Hundreds of pro-Palestine students reestablished a sit-in, an encampment of tents on White Plaza, Thursday afternoon following a march amid Admit Weekend activities. Around 300 protestors gathered in Main Quad and the Oval for the march but by the end grew to 450 people. 

The encampment follows a national wave with some clashes between protestors and police.

The organizers, a coalition of students called Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine (SAAP), wrote online that they were rallying “against Stanford’s complicity in the ongoing genocide.” 

“It’s important for admitted students to know that activism is alive on this campus and that this campus is not just filled with people who prioritize profits,” said Farah Tantawy ’26, a SAAP organizer.

SAAP, which was founded after the University removed the 120-day Sit-in to Stop Genocide, has five demands of the University: divesting from and boycotting entities and companies “complicit in Israeli war crimes, apartheid, and genocide,” calling for a ceasefire in a University statement, providing resources to Palestinian diaspora, Arab and Muslim students, identifying and addressing educational biases against Palestinian and Arab issues and creating five student seats on the Special Committee on Investment Responsibility. 

After assembling in front of Main Quad, the protest marched to Frost Amphitheater, where Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Richard Shaw greeted prospective students and their families at Admit Weekend Welcome.

Some admitted students said they felt inspired by the demonstration.

“I think it’s powerful to see students that are already attending Stanford stand up for what they believe in and not care for the consequences even if it’s disrupting Admit Weekend, which is of little to no importance in comparison to the genocide that is happening in Palestine and standing up for the liberation of the Palestinian people and Stanford’s need to divest,” said Osiris Romero-Caldera, a prospective frosh. 

The protest then marched to Columbae, where demonstrators gathered supplies and returned to White Plaza. Within minutes, the group, which grew to hundreds of demonstrators, surrounded the White Plaza lawn while around 25 protesters began setting up tarps and tents as part of the “Popular University for Palestine.”

Similar encampments calling themselves the “Popular University for Gaza” or “Gaza Solidarity Encampments” have been constructed on university campuses nationwide, including at Columbia University, Harvard University, Brown University, the University of Texas Austin, Yale University, Princeton University and the University of Southern California.

“While Stanford parades around its shiny advertisement to the incoming freshman, we the divestment coalition intend to prove that an alternative future is possible. Everyone in the Bay Area can participate in the ‘Popular University for Palestine.’” said a speaker who did not identify themselves. 

Organizers intend to run student-created programming for the rest of today and tomorrow. 

“There are ways to get scholarship and education and to find communities that are not in this capitalistic university structure,” Tantawy said. 

“Given what’s happening in the Middle East and the suffering that’s happening, if we have to be inconvenienced for a little bit …I’m happy to absorb that inconvenience in favor of advancing causes of social justice,” said Shahzad Bhatti, a parent of an admitted student. 

“I’m just incredibly proud of these kids. It takes a lot of courage in the face of a lot of resistance administratively to continue to protest because they feel it’s the right thing to do,” Bhatti added. “I’m super impressed, super proud and it makes me want my son to be part of that community.” 

Bhatti, who said he attended Columbia University, said he was “furious” at the Columbia administration’s decision to arrest student protestors. More than 100 students were arrested and charged with trespassing on April 18 after refusing to clear a pro-Palestine encampment on Columbia’s lawn. “The fact that the [Stanford] administration is letting kids protest here I think is a sign that they’re standing on principles of free expression and academic freedom,” he said. 

Students vote this week on a petition as part of ASSU elections calling on the ASSU to release a statement calling for Stanford’s divestment from Israel on behalf of the broader student body. 

Around 8:15 p.m., organizers received a letter signed by interim President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez ordering them to cease all activities and remove tents and other structures or face a referral to the Office of Community Standards and possible arrest. 

Organizers intend to stay overnight.