Montana State University students disrupt Department of War research event

Bozeman, MT – On March 13, Montana State University students and community members disrupted the “Defense Innovation OnRamp Hub: Montana” open house held at the EngineWorks building on Montana State University’s Innovation Campus, to protest the university’s ties to military research and surveillance technologies that assist Israel’s war on Iran and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.

The disruption was organized by Students Against Genocide (SAG). The group formed earlier this year in response to MSU’s research relationships with defense agencies and corporations whose technologies contribute to war crimes, surveillance and state violence.

SAG has focused particular attention on MSU’s Innovation Campus, which is operated by the MSU Alumni Foundation and Charter Realty – it hosts research facilities and private corporate tenants involved in war-related work. Among them is the site of Friday’s protest, the EngineWorks building, which hosts companies specializing in intelligence and surveillance technology.

According to SAG, some of these companies have direct links to Israeli military operations. One such tenant, Reveal Technology, confirmed in a public statement in 2024 that its Farsight intelligence software was being used by the Israel Defense Forces.

Shortly after the open house event began, the activists entered the auditorium. Several held Palestinian flags and signs reading “Stop the U.S. war on Iran.”

One protester took the stage with a megaphone and addressed the crowd, saying, “This facility is complicit in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the genocide of the Palestinians. End the war on Iran right now!” Security quickly intervened and pushed the protesters out of the auditorium. As the activists were removed from the building, they continued chanting, “Disclose, divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!”

After being forced out of the building, the students regrouped on a nearby sidewalk outside the EngineWorks building. There, they continued chanting and holding signs condemning U.S. and Israeli violence against Palestinians and Iran.

During the picket, an Innovation Campus official approached the students and asked them to stop chanting, claiming they should “have respect” for the event being hosted inside. Protesters refused, noting the hypocrisy of demanding “respect” for an event promoting technologies linked to the killing of over 70,000 Palestinians and the missile strike that killed around 150 Iranian schoolgirls in Minab.

One protester and MSU student, Julian Staggs, now faces Student Code of Conduct violation charges for involvement in the protest. When asked about his conduct charges, Staggs stated, “Repression faced by Palestine activists in the U.S. is nothing compared to the repression the people of Palestine face on a daily basis, which is facilitated by technologies developed here. I’m proud to have so many friends and supporters with Students Against Genocide to stand alongside me.”

Students Against Genocide has been organizing throughout the semester to pressure Montana State University to adopt enforceable ethics policies governing military and surveillance research, cut ties with companies connected to genocide, and disclose all research funding sources and corporate partnerships connected to the Innovation Campus.

They say they plan to continue protesting until the university addresses their demands and ends its involvement in research and partnerships that support war and occupation.

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