It’s been an unpredictable few months since the second Trump administration entered office in January. Each morning, the news seems to bring updates on lawsuits against the president’s Executive Orders and videos of the violent deportations of international student activists. While these threats might seem distant from Boston University’s campus, our activist groups have also become recent victims to this widespread (and unchecked) hate of anyone standing up to the government’s actions.
A joint Instagram post shared by Quinobequin Student Front for Palestine (formerly known as Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP), the BU Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Activism (CGSA), and the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) revealed that the CGSA space had been ransacked and vandalized. Most importantly, the student-created “anti-hate, anti-racist, and anti-imperialist posters” that formerly hung on the walls had been destroyed.
“Its clear aim was to sabotage and destroy one of the very few spaces on campus designated to protect and support activist and marginalized communities since 2008,” the groups wrote in the post.
The original Instagram post also expressed this disdain towards BU’s response, juxtaposing the relative silence following the CGSA vandalism. Last year, a student wrote “Free Palestine” in sharpie on BU Hillel’s window, which was deemed a “hate crime” by the university.
“This attack, conveniently, also aligned perfectly with BU administrators long-standing desires: To remove political posters. To force activist clubs off campus. To increase surveillance of student organizers and isolate them in the process,” wrote the CGSA organizations on Instagram.
Jaclyn Meyer, a senior at BU and the Co-President of the Students for Reproductive Freedom, has close ties to the space. SRF, a Planned Parenthood-affiliated group that advocates for sex positivity and abortion access, uses the CGSA for its weekly meetings as well as to store materials like club merch and condoms. These safe sex supplies are routinely given out for free to students at campus tabling events like “Candy and Condoms,” which they host each Halloween and Valentine’s Day.
“The CGSA is important because it gives a space to organizations like ours who focus on activism as well as gives a space to those who have a diverse set of identities,” Meyer said.
Meyer and the other E-Board members were made aware of the damage through the Student Activities Office (SAO). SAO notified CGSA-affiliated groups that the space would “be closed until further notice,” with “other spaces” provided to replace the clubs’ meeting locations.
But what does this mean for clubs like SRF that rely so strongly on the location and ambience of an activism-proud space like the CGSA? It’s been an adjustment, requiring SRF members to relocate to an obscure George Sherman Union conference room for their weekly meetings and ask SAO to unlock doors, so that they may retrieve supplies for tabling events.
“Morale wise, I think we’re all upset that something like this has happened, especially on our campus,” Meyer shared. “We’re hurt more that it has been basically ignored by BU as well. And while it sounds like BUPD did an investigation, there wasn’t much that was found out.”
Although Meyer is graduating this May, she will not give up hope that the space will be rebuilt. “I know they’re having a poster making session to replace the old ones,” she said. “I am excited to see how we can come together to recreate the importance of this space for many.”
SRF completely stands with the CGSA and SJP.
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, watch us on TikTok, and read our latest Tweets!