NEW DELHI:
Harvard University
has once again issued warnings of suspensions to
pro-Palestinian protesters
who refuse to vacate a
campus encampment
, leading to increased tensions in a standoff that has positioned the school as one of the rare elite colleges that have not forcibly evicted demonstrators.
The Ivy League university has so far resisted calling in the police to clear the encampment, a move that President Alan Garber has said would require a "very, very high bar." That's in contrast to other schools that have cracked down on protesters ahead of
commencement ceremonies
, a marquee event for graduating students, parents and powerful donors.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania removed similar encampments on Friday morning, leading to over 40 arrests at the two schools, after a
police operation
at Columbia University the previous week.
Harvard University is in a confrontation with
student protesters
while MIT is clearing camps.
Harvard University once again issued warnings of suspensions to pro-Palestinian protesters who refuse to vacate a campus encampment, leading to increased tensions in a standoff that has made the school one of the remaining elite colleges that has not forcibly evicted demonstrators.
The Ivy League university has so far resisted calling in the police to clear the encampment, a move that President Alan Garber has said would require a "very, very high bar." That's in contrast to other schools that have cracked down on protesters ahead of commencement ceremonies, a marquee event for graduating students, parents and powerful donors.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania removed similar encampments on Friday morning, leading to over 40 arrests at the two schools, after a police operation at Columbia University the previous week.
The protesters are calling for universities to sever their financial and academic connections with Israel in order to pressure the country to halt its military actions in Gaza. Following a deadly attack on October 7th by Hamas, Israel retaliated, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians in the region. The organization, recognized as a terrorist group by the US, has caused the deaths of over 1,200 individuals and continues to hold hostages.
While some schools such as Brown University and Northwestern have agreed with protesters to hold discussions on divestment in exchange for an end to encampments, other rich institutions like Harvard, Columbia and Penn have rebuffed such demands. Garber has said he "will not entertain' calls for divestment.
Rich donors including Robert Kraft, Marc Rowan, and Barry Sternlicht have strongly opposed the way the schools have dealt with the protests. For a long time, university administrators have considered the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel as antisemitic. This is because it challenges the legitimacy of the Jewish state and focuses solely on the policies of a single country.
According to the schools, protesters did not resist police action at Penn and MIT on Friday morning. Penn reported that 33 protesters were arrested by its officers and the Philadelphia Police Department for defiant trespass. A Penn spokesperson mentioned that nine students were among those arrested and later released. It was also noted that heavy gauge chains and smaller chains, which could be used as weapons, were recovered during a search.
The MIT Police arrested 10 protesters. President Sally Kornbluth said she had "no choice but to remove such a high-risk flashpoint at the very center of our campus."
Harvard is making arrangements for future campus events on the Yard, where the encampment is currently located, such as the main commencement on May 23, an event that usually attracts over 30,000 attendees.
The school spokesperson stated on Friday that the process of placing protesters on involuntary leave is progressing. This week, Garber mentioned that suspended students will not have access to campus or Harvard housing.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
English (US) ·