Pro-Palestinian protesters retake MIT encampment, occupy building at Rhode Island School of Design
NEW YORK — A Monday deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave an encampment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology allowed many demonstrators to retake the site, while protesters from the Rhode Island School of Design began occupying a building in the ongoing protest movement linked to Israel-Hamas war.
At MIT, demonstrators were given an afternoon deadline in which they had to voluntarily leave the protest site or face expulsion. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said demonstrators had breached the fencing following the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday evening, dozens of protesters remained in the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting, before grabbing a pizza dinner.
Sam Ihns, an MIT graduate student studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group had been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killings in Gaza.
“Specifically, our encampment protests MIT’s direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Erica Caple James, professor of medical anthropology and urban studies at MIT, attended the protests as a faculty observer and advisor to the Alliance of Concerned Faculty.
“My hope is that the day ends with no harm to anyone, no physical violence, and hopefully with room to reopen negotiations between the administration and students, faculty and staff who are concerned about MIT’s global influence “, she said.
No arrests had been made as of Monday evening, according to the MIT spokesperson.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students began occupying a building Monday, a spokesperson said the school affirms students’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and that they support all members of their community. The RISD president and provost met with the protesters at the scene, the spokesperson said.
Demonstrations at Columbia University, where the protest movement began about three weeks ago, have roiled the campus. Officials canceled the big main ceremony on Monday, but said students will be able to celebrate a series of smaller school ceremonies this week and next.
The decision comes as colleges across the country argue over how to handle the commencement of students whose high school diplomas were derailed in 2020 by COVID-19. Another campus rocked by protests, Emory University, announced Monday that it would move commencement from its Atlanta campus. to a suburban arena. Others, including the University of Michigan, Indiana University and Northeastern, completed the ceremonies with little disruption.
Columbia’s decision to cancel main ceremonies scheduled for May 15 prevents President Minouche Shafik from having to deliver a speech on the same part of campus where police dismantled a protest camp last week. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said it made the decision after talking to students.
Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters who had camped on Columbia’s green or occupied an academic building have been arrested in recent weeks.
Similar camps emerged elsewhere as universities grappled with where to draw the line between allowing free speech and maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.
The University of Southern California previously canceled its main graduation ceremony. Students left their camp at USC on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Other universities have held graduation ceremonies with increased security. The University of Michigan ceremony was interrupted by a few chants on Saturday.
Emory’s ceremonies, scheduled for May 13, will take place nearly 20 miles northeast of the university’s campus in Atlanta, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.
“Please know that this decision was not made lightly,” Fenves wrote. “It was done in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, public safety consultants and other agencies – all of whom recommended against holding commencement events on our campuses.”
The 16,000-student university is one of many that has seen repeated protests as a result of the conflict that began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostages . Student protesters are calling on their schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or otherwise contribute to the war effort.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled area, about two-thirds of whom were women and children, according to the Health Ministry. Israeli attacks have destroyed the enclave and displaced most of its residents.
Hamas announced on Monday that it accepted a proposal for an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and that it pressed ahead with an attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
“A ceasefire is temporary,” said Selina Al-Shihabi, a sophomore at Georgetown University who participated in a protest in George Washington. “There may be a ceasefire, but the US government will continue to arm the Israeli army. We plan to stay here until the university backs out or they drag us out of here.”
At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.
The University of California, Los Angeles, moved all classes online this week due to ongoing disruptions following the dismantling of an encampment last week, which resulted in 44 reported arrests.
Chancellor Gene Block said Monday night that UCLA’s newly appointed chief security officer would lead an investigation to identify and prosecute the “group of instigators” who led a violent attack on pro-Palestinian protesters on April 30. The university has the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and the district attorney’s office for assistance, Block said.
Schools are trying a variety of tactics, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to get protesters to tear down encampments or move to other parts of campus.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post Sunday that it was offering protesters “amnesty from academic sanctions and violations charges” if they moved, and that many demonstrators left voluntarily.
“Those who remained were arrested,” the school said.
A group of faculty and staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have asked the government for amnesty for student protesters who were recently arrested and suspended. UNC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine said in a media advisory that it would deliver a letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty who support the student activists.
Harvard University’s interim president Alan Garber warned students that those who participate in a pro-Palestinian encampment in Harvard Yard could face “involuntary departure.” That means they won’t be allowed on campus, could lose their dorm and may not be able to take exams, Garber said.
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LeBlanc reported from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.