On May 1, 2024, a quiet patch of grass at UC San Diego transformed into a scene of protest. Beneath handmade banners and clusters of tents, students established one of hundreds of Gaza Solidarity Encampments that emerged on campuses around the world. Their central demand was that the university divest from corporations with ties to the Israeli military’s occupation and surveillance of Palestinian territories. For five days, the encampment grew while students held teach-ins, vigils, and open discussions centered on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The space became a classroom of its own shaped by grief, solidarity, and a sense of political urgency.

On May 6, university administrators deployed police in riot gear. Officers dismantled the encampment, detained students and faculty, and cleared the area in a matter of hours. Sixty-four people were arrested. What began as a call for ethical investment quickly escalated into a broader confrontation over the boundaries of protest, academic freedom, and institutional response. Similar scenes unfolded across the country. Students were suspended or expelled while faculty faced disciplinary action. Universities rewrote protest policies, restricted the time and place for campus gatherings, and accelerated conduct proceedings. While many Jewish students and faculty actively participated in the encampments, accusations of antisemitism were used by some institutions and political leaders to justify crackdowns, sparking renewed debate about the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, and the diversity of Jewish political thought.

As of June 2025, the tents are gone, but the consequences endure. International students who took part in demonstrations now face legal uncertainty, with some at risk of visa revocation or deportation under new federal guidance. For many, the cost of protest has moved beyond campus discipline to questions of livelihood and citizenship.

To Be the Difference is a photographic record of this moment, tracing the arc of the UC San Diego encampment from its creation to its removal and examining the broader social and institutional forces that shaped its rise and fall. The project aims to to bear witness to how young people are navigating dissent, risk, and responsibility in a time of global crisis.