San Diego State University – “Apartheid Wall”

Summary

In 2024, Students for Justice in Palestine at San Diego State University (SDSU SJP) reinstalled a mock “apartheid wall,” recreating a prior student-built display made of freestanding wooden panels covered with text and images addressing the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The installation was presented as a political and educational exhibit and was set up as a temporary structure as part of student-organized expressive activity on campus. It was installed on February 11, 2024 and remained in place for a limited period before being taken down.

The original version of the display had first been installed in March 2015 by SDSU SJP as a series of hinged wooden panels presenting information and imagery related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict during a student Palestine solidarity initiative. The installation was removed shortly after its appearance that same week. After its removal, it did not remain on campus and did not reappear in subsequent years until 2024, marking a gap of roughly nine years between iterations. During that period, it was not maintained as a standing or recurring feature of campus activity.

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military response in Gaza, SDSU saw a series of student protests that included large demonstrations, marches, and competing political expressions. These demonstrations included calls for Palestinian rights, ceasefire advocacy, divestment demands, and expressions of concern for Israeli civilians alongside concerns about antisemitism on campus. Student organizations coordinated speeches, demonstrations, and coalition activity reflecting differing interpretations of the conflict and its aftermath.

During this broader period of campus political activity, SDSU SJP messaging also linked the Palestinian cause to other political themes, including immigration enforcement and US policy. In social media framing associated with the installation, the organization described the “apartheid wall” in relation to the US–Mexico border wall and characterized US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as comparable to Israeli security forces, while also calling for the abolition of ICE. In the same messaging, SDSU SJP described its coalition-based work with other student organizations and framed its advocacy as connected to broader critiques of US imperialism and systems of state violence.

The 2024 installation became part of a broader campus dispute over expressive activity, including debate over how politically charged messaging was handled in student-facing institutional channels and how protest activity was managed under campus rules. In one example, SDSU Associated Students declined to approve a student social media post that used the term “genocide in Gaza,” instead offering alternative phrasing such as “humanitarian crisis in Gaza” and “mass displacement and civilian casualties,” prompting criticism from SDSU SJP and others who viewed the decision as limiting political expression.