In May 2024, students of conscience at UC Irvine organized a non-violent direct action to demand that their university divest from companies profiting off the genocide in Gaza. Fifty protestors were arrested. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a tenured professor of global and international studies, was escorted away by riot police, her hands zip-tied behind her back. In a recent interview, she said: “You cannot war-machine your way out of massive social problems that actually require study and reflection.” This is a poem that Professor Willoughby-Herard posted in 2020.