Centering Gaza, Punished in College: What it's Like to be a Campus Activist Against this War

In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Shraddha Joshi and Asmer Safi, two student activists organizing for Palestinian solidarity at Harvard University. Harvard is withholding both of their degrees due to their campus activism. Peter, Shraddha, and Asmer discuss the dynamics and motivations that draw students into pro-Palestinian activism, the messages that campus activists are trying to convey, and how Harvard has failed to keep campus activists safe. Shraddha Joshi is part of Harvard's class of 2024, but her degree is currently being withheld for a year due to her involvement with pro-Palestine organizing. At Harvard, she studied Social Studies with Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights and Arabic. She has been actively organizing with Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee since her freshman year. Next fall, she intends to pursue her MPhil in Sociology at the University of Cambridge as a Harvard-UK Fellow, although her plans are now in flux due to her degree status. Asmer Safi is an undergraduate student at Harvard University, hailing from Pakistan, studying Social Studies and Ethnicity, Migration and Rights. He was expected to graduate in May of 2024, but his degree was withheld by the Harvard Corporation on account of his participation in Pro-Palestine activism on Harvard's campus. Asmer is also a Rhodes Scholar for Pakistan and was scheduled to matriculate at Oxford in the fall of 2024 to pursue an MPhil in Intellectual History. Peter Beinart is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and an MSNBC Political Commentator. Original music by Jalal Yaquoub.