From Gaza to ohio: Student Encampments in america’s rust belt

Producer + Editor + Camera // 10m51s // 2024

Much of the national conversation around student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza has centered on elite campuses at coastal universities. A narrative took hold that fueled efforts by critics to discredit the protest movement by claiming that their student leaders are privileged, out of touch, and in it for themselves.

For all the media attention focused on the coasts, though, mainstream media largely ignored the protests that swept campuses across the Rust Belt and into Appalachia, where students from working- and middle-class backgrounds have led protests at the University of Pittsburgh, Case Western Reserve University, and Ohio State University.

I spent a week on the road in early May filming this piece and the remainder of the month in-edit with the teams at 100 Days and the Intercept.

The film published on June 2nd, 2024 with the Intercept and 100 Days in Appalachia.