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Students are protesting the school’s suspension of the only pro-Palestine undergraduate student group, a move the Massachusetts ACLU is calling possibly unlawful.
Harvard students set up an encampment in Harvard Yard Wednesday in protest of the school’s suspension of a pro-Palestine campus group, joining the movement sweeping college campuses following the arrest of some 100 Columbia students last week.
Around a dozen tents were set up on Harvard Yard as dozens of students gathered for a demonstration in front of the John Harvard statue around noon, The Harvard Crimson reported. Videos of Harvard’s encampment showed masses of students dancing, chanting, and holding up Palestinian flags and signs.
The college restricted access to the Yard on Monday in anticipation of demonstrations, and only those with Harvard IDs are allowed to enter and exit the area.
The encampment, led by the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Coalition (OOP), is being called the “Liberated Zone” by organizers. The group’s demands include that Harvard disclose any investments it has in Israel; divest from all such investments; and drop all charges against pro-Palestinian students for organizing, according to an Instagram post on the group’s page.
“As we walk the halls of Harvard, study in its libraries, and sleep in its dormitories, we are acutely aware that there are no universities remaining in the Gaza Strip,” OOP wrote in a statement announcing the encampment. “As students, educators, and graduate workers, we have a duty to fight against this genocide.”
On Monday, Harvard suspended the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC), ordering them to cancel all events for the rest of the semester or risk permanent expulsion. The move was reportedly in response to a rally held by students on Friday to protest the arrests of students at Columbia after they refused to vacate tents set up in protest of Israel’s actions in Gaza last Thursday.
“On its campus, we have witnessed the university relentlessly suppress voices in its community speaking out against the action of the Israeli state and for the rights of the Palestinian people,” OOP’s statement reads. “Just this week, Harvard has unilaterally suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee after months of administrative persecution and discriminatory measures.”
Dozens of students at MIT, Tufts, and Emerson set up tents like those at Columbia in solidarity with the arrested protesters Sunday night, and the encampments remained occupied Wednesday afternoon. The demands of Harvard’s students are similar to those of protestors at other Boston schools.
Signs outside of Harvard Yard prohibited “Structures, including tents and tables” in the yard without prior permission, The Boston Globe reported Students also told the Globe they did not receive formal communication from the school about the closure of the Yard or the reason for it, and that signs announcing the closure of the yard were posted at entrance points to the area.
ACLU: suspending pro-Palestine group potentially ‘unlawful’
On behalf of the PSC, the ACLU of Massachusetts sent a letter to Harvard Wednesday condemning the school’s suspicion of the PSC, saying the move may be “unlawful” and break Harvard’s promise to protect students’ rights to protest and join political associations.
“Unfortunately, Harvard’s recent action toward the PSC, the only recognized pro-Palestinian student organization at Harvard College, fell short of that duty,” the ACLU wrote, emphasizing that the organization takes “no position” on the Israel-Hamas war.
According to ACLU’s letter, Harvard did not say that PSC engaged in harassment or disruptive conduct when notifying them of suspension.
“The asserted grounds were instead hyper-technical allegations about specific wording of social media postings relating to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus — based on a co-sponsorship policy that is not clearly applicable and raises serious legal questions, as well as on shifting and unclear interpretations of that policy…” the ACLU’s letter reads.
Harvard did not respond to requests for comment about the encampment.
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