University of Windsor officials plan on meeting with the organizers of the Pro-Palestinian encampment near Dillon Hall in the coming days.
UWindsor president Dr. Robert Gordon says the university did reach out to the demonstrators on Tuesday to set up a meeting about the group's demands.
He says the group has been asking for an opportunity to connect with the university to discuss some of their demands.
"We did respond yesterday morning about potentially having a conversation the next day or two to be able to better understand what they would like to see done but also for us to be able to listen and learn to get a better context of what are the broader issues that they expect the university to consider moving forward," he says.
Dr. Gordon says the university supports free speech.
"We are having constant dialog with them about their safety, about the needs that they have as well and we'll continue to do that," says Dr. Gordon.
Jana Alrifai is one of the organizers of a student-led coalition at that university that started the Liberation Zone last week but has now shifted to an encampment.
She says the meetings are just a start.
"We want to be sure that anything that happens is immediate, it's timely, it is not going to be stuck through a process of maybes and promises but actual action with an end date and concrete steps," says Alrifai.
Alrifai says they continue to 'stand their ground.'
"Am I optimistic in how maybe these meetings would go, I am not optimistic very much that we will come to an immediate agreement but I believe we can be steadfast in our conversations and our demands," says Alrifai.
She says they're not looking for just a conversation.
"If they would like to have a conversation, they know where to find us," she says. "We're going into that meeting for concrete actions. "We're hoping to come in and they say this is what we're prepared to do, does this seem satisfiable to you."
The group has six demands for the university.
They include disclosing all institutional expenditures, divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation, and declare its opposition to the Israeli occupation in the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack from Gaza into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, with some 240 others taken hostage. In response, Israel launched an air, ground, and sea assault in Gaza, which is estimated to have killed nearly 35,000 people majority of those being women and children.