The Villanova Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held an on-campus protest April 30 supporting Palestine, writes Lauren Armstrong and Finn Courtney for The Villanovan.

About 100 students and staff members stood or marched, dressed in black and chanting in support of ending violence in the Gaza strip.

They join similar peaceful protests that have taken place at Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges.

““I feel like we have an apathy on campus to just ignore things that [do not] impact us directly. So, I think it’s really important that we continue to raise awareness in any way possible and fight to call for a ceasefire.” said Junior Bailey Proctor-Madden.

Students at Villanova received an email at 11:34 a.m. that morning from Kathleen Byrnes, who serves as the Vice President of Student Life.

“At Villanova, we believe in the right of our students to express their own personal viewpoints in a civil and peaceful manner,” Byrnes wrote. “We expect members of our community to uphold the University’s community ideals of mutual love and respect for individual differences.”

Students involved with SJP are asking the university administration to speak out about the Gaza conflict.

Read more about students protests at Villanova University in The Villanovan.