By Tien Nguyen

Student demands for Palestine’s liberation rang out at the “For Our Martyrs” rally, as demonstrators gathered outside the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center on the three-year mark of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Demonstrators urged the University System of Maryland Board of Regents to withdraw university endowments from weapons manufacturers during the board’s annual retreat. 

The USM Board of Regents met at their annual retreat to discuss policies and challenges in the Maryland public higher education system.

The Board of Regents oversees decisions such as divesting from weapons manufacturers and becoming a sanctuary campus, Mohammad Abukhdeir, a University of Maryland Students for Justice in Palestine speaker and a junior bioengineering major, told Stories Beneath the Shell.

“We call on the Board of Regents to completely divest from all ties to Israel and from the defense corporation and institutions that profit from the murder and oppression of Palestinians,” said Julian Livingston, a College Park Mutual Aid speaker and higher education policy graduate student, during an address to the crowd. “Board of Regents, listen to your community — align your investment with human rights and stand by all students.” 

The rally was hosted by the USM Divestment Coalition, a student-led organization with members across the USM campuses. Demonstrators marched from the University United Methodist Church to the Marriott, carrying the flag of Palestine and drumming as they chanted.

“From the river to the sea, Palestine is almost free,” the crowd chanted as they walked down Campus Drive and Adelphi Road.

The Palestinian death toll has reached 72,208 since the Israel-Hamas war drew global attention in 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s report on April 7, 2026. Over 172,000 have been wounded since, the report states.

“Those 72,000 are only the ones whose bodies were taken to the hospital and identified and officially declared dead,” Abukhdeir said in a speech.

Demonstrators were met by officers from the University of Maryland Police Department and Maryland State Police when they arrived at the hotel. Officers remained nearby as the rally continued, often telling demonstrators to stay off roads, including the one that leads to the Marriott parking garage.

A Lenco armored security vehicle was parked to the right of the garage, separated from demonstrators with traffic posts.

The rally carried on as the Board of Regents arrived.

“We must keep fighting through our campaigns and through actions to make sure that the blood of our martyrs were not spilled in vain,” Ayah Arafat, a Palestinian Youth Movement speaker and UMD alumna, told the crowd. “And you students all have a special role in the movement.”

Universities across the nation have passed divestment resolutions following student demands, said Arafat. These schools include San Francisco State University and the University of San Francisco.

“We must ensure that our university representatives and our courts follow through and represent the will of the students,” said Arafat.

In September 2024, UMD Students for Justice in Palestine sued the university, USM Board of Regents and UMD President Darryll Pines for banning student-sponsored events on Oct. 7, 2024. Pines announced in a campus-wide message that only school-sponsored events would be permitted on Oct. 7, 2024; student-sponsored events could resume on Oct. 8, 2024.

The ban challenged students’ First Amendment rights, according to the suit. The university paid UMD Students for Justice in Palestine a $100k settlement in August 2025, according to Palestine Legal and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which represented UMD Students for Justice in Palestine.  

“We are students in the belly of the beast at some of the most disgustingly wealthy universities in the imperial core of the world,” said Razan Masri, a biology student at UMD, Baltimore County. “It is our responsibility to continue the fight, to give everything we have to the struggle for Palestinian liberation.”

Featured photo: Protesters chant at the For Our Martys Rally on Oct. 7, 2026. The center sign has a chant that was said frequently during the event: “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.” Photo by Paige Trendell.