Hundreds of American University students rallied Tuesday before marching to the president’s office building to demand that the administration divest from Israel as protests against the war in Gaza spread and intensify at campuses across the country.

The protest at American University came days after the school’s undergraduate senate passed a nonbinding resolution calling for divestment from Israel. The university’s chapter of Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, condemned the resolution for “normalizing hateful rhetoric.” American University President Sylvia M. Burwell said in a statement that the resolution “does not represent American University’s position and will not be implemented.”

The students rallied in support of the senate’s resolution, including calls to discontinue the university’s study-abroad programs in Israel.

“We won’t be deterred. We will not be demoralized. And although the path to divestment is a long and treacherous one, campuses are standing in solidarity,” Kaden Ouimet, a freshman studying political science and a senator at-large in student government, said to cheers at the rally. “And we are now stronger than ever before.”

Matthew D. Bennett, a university spokesman, said Tuesday’s protest did not change the university’s “long-standing position” against demands to boycott Israeli academic institutions. Bennett said the school’s leaders are focused on ensuring that members of the American University community can safely express their points of view.

For example, he said, a ban announced in January on protests inside university buildings reflects the administration’s desire to allow people to relay various opinions without disrupting “the core functions of university,” such as going to class or the dining hall.

Since the war began in October, there have been many protests at college campuses across the D.C. region. About 30 students at George Washington University recently protested “Israel Fest” on campus, students at the University of Maryland held a sit-in on campus, and the Georgetown University Students for Justice in Palestine group posted an Instagram story advertising a rally against the war this week.

The calls for boycotts of companies that American University students say support Israel is part of an almost two-decade-old movement — called BDS, for boycott, divestment and sanctions — that protests Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories by targeting businesses and institutions accused of aiding violations of Palestinian rights.

The crowd at American University, which speakers said included students and faculty and staff members, chanted, “Money for schools and education! Not for bombs and occupation!” They held signs that read “divest from death” and “Jewish Palestinian solidarity.”

Qudsia Saeed, a 22-year-old senior studying education and Arab studies, missed class to join the protest. Although she said she was not formally involved in the groups organizing the rally, she’s been to every protest on campus, wearing a kaffiyeh, which has come to symbolize solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Saeed said that when she sees other people on campus wearing a kaffiyeh, she thinks, “I know you stand with humanity. I know you stand on the right side of history in this moment.”