About 20 students gathered outside of the Campus Center Dining Hall on Oct. 12 to attend a candlelight vigil to collectively grieve the death of Palestinians in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The vigil was organized by Ithaca College Students for a Free Palestine and students sat in a circle playing music, reading poetry and sharing their feelings.
Senior Richard Martin, vice president of ICSFP, is Palestinian-American and said it is important to have intentional programming, like the vigil, to address how students feel.
“It can be hard not to be blinded [and] dumbfounded … witnessing such terrible things,” Martin said. “This is why we find these moments to express our grief, to allow us to be honest that things are not okay. … Oppressed people in this world have no time to rest. Some don’t have time to grieve. Some cannot even bury their loved ones. We all know injustice anywhere is a threat to us everywhere and the injustices … have been unbearable. We must never lose hope or lose sight of why we take up this fight.”
First-year student Azrael Hudson attended the vigil and sang Nina Cried Power by Hozier and They Won’t Go When I Go by Stevie Wonder to honor a friend’s family member. Hudson said she hopes to see people be there for each other and for the community to grow.
“I would love some future engagement — that’d be great,” Hudson said. “ I think this is a great community, and for it to be fostered would be wonderful, for sure.”
Junior Quincey Fireside, president of ICSFP, echoed the sentiment and said the organization plans to hold different types of events centered around music and education in addition to protests and rallies for Palestine to create a sense of community for those grieving.
“I know protests can be really intimidating for people,” Fireside said. “ We’re going to keep [protesting and also] doing more events that are approachable for people … is something we’re going to prioritize.
Fireside said they thought the vigil helped foster a sense of togetherness for anti-Zionist students.
“I think it was really powerful,” Fireside said. “I think it was healing. It’s really isolating to be anti-Zionist at Ithaca College. It feels like we are very on our own. … It wasn’t a huge number of people [but just] seeing faces and feeling body warmth was a really helpful process.”
Two professional staff members attended the vigil, one of whom said they did not want to be identified. Lee Tyson, pride fellow at the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services, attended and said they were not representing the college or an office. Tyson declined to comment.
Fireside said ICSFP had also invited President La Jerne Cornish, who did not attend the vigil.
“We did personally invite her and remind her twice that it was going to happen,” Fireside said. “[Cornish’s absence] was disappointing, but not necessarily surprising.”
Cornish also did not attend the Oct. 6 vigil organized by Ithacans for Israel. She did attend and gave a speech at the interfaith gathering organized by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life to remember the events that have occurred since Oct. 7 and hold space for all grief.
Tom Dunn, director and deputy chief of Public Safety and Emergency Management, was present near the vigil with about five other individuals. Dunn said they were there as part of their routine. Dunn and the group he was with were not in uniform. About three campus police officers were present at Ithacans for Israel’s vigil Oct. 6, upon the student organizers’ request.
Fireside said that while they observed campus police at the vigil, they were not surprised.
“I’m glad they didn’t interrupt,” Fireside said. “I can’t possibly express how hard I tried to make it clear that this was a peaceful event. We didn’t even have real candles. I tried really hard to keep them away from this.”
