Graduation Term

Fall 2025

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department of Educational Administration and Foundations: Educational Administration

Committee Chair

Lydia Kyei-Bankson

Committee Member

Kathleen O’Brien

Committee Member

John Rugutt

Abstract

In 2024, student groups across colleges organized encampments demanding their institutions cut financial and academic ties with Israel and the Israeli military, a call rooted in resistance to the ongoing occupation and violence against Palestinians. These student-led actions were met with harsh retaliation from university administrations and state authorities, including graduation deferments, suspensions, censorship, and arrests. Clear attempts to silence dissent and suppress Palestinian solidarity. This study centers the voices of Palestinian college students by examining their lived experiences and counter-narratives in the face of backlash, anti-Palestinian rhetoric, and institutionalized acts of disenfranchisement. Their stories reveal how repression of pro-Palestine advocacy is not only a direct assault on political expression, but also a force that undermines Palestinian students’ social belonging, psychological well-being, and academic progress. By amplifying these narratives, this qualitative analysis challenges higher education institutions to reckon with their complicity in silencing Palestinian resistance and to reimagine a campus climate that affirms justice, solidarity, and the right to speak truth to power.

Access Type

Dissertation-Open Access

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