During Admitted Students Day, campus community members rallied for Palestine, demanding financial transparency from Binghamton University and divestment from the Israeli military.

The rally was organized by the Divest from Death coalition — over 20 student-led organizations advocating for divestment. Earlier this month, the coalition passed a Student Association (SA) Congress resolution that advocated the implementation of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS).

Organized by Undergraduate Admissions, Admitted Students Day allows new students to explore campus and meet current students, faculty and staff.

Initially to begin at the Pegasus statue at 11 a.m. Sunday, the rally was moved after the Caribbean Connection food truck hit the nearby fountain. They assembled outside the Marketplace, where they began to chant and march to the entrance of Glenn G. Bartle Library.

Their chants included “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” and “liberate, decolonize, end the genocide.”

Returning to the Spine and eventually gathering at the Pegasus statue once the scene was cleared, organizers directed the crowd to hand out educational cards to admitted students and their parents, which included information about the BDS movement, the impact of the Israeli military’s bombardment of Gaza and United States aid to Israel.

“Bombs funded by [BU’s] partners in the military-industrial complex have killed over 4,000 children in Gaza,” the cards read.

One speaker elaborated on partnerships between the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science and weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems, which recruit from the University. Both companies sponsor senior-year Watson capstone projects and offer scholarships.

“If you want to study engineering at [BU], be warned,” they said. “They’ll send you straight to the war machine.”

Another speaker mentioned growing University revenue over the past five years, alleging the increase’s connection with the BU Foundation’s investments in the defense industry.

“The Divest from Death coalition held a rally on Admitted Students Day to let potential future students and their families know about [BU’s] ties to the military-industrial complex and the Binghamton foundation’s lack of financial transparency,” the rally’s organizers wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream. “By the nature of its militaristic partnerships and shadowy investment practices, [the] University and its Foundation contribute to the expansion of the military-industrial complex and are complicit in the ongoing Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people.”

The University did not respond to repeated Pipe Dream requests for comment.

Admitted families, many of whom were on organized tours, had mixed reactions to the demonstration, with some engaging, taking cards and joining protesters. Others jeered at and harassed organizers.

The rally mirrors a national trend of heightened student activism. At universities nationwide, student organizers have established encampments and held protests and marches, drawing intense backlash from administrators, high-ranking politicians and counter-advocacy groups.

Organizers told Pipe Dream why they held the protest on Admitted Students Day.

“As students, we deserve to know exactly where the tuition we pay and donations we make are funneled,” the coalition wrote. “Colleges and universities are centers for learning, forming relationships and contributing to global knowledge — they should in no way resemble privately-managed hedge funds that serve the interests of profit maximization. We care about admitted students and their families. That’s why we spread awareness regarding the fact that their tuition money may come to subsidize a university that is complicit in genocide.”