Aftermath of pro-Palestinian protests still apparent at RISD

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — It’s been weeks since the pro-Palestinian protests on the Rhode Island School of Design campus, but you wouldn’t know it from driving down North Main Street.

Traces of the protests were still visible Monday around RISD’S Providence Washington building.

Student Oliver McGovern with Students for Justice in Palestine said the remnants outside are a reminder of what protestors are fighting for.

“It’s mostly just out here to sort of continue to show face around here,” McGovern said. “[To] let the administration know that we’re still around, we’re not going anywhere.”

Signs and chalk blanketed the front side of the administration building.

“I don’t mind any of the chalk on the outside,” Flora Damon, a senior at RISD, said. “But I do think they should eventually clean this up.”

Damon said her day-to-day life at school was more affected by the nearly two dozen students barricaded inside on the second floor earlier this month in support of Palestine.

“I was more impacted by all of the murals painting and writing and spray painting that was done on the interior of the building, like on the second floor,” Damon said. “They already repainted those so I haven’t been bothered.”

According to the university, those barricaded students ended up leaving the building after being threatened with expulsion.

Damon said she was glad to find minimal damage to the furniture department and her school work, which she needs to graduate.

With graduation just around the corner, McGovern says protestors will continue to make their demands heard.

“Even with the school year winding down, our energy isn’t winding down,” McGovern said. “Our voices aren’t winding down.”

McGovern said protestors will be back in the fall semester in full force.

ABC 6 News reached out to the university for comment Monday afternoon and has not yet heard back.