SJP Statement on GCC Memorial Destruction

Dear Reed, 

On March 29, community members gathered outside of the GCC at a vigil organized by Reed Students for Justice in Palestine and Faculty for Justice in Palestine to honor and memorialize the martyrs of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. As part of this vigil, we invited community members to write the names of individual martyrs on a banner, which we then hung in the GCC foyer. This banner was placed in the GCC foyer, near a similar banner made last semester, which has hung there for many months. These banners were the product of the Reed community's collective mourning for the senseless killings of innocent Palestinians which have deeply affected many of Reed's students, staff, faculty, and alumni. It thus came as a shock to us when we discovered on the morning of March 31 that the memorial we had left in the GCC foyer — including these banners, as well as flowers, stickers, and writing supplies — had been torn down and defaced. 

Destroying a memorial goes far beyond expressing a difference of political opinion. It is a blatant act of bias and discriminatory harassment, which not only infringes upon Reed’s Honor Principle but also violates the humanity of the over 32,782 Palestinians (or, including those presumed dead under the rubble, over 40,042) who have been killed just since October 7, 2023. Grieving is a sacred and deeply personal process, and one that is necessary to heal our community and fight toward the liberation of Palestine. This hateful act reveals a festering wound in the spirit of Reed — a wound which we can only repair through engaging in face-to-face, heartfelt dialogue over the ongoing horrors occurring in Palestine. We ask that the perpetrator of this cowardly act come forward and submit to the arbitration process of the Reed Honor Council and Judicial Board. In the likely event that the perpetrator does not come forward, we ask that the Reed community come together to condemn this violation of basic respect for Palestinians’ humanity, and make clear that Reed is not a place where we allow memorials to be destroyed without accountability. 

With heavy hearts, Reed Students and Faculty for Justice in Palestine