Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spent their third Thursday on Oct. 2 writing down the names of Palestinians killed in Gaza on the sidewalk outside Buntrock Commons. Each week, the student organization writes around 300 names from a list of 17,000. They started with the youngest fatalities and still have not made it through the names of children under one years old.
“We’re never going to be done as long as this keeps going on,” Kenna Brandt ’27 said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger.
SJP hopes that chalking these names will force the St. Olaf community to see the realities of what is happening in Gaza.
“We wanted to show the community that these people cannot be ignored, and you can’t just walk past them with indifference,” Niya Boyd ’28 said.
“I also think that with the chalking, it’s very emotional on a visual level,” Brandt added. “They are not just names, they are people too.”
The organization not only seeks to remind the campus community of what is happening in Gaza, but also wants students to understand that St. Olaf is also involved due to their use of the software company Oracle. In a previous Olaf Messenger report, the College partnered with Oracle in Spring 2024 as a new student worker time card system. The company has sparked controversy on campus due to its continued affiliation with Israel.
“The school is implicated in this genocide, we are not this separate entity,” Niya said.
It is not just St. Olaf students who participate in these chalkings. SJP was originally inspired by similar demonstrations done by Northfielders for Justice in Palestine. SJP will continue these chalkings alongside Northfield community members and Carleton students.
“Every day, we’re walking on Palestinians and … ignoring them, but you can’t actually ignore this. It’s right in front of your face,” Boyd said.
