any activities.
“Despite our efforts emphasizing community values and urging students to treat each other with compassion, a small group of about 50 protesters chose to use the day to heighten tensions by walking out of class and protesting on the academic quad,” Deputy Director of Media Relations Kalimah Knight wrote in a statement to the Daily. “Throughout the afternoon, we took a series of incremental steps to get them to vacate the premises. We were prepared to take further steps, including issuing no-trespass orders which could potentially be followed by arrest, when the students left just before 6pm. As is our practice, we will hold accountable anyone found to have violated university policy and the student code of conduct during yesterday’s protest.”
