N.J. student journalists describe end of Rutgers-Newark encampment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information, contact: Josie Gonsalves, executive director, Public Square Amplified 917-620-1645 (cell); info@publicsq.org

NEWARK (Public Square Amplified)—Students in Public Square Amplified’s Community Journalism Class witnessed the last hours of the Rutgers University-Newark student and community encampment, which was demolished by city and University police on June 9. Student journalists are scheduled to be live on “Quest Youth Radio” on 89.5 WSOU-FM on Saturday morning, June 22, to discuss what they saw.

“I’m glad to have this public forum for our community journalists in the making to discuss our reporting,” said PSA Executive Director Josie Gonsalves. “The anti-democratic and militarized actions taken by Rutgers University police and Newark police need to be publicly assessed, and we see our reporting as part of the historical record. Democracy is a thing most fragile and we must nurture it, and to do so means we must wrestle with our actions. We will try to continue to create space for this and other stories from the community perspective.”

The PSA student journalists scheduled to be live on the “Quest Youth Radio” program, produced and hosted by veteran radio broadcaster Richard Bey, are Sameerah Rhodes, Marcellus Counts, and Victor Gavilanes. The show is broadcast from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m.

The appearance happens hours before the third weekly session of PSA’s Community Journalism Class, which shows the hands-on commitment of PSA, said Gonsalves.

“We’re so happy our community journalists participants jumped into the fray to allow us to educate the Newark community,” she said. “News is always happening around us so we couldn’t wait while history was taking place downtown.”

Rutgers-Newark was one of hundreds of universities in 45 states to have a student encampment this late spring as a reaction to the escalating war on Gaza. In solidarity with other actions happening nationwide, the R-N encampment started as a student protest demanding that Rutgers
divest from companies that build armament used in Gaza. More than 37,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict that began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Angered by Israel’s attempted genocide of the Palestinians, the anti-war actions by students across the country and around the world were seen as a major blow to the Zionist movement and a major advance for peace activism.

When the police dismantled the R-N encampment on June 9, it had transformed itself into a homeless squatting space where local activists named the Newark Solidarity Coalition were listing demands to both Rutgers and the city and asking for social and economic assistance for the homeless who were using university student activist tents loaned by Rutgers New Brunswick.

The PSA Community Journalism Class is in its second year. Meeting on Saturday mornings on Zoom, students learn about the role of community journalism in building civic life in Newark and the surrounding areas. The class is a mix of high school journalists, reporters, video/filmmakers, and community workers interested in the field and civic affairs. It began on Saturday, June 8, and ends on Saturday, Aug. 10.

PSA is a local nonprofit newsroom founded by a team of Black women with over 80 years of combined experience in the academic, nonprofit, journalism, and community organizing sectors. Public Square Amplified positions journalism as a civic tool and creates a pipeline for a new generation of local journalists.

Its reporting centers on social and economic justice, racial equity and equality, the climate crisis, and the immigrant experience in covering issues impacting and concerning citizens in and surrounding our headquarters, Newark, from the community's point of view.

Saturday’s radio appearance is an important community connection between PSA, Quest Youth Radio, WSOU and Seton Hall University.

WSOU, which began broadcasting in 1948, is Seton Hall’s student-run, award-winning radio station. It has a long history of providing urban youth and community members from the Greater Newark area with an opportunity to broadcast to Northern New Jersey and parts of New York City.

“Quest Youth Radio” has operated a live radio show at WSOU for several decades. The live show’s purpose is to use broadcasting as a vehicle for training urban high school youth in radio and mass communications but more importantly, in critical thinkingskills, research and public speaking and interviewing while exposing them to culture and history.
The current show is an outgrowth of

“Quest Community Vibrations,” a radio show created by Newark Catholic Youth Organization and aired on WSOU since the late 1970s.

The show is broadcast from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and can be live streamed at https://www.wsou.net/stream-live.html.