Eliana Atienza recently visited for the first time the open area at the University of Pennsylvania, where the dismantled pro-Palestine solidarity encampment she helped organize once stood.

Atienza is the daughter of Filipino TV personality Kim Atienza, and the granddaughter of former politician Lito Atienza.

"The last time I was here was around 6 A.M. there were around 300 riot cops around the area," she recalled. "It's a little surreal seeing the campus so quiet."

This came after UPenn lifted her suspension for joining the said protest. There, she voiced support for Palestinian victims of Israel's retaliation against the Hamas in Gaza.

"The right to protest, to be able to say what you want, to be out in the streets and voice your opinion is very important," she said. "Over 40,000 Palestinians are dead and. Now more than ever, the world needs to be angry."

Atienza made it clear that she does not support Hamas, and there is a difference between criticizing Israel and being antisemitic.

"We need to be able to critique the government, to critique the IDF because of exactly what's going on in Gaza right now," she added. "Once we stop critiquing and the world looks away, the destruction will continue."

To deescalate the situation at the encampment, UPenn's interim president J. Larry Jameson met with student protesters including Atienza.  

Pro-Palestinian protesters demanded that the university divest from companies supposedly getting profit from the war, disclose those investments, and defend Palestinian students.

"Defend pro-Palestinian scholarship and students who protest," said Atienza. "We've seen hundreds and hundreds of students being put in disciplinary trouble by their universities for protesting against what's going on."

She was among the six UPenn students who were suspended. As a result, the environmental studies major lost her dorm and campus access after she was identified as a "threat to the university and its students."

This came a day after talks with UPenn President Jameson.

"The ban meant that my Pen card, which is my access card to my dorm, the dining halls, whatever, no longer worked," Atienza recalled. "I walked out of my dorm wearing my 'pambahay.' I wasn't allowed in the building. I was like, the university would rather do this to their students."

Without a dorm to go home to, she ended up staying at a professor’s home temporarily. She also crashed at a friend’s place until she was able to find an apartment outside the campus.

For now, Atienza said she is steering clear of social media and bashers as her suspension caught attention on the internet.

Her father also recently came to her defense. “Eliana has always been vocal about what she believes in," said Kim Atienza. "In this instance, she’s part of the organization that is anti-genocide and anti-war."

Kim Atienza backs daughter who joined pro-Palestine protest

Atienza will be back in school as a junior after the summer break. She will remain on disciplinary probation until May 2025.