This is normally a time when we’re readying ourselves for the term, often with optimism, energy, and hope for what the new year will bring. But I know I speak for many when I say that this year feels different.

This Fall marks almost a year of relentless conflict in Gaza. And rather than a restful summer, students and community members have been actively organizing in solidarity with Palestinians, setting up encampments on university campuses.

These encampments have faced harsh crackdowns from university administrations and police. Many have been dismantled. But as we enter the Fall, with a new academic year ahead of us, an American electoral season that is rapidly evolving how people talk about the rights of Palestinians and our own personal stresses and pressures, it’s easy to lose sight of the purpose of these encampments and why the attacks on them were so abhorrent.

On this special bonus episode of Academic Aunties, we bring you a conversation we head earlier this summer with to talk about the student encampments and protests in support of Palestine at the University Alberta, and hopefully make sense of all of this.

Thanks for listening! Get more information, support the show, and read all the transcripts at academicaunties.com. Get in touch with Academic Aunties on Twitter at @AcademicAuntie or by e-mail at podcast@academicaunties.com.