photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Sonoma State Students for Justice in Palestine (SSU SJP) list of demands displayed on Friday, April 26th; the first night of the SSU Palestine solidarity encampment.

As pressure and discord mount at Cal Poly Humboldt - formerly Humboldt State University - where students have now occupied several buildings for a week, a Palestine-solidarity outpost, established on Sonoma State's Person Lawn stretched into a fourth day Monday.

With over a dozen tents pitched near the university’s highly trafficked central quad, Sonoma State students are vowing not to move.

"Our priority a hundred percent is maintaining the encampment and just showing solidarity with Gaza and getting as much information, 'cause this is a, a very hot spot at the school," Student organizer Albert Levine said.

"There's a reason why we were asked to move, there's a reason why we chose this spot," Levine said. "There's a reason why there are no sprinklers on this lawn. This is really heavily planned."

Levine, is a main organizer of the symbolic outpost turned encampment, which sprang up Friday evening, following a Potluck for Palestine on the lawn.

Levine and the others have four demands.

"One, to divest and disclose, and be transparent in where our money is going," Levine said.

"And we're mirroring these among the other universities in solidarity with Gaza, of course. Number two, an academic boycott," Levine said.

"We have programs here where students can go to the apartheid state, they can fly to Israel, and there are Palestinian students who can sit next to me in class, and if they wanted to go to Tel Aviv, they would not be able to; and that's not democracy," Levine said. "Or equity at all," Added fellow student protest Julianna M. "And number three, to recognize Palestinian identity and introduce some curriculum into our schools; and number four, of course, is a permanent ceasefire now," Levine said.

University officials have so far taken no action against the protest, in stark contrast to the escalations seen at schools like Columbia University, the University of Texas, Austin, and Indiana University - where mass arrests, suspensions, and the appearance of police snipers on rooftops has only added fuel to disturbances.

In an email to the campus community Sunday, SSU President Mike Lee reiterated commitments to safety, free expression, and minimal disruption to academic and university activity.

In an email the following morning, Lee noted the enduring peaceful nature of the protest, but condemned what he described as “disturbing” and “anti-Semitic” language scrawled in chalk near the site.

Lee did not elaborate on what was written, but said it will be removed.

Following the email, encampment organizers responded, sharing their zero-tolerance policy for anti-Semitism in association with the encampment and movement, and saying "we prioritize amplifying our Jewish and Palestinian voices in collaboration."

The students say they are hoping to speak with President Lee directly about their demands and the movement for a free Palestine.

Calls urging a student walkout at Santa Rosa Junior College Thursday have appeared on social media, along with posts encouraging faculty and staff at SSU to join a walkout, also on Thursday.