Water pooled onto the pavement outside the Mary Graydon Student Center on Thursday, Oct. 9, erasing words written in chalk just moments before, including “Save Gaza,” “Free Palestine,” and “AU Funds Genocide.”
In a video obtained by The Eagle, facilities management employees sprayed water onto the chalked pavement last Thursday with the oversight of Assistant Vice President of Facilities Management Skip Vaughn, who told students this was a “regularly scheduled cleaning.”
Students expressed confusion and concern.
“I wrote about four letters until I heard the hose behind me, and when it hit the ground, it sprays up, so I felt the water spray me and I was like ‘What is going on?,’” Eli Givens, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said.
Givens joined other students on Oct. 8 and 9 who tabled, protested, chalked, and recited the names of Palestinians who have died in the two years since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Community members called for an end to American University’s ties to Israel and demanded an end to speech suppression on campus.
Students condemn two years of the Israel-Hamas war
“Stop the killing, stop the crime, Israel out of Palestine,” a few dozen students chanted in call-and-response on the quad in between speeches and name readings of Palestinians killed since Oct. 7, 2023. The gathering started at around 11 a.m. and ended shortly after 1:30 p.m.
NPR has reported that Israel has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in two years, a number cited by Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Students passing by the protest during the busy afternoon took notice, some expressing support.
“I’m so glad to see that this is on campus because this is necessary,” Amanda Uri, a freshman in the School of Public Affairs, said.
Uri said she has stopped attending events at Chabad AU and AU Hillel, the two main Jewish student organizations on campus, because they do not serve as “safe spaces” for her as a Jewish student who supports the Free Palestine movement.
“It’s not even political,” Uri said. “It’s just humanity.”
“Students involved with AU Hillel have a wide range of perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and every student is welcome in our community regardless of their beliefs or political views – there’s no ideological litmus test,” AU Hillel’s Executive Director Jason Benkendorf wrote in a statement to The Eagle.
“Israel is central to the Jewish identities of many AU students and is home to half of the world’s Jewish people, and we are proud to facilitate programming that helps students explore and deepen their personal relationships with Israel in all its complexity,” Benkendorf wrote.
Chabad AU did not respond to a comment request from The Eagle at the time of publication.
Other students had similar reactions. Kanha Jain, a sophomore in SPA and a member of AU’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, said he appreciated the support from students of “all walks of life.”
“I feel like this is definitely one of the defining human issues of our generation,” Jain said as he handed out chalk to a student walking by.
But not all students were focused on Palestine. Stephanie Parnes, who was tabling for the Eagles for Israel club, said the day was to commemorate the more than 1,200 Israelis killed by Hamas in the Oct. 7 attack.
“I personally know people who were killed and taken hostage. I have a very good family friend who was at the Nova festival,” Parnes said. “So for me, this day is a commemoration. This is a day where we honor those who were killed and we think about them.”
Parnes noted that on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Oct. 7 is a day when one cannot mourn but rather commemorate life. She also said she was hopeful about talks for a peace deal, which has since resulted in a ceasefire that officially went into effect on Friday, Oct. 10.
Board of Trustees faces a call-out
Amid chalking and dialogue, the crowd reading names in the center of the quad began to shout louder, with one name ringing clear.
“Meltzer off our campus now!” students shouted and pointed as Alan Meltzer, an AU Board of Trustee member, walked through campus.
Meltzer, who has served on the Board since 2007, donated $2 million to the Center for Israel Studies in 2019.
Before the crowd gathered on the quad, student representatives from YDSA had set out a keffiyeh on the ground to sit and pass out pins and flyers in support of Palestine.
A few feet away sat representatives of the Eagles for Israel Club with an Israeli flag draped over the table, covered in posters of hostages taken two years prior by Hamas.
YDSA members soon set up their own table and began writing messages in chalk on the pavement. Both YDSA and Eagles for Israel remained separate as they conversed among themselves, and students walked by.
Tensions rose when Meltzer stopped at the Eagles for Israel table.
“Shame, shame, shame!” students shouted on the quad as Meltzer walked from East Campus to MGSC.
Meltzer told The Eagle he was not bothered by hearing his name. He came on campus to listen to speakers at the Educational Value of Sport Symposium earlier that morning.
Meltzer has been a major supporter of sports at the University, donating $10 million in 2022 for a new athletics facility, now named the Alan and Amy Meltzer Center for Athletic Performance.
In an article in Jewish News Syndicate from May 2023, Meltzer responded to a question about press coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
“They [Israel] built a country that had no water, no defense, no technology, no medicine, nothing. They’ve taught the world about water,” Meltzer said. “What Israel does as a country now is very important.”
Meltzer added that he thinks Israel is unfairly treated in the press, facing a “double standard.”
“Whatever they want to say, it’s a free country,” Meltzer told The Eagle in response to student calls for his removal from campus. He said he had no knowledge of or role in any administrative action toward protesters.
“Administration runs this place,” Meltzer said. “I’m just a board member.”
The AU Anti-Zionist Jewish Student Front and United 4 Palestinian Liberation Instagram accounts jointly posted slides criticizing members of the Board on Tuesday, Oct. 7 with the first line of the caption reading: “WE CHARGE THE BOARD GUILTY OF GENOCIDE.”
The post included a photo of Meltzer that was centered between two other Board members and a following slide with a message that said Meltzer “donates to the IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] and organizations that operate on illegal settlements.”
The AU Anti-Zionist Jewish Front Instagram account also posted slides on Oct. 14, with a statement titled “AU Complicit in 2 Years of Genocide.” The post included pictures of pamphlets that were scattered across buildings on campus on the morning of Oct. 7.
The pamphlet referenced majority student support of an American University Student Government resolution, Resolution 19-018, from April 2024. The referenda called for AU to divest from corporations and academic programs determined to be “complicit in the occupation and destruction of Palestinian life and land.”
The pamphlet also mentioned Meltzer and other current and former Board members by name, calling them the “Board of Genocide.”
Before leaving the quad, Meltzer spoke briefly with students at the Eagles for Israel table.
“Keep your heads up,” Meltzer said as he walked away amid a chorus of chanting.
Safety and speech on campus
Parnes said she largely feels safe as a Jewish student on campus, noting her appreciation for the AU administration in reacting to incidents of antisemitism on campus.
Other students felt differently. Julianna Greenberg, a senior in SPA, said she was glad to see pro-Palestine chalk messages as she walked through campus on Oct. 7, noting her support for free speech on campus.
Early on the morning of Oct. 8, students re-chalked the pavement after finding their messages from the day before were washed away.
Students questioned Vaughn on when and why the cleaning would occur. Vaughn said the pavement would be sprayed down three times a day for the next two weeks, adding that the content of the messages was irrelevant.
“Cleaning takes place at times intended to minimize disruption to campus foot traffic and building access. The frequency of cleaning is determined based on operational needs, university events, weather, mitigating community disruption, and other factors, including external observances,” Matt Bennett, vice president and chief communications officer, wrote in a statement to The Eagle.
Bennet referenced the University’s Outdoor Chalking Policy in his statement as well, which notes washing and other types of maintaining the campus environment as an “ordinary course of cleaning.”
“You could be writing ‘I love AU,’ we don’t care what it says,” Vaughn said in the video as he gestured to the messages. “I just don’t want to get you wet.”
“I don’t want to get wet either,” one student who refused to move responded. “You’re pouring water on me.”
Vaughn then directed the facilities management worker to pause until the student moved from the pavement. He said as soon as the cleaning was over, students could return to chalking.
Givens said they returned later that afternoon to write a message before getting dinner at the Terrace Dining Room.
One message written on the pavement around 6 p.m. on Thursday read: “Skip Vaughn Sprays Students.”
The words were erased by Friday morning.
Correction: A previous version of this article included images of an off-campus protest that took place on Oct. 4. It has been update to include the relevant images of on-campus events.
This article was edited by Payton Anderson, Neil Lazurus, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Emma Brown, Audrey Smith, Ariana Kavoossi, Avery Grossman and Ava Stuzin. Fact checking done by Aidan Crowe.
