One student pamphlet claims upwards of 186,000 lives have been lost in Gaza. The real number is 42,000.
Photo Courtesy of Netanel Crispe
Owen Tilman
Assistant Editor, The Beacon
Yale’s largest pro-Palestinian student group, Yalies4Palestine, staged a “Study In” at Sterling Memorial Library on Wednesday evening, according to their Instagram.
One pamphlet distributed in the Sterling Starr Reference Room claims that “over 186,000 lives” have been “stolen” in the Gaza Strip. Left-wing human rights organization Amnesty International documents upwards of 42,000 lives have been lost since the launch of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Since 1948, a total of 134,000 Palestinians and Arabs have been reported dead, including those killed since October 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian state-owned Central Bureau of Statistics. It is unclear where the 186,000 figure is sourced.
Photo Courtesy of Tori Cook
Another pamphlet reads, “Yale isn’t a university.” Rather, it continues, it is “a world-class hedge fund with classrooms attached.” It accuses Yale of supporting “Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza” through investments in arms manufacturing.
Several other banners located on the floor of Sterling Starr Reference Room read, “Disclose,” “Divest,” and “Resist.” Yale’s Office of Public Affairs and Communications, or OPAC, confirmed in a statement to The Beacon that the study-in violated Yale’s postering policy. The students involved subsequently removed the posters from the floor of Sterling’s Starr Reference Room.
Dr. Evan Morris, Yale Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at the School of Medicine, has been a vocal pro-Israel advocate among university faculty since October 7.
“The library is a sacred place,” Morris told The Beacon in an email. “It is there for all members of the community to study in quiet and solitude. It is the greatest affront to all of us that it should be occupied by anyone monopolizing it for their own twisted politics.”
The study-in, part of the “Sustain Our Scholars” sub-campaign of Yalies4Palestine, seeks to expand “the Yale Scholars at Risk to support Gaza and Palestian scholars with Yale’s resources, and establishing a Palestinian studies program.” Notably, the Instagram post dated December 10 misspells “Palestinian” as “Palestian.”
The study-in comes just three days after Yale students overwhelmingly voted to support divestment from arms manufacturers, “including those arming Israel.” The referendum, conducted by the Yale College Council, noted 83.1 percent of respondents supported disclosure of financial holdings in military arms manufacturers, 76.6 percent supporting divestment, and 79.5 percent supporting reinvestment in “Palestinian scholarship” at Yale.
Yale College Council President Mimi Papathanasopolous ’26 and Vice President Esha Garg ’26 told the Yale Daily News they plan to send a letter documenting the referendum’s results to University President Maurie McInnis by the end of December 11.
Morris reflected on the effort as a challenge for the newly appointed McInnis.
“[T]his latest move of the illegal encampments from outside to inside is a test of the new president‘s administration,” Morris continued. “I hope [McInnis] is up to the test.”
It would be interesting to know how they conducted their “referendum.” Specifically, how many people voted? What percentage of the student body and faculty participated?
This is not a very good article. At the end of it, I still don’t know what the protesters did, so the rest of the article is pointless.