As mass student protests and encampments appear across college campuses in the United States, Luther students are banding together to show their visual and financial support for Palestine, as well as the family of a student within the Luther community.
Tallulah Campbell (‘24) is organizing a mutual aid opportunity by making cords with the colors of the Palestinian flag for students to wear at graduation and show their solidarity and support for Palestine. Each cord is $5, and all of the proceeds from the cords go to support a GoFundMe organized by Palestinian Luther student Rawan Hannoon (‘25) to help her family temporarily evacuate from Gaza.
“Over the past four months, I’ve been actively searching for ways to support my family, but unfortunately, I feel helpless and uncertain about the future,” Hannoon wrote on the GoFundMe page. “My options are limited, and we are in desperate need of temporary assistance to help my family relocate to a safer place. The situation in Gaza is worsening, and uncertainty surrounds the possibility of a ceasefire.”
Hannoon wrote on her GoFundMe that “time is of the essence” and that she feels hopeless about the situation.
“My family, comprising 15 individuals, including parents, siblings, their children, husbands, and grandparents, is facing an extremely difficult financial situation,” Hannoon wrote. “They lack access to basic needs such as food and shelter.”
According to the GoFundMe, each family member needs $5,000 for their name to be added to the evacuation list in hopes of crossing the Rafah-Egypt border. Since the fundraiser was posted on January 29, 2024, it has received over $15,000 in donations, with the goal of reaching $65,000.
“[Hannoon’s GoFundMe] got a good amount of attention at the beginning, and then [the support and attention] trickled out,” Campbell said. “I wanted to see more people engaging with that, and I think that as college students, it’s really hard to think that we can donate. It’s often the most effective way to help someone when you are not able to be actively protesting, and you’re not in government.”
A group of students are working together to crochet the cords in time for graduation, for those who wish to financially and visibly show their support for Palestine. They did not expect this level of support from the student body, but received 15 orders in the first hour after she posted on her Instagram. Now, more than 70 students have purchased cords, and more than 50 cords have been donated for students who cannot afford to donate money at the minute, raising more than $600 for the GoFundMe.
Liv Luster (‘24) plans to wear one of the cords at graduation, and feels it is important to represent the things that she believes in.
“I believe it is important to wear this cord because it is representative of something that I deeply believe in,” Luster said. “At times, it can be very difficult, in the world, to feel like you have a sense of agency or a voice, and I think this is a very, very small way that Luther students can make an impact. I genuinely feel honored to be able to wear this cord at graduation.”
Both Campbell and Luster expressed their discontent with the amount of support that Luther has shown for the injustice in Palestine, particularly in reference to the impact that the crisis in Palestine has on students on Luther’s campus.
“It’s not only especially important because there are people that are obviously struggling because of these atrocities, but because we have people that we know by name — that we see on a daily basis, that are in our classrooms, that we see in our cafeteria — whose families are severely suffering,” Luster said. “We’re doing little to nothing about that. I think it’s extremely important for Luther students to have a role in this; to raise awareness for this issue because as students, as young people, as the next generation, if we don’t become active in the global world that we’re living in, we’re not ready to take on adulthood.”
In a time when all 12 universities in Gaza strip have been destroyed, Campbell highlighted that the ability to pursue a university education and graduate with a degree is not something that all college students can take for granted.
“Our ability to graduate is really significant [because] we are alive and our school is standing, and most of our families will be able to be there,” Campbell said. “For the majority of us, we’ve never had to worry about our day to day survival — and that’s a big deal. Our graduation is a political act, and our ability to [graduate] shows something, and our existence, and not speaking out while we graduate or go about our day is deeply political. I think it’s the perfect opportunity to say ‘this is what I stand for, I’m going to take a moment to just make that known,’ even if it is in a little way.”
Students who wish to purchase a cord to wear at graduation can do so by reaching out to Tallulah Campbell ([email protected]), or @stitchedbytallyc on Instagram. Donations can be made to support Rawan Hannoon’s family through their GoFundMe.
