University of Kansas students skipped classes and work to participate in a May Day protest Friday in an effort to “disrupt business as usual” alongside similar nationwide demonstrations.
May Day, also known as International Worker’s Day, aims for no spending, no school and no work.
“We’re here because KU needs to hear our voices,” organizer Aliyah Haq said. “We can’t even ensure that our campus is safe for all students.”
Participants marched in the street along Jayhawk Boulevard to Fraser Hall and then to Ecumenical Campus Ministries on Oread Avenue.
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Attendees protested against KU administration following a vote of no confidence against Chancellor Doug Girod in March. They also protested for fair treatment of workers and against immigration enforcement on campus.
Haq said on behalf of groups present that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have no place on campus, and international students should feel safe and welcome.
“Protect all of us,” Haq said. “Don’t pick and choose who you protect because of their status or because of their skin color or because of their sexual orientation. We are your students.”
Haq said the group was also there to denounce KU’s investments in Israel and all ties to its occupation in Gaza and the West Bank.
Attendees were encouraged to mingle throughout the protest and connect with local organizations and fellow students. Some protesters approached students and campus tour groups on Jayhawk Boulevard to talk about May Day and ICE presence on KU’s campus.
Organizers including Anthony Alvarez spoke to the crowd on the lawn outside of Fraser Hall.
“Sometimes everything that’s going on in the world right now feels impossible to overcome. But never forget that the people in power want us petrified and alone,” Alvarez said. “Until we reach out to our neighbors, make an effort to expand our horizons past our language barriers, our race, our class, we cannot keep each other safe. We must not forget that the world exists outside of our campus.”
Alvarez has protested several times in the past over KU’s elimination of gender-inclusive housing at a scholarship hall last year. Alvarez was fired from KU Housing after he spoke to the media and refused to intervene in protests against the elimination of gender-inclusive housing as a housing proctor.
“The powers that be want us to separate as students and workers, to make it seem a separate group,” Alvarez said. “We all struggle for housing, for affordable food, for gas. We all struggle against the institution of the university. We must strive to form solidarity.”
Protesters reconvened afterward at ECM for Solidarity Fest to engage with local leftist organizations.
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Maya Smith (she/her), reporting intern, has worked with The Lawrence Times since February 2026. She was born and raised in Lawrence and is a journalism student at the University of Kansas. She works at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications as a communications assistant and has been a freelance reporter for the Kansas Reflector since 2024. Read her work for the Times at this link.
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