FRESNO, Calif. — Tucked along the eastern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, students at University of California Merced campus shuffled into the multicultural room Wednesday to write emails.
They were addressed to the University of California Regents, the governing body overseeing 10 university campuses. Merced is the youngest of them, and one of the most remote.
While students at college campuses across the country have demonstrated against the war in Gaza by building campus encampments and occupying buildings, campuses in California’s Central Valley have so far taken a different approach.
Letter writing has been a common way of self expression. It brought First Lady Michelle Obama to give the 2009 UC Merced commencement speech. It also influenced officials to build the Merced campus. And this week students took the same approach to push the university over the war in Gaza.
Student Scott Collins, 19, said he planned to personalize his letter by adding different wording to the first few paragraphs to make sure it catches the eye of regents.
We're witnessing half of what [Palestinians] are witnessing. We're finally sharing our stories as Palestinians.Haneen
“They have someone who looks through the emails for them and summarizes and I know that when they receive emails in masses that are all worded the same, they don't read them,” Collins said.
The UC Regents are expected to hold their next board meeting at the Merced campus in mid-May.
The ongoing student dissent to U.S. involvement in the conflict across the nation has resulted in more than 2,000 arrests and various commencement cancellations. Universities have responded in different ways to the protests.
But that level of unrest has not reached this region so far. For that reason, students here say they don’t see many safety concerns as those seen at other colleges.
Xerxes Zangeneh, a bioengineering graduate student at UC Merced said, that’s partly due to there being less “political activity” in the area.
“We don't feel threatened in terms of violence for the most part,” he said.
Pro-Palestinian activism in the Valley erupted after the Oct. 7 attack by the militant group Hamas on Israel and the subsequent response to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In Fresno, the largest city in the region, weekly protests in the winter gathered hundreds of supporters to push for local officials to approve a Gaza ceasefire resolution. To date, the city council has not taken action.
In February, the Madera City Council became the first in the Valley to approve a ceasefire resolution and called for an end to violence in the Middle East, as well as a return of hostages. The following month, the small city of Kerman also passed a similar resolution.
‘There’s a long history for this’
The resolutions have fueled pressure by some residents to keep attention on the war in Gaza, and the movements have also grown on the local college campuses.
UC Merced student government approved a ceasefire resolution earlier this year that called for divestment from Israel and more education surrounding anti-Muslim and antisemitism behavior on campus. Fresno State also approved a resolution that called for a ceasefire last month.
This week, more than 100 gathered at Fresno State for a peaceful sit-in. Students, faculty and alumni bearing kaffiyehs – traditional Palestinian scarfs –and pro-Palestinian flags took over the Peace Garden – a space on campus that pays tribute to “peace and activism.”
Palestinian student Haneen, who didn’t share her last name for fear of retaliation, is a leader in the Students for Palestine Liberation group. With a microphone in hand, she told the crowd students want more transparency on university finances, especially as they relate to investments in Israel.
“We do oppose genocide, we're not OK with it. Our next demands [will be] divestment from Israel,” Haneen said. “We need to stop letting our tax dollars go towards that.”
Haneen grew up in Palestine, and moved to Fresno to attend university. The increased attention on Gaza has inspired her.
“We're witnessing half of what [Palestinians] are witnessing. We're finally sharing our stories as Palestinians,” she said. “[This will] make an impact and bring on change.”
Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval briefly stopped by to greet students.
“We have had a lot of dialogue. I’ve been meeting with a group of students regularly,” he told reporters.
At Fresno State, there was no presence of police, nor scenes of students engaging in physical altercations with counter protestors. There was no apparent security at the campus either.
Professors looked on as students held pro-Palestinian flags, signs and banners. They said students have long been leaders in protests.
“I love that [the students’] messaging has emphasized that it's a peaceful sit-in,” English professor Samina Najmi said. “There's a long history for this. Especially at the CSUs, where students have been the conscience of our nation.”
