The Week in Women Voters (April 29, 2024)
I’m going to be very honest with you—sitting down to write today’s newsletter was incredibly difficult. While there was no shortage of news in the past week on a range of key topics women care about, there is really only one thing on my mind: the student-led campus protests against the ongoing siege in Gaza that are spreading across the country. It only feels right for the Week in Women Voters to have a slight departure from our regular format in response to what’s happening.
Let me be clear that this movement embodies exactly what we’ve discussed in this newsletter over and over: Young people—and young women in particular—are fed up.
We’re tired of being ignored, we’ve had enough of leaders who don’t represent us, and we’re done supporting a system that was never created to support us.
Let’s put the past week into context. Demonstrators have gathered on college campuses across the country to peacefully protest since war broke out in Gaza in October. The protests are student led, coordinated by Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. The protesters’ demands are clear and unified—“a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, an end to U.S. military assistance for Israel, university divestment from arms suppliers and other companies profiting from the war, and an amnesty for students and faculty members who have been disciplined or fired for protesting.”
But in mid April, following congressional testimony by Columbia University’s president that painted a significantly different picture, everything shifted. Columbia students reacted by pitching tents on a campus lawn to create a “Liberated Zone.” The university’s response was swift and extreme: Police forcefully removed or arrested more than 100 students, and a number were suspended and removed from student housing. Soon solidarity protests erupted at more than 40 campuses, and many were met with forceful and violent crackdowns and hundreds more were arrested.
In many instances, the police were called to quell the protests directly by university leadership despite anecdotal evidence they were both peaceful and free from antisemitic attacks. What’s more, GOP leadership quickly jumped in to paint a dishonest and violent picture of the demonstrations, some going so far as to encourage military intervention.
This despite the long and rich history of college campuses, and Columbia University in particular, serving as epicenters for cultural revolution and protest-driven activism that has spurred real, tangible change in our country. Action on climate change, divestment from apartheid regimes and anti-war efforts, gun violence prevention campaigns, the civil rights movement, and hard-fought freedoms for women were all borne out of college campus organizing. But that change often comes at extreme costs—from Bloody Sunday, violent attacks at the 1913 women’s suffrage parade, and the Kent State shooting to the brutal police killing of George Floyd that sparked uprisings in 2020.
Right now young people—many of whom are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt—are demanding that their money not be used to fund genocide. We embody both a righteous rage and also a deep well of hope. We are telling those in office exactly what we believe, and we are making it crystal clear that these issues are inherently connected to our support. It’s no secret that voters of all ages and backgrounds lack enthusiasm for both candidates at the top of the ticket in 2024. But young people, communities of color, and women—populations often forgotten between election cycles—are telling you exactly what you need to do to earn our votes.
Are you listening?
Author’s note: Today’s newsletter, while written by me, reflects and embodies the values held by Supermajority Ed Fund. The majority of our staff are women of color and live these realities every day. A supermajority of young women support a permanent ceasefire in the ongoing siege on Gaza, a safe return for all hostages, and an end of the U.S. government’s funding of the Israeli government. We unequivocally support the student leaders protesting at college campuses across the country to call for a ceasefire and demand their institutions end funding of the Israeli government and the ongoing campaign in Gaza.
Written by Jess Herrera. Jess is Supermajority Ed Fund’s senior director of communications, creative, and digital. She leads the organization’s work to shift the narrative about women and build women’s power using strong, movement-wide messaging strategies.