University of Chicago pro-Palestinian encampment cleared by police

Campus police at the University of Chicago cleared a pro-Palestinian encampment at the school early Tuesday morning, ending an eight-day demonstration that brought student protesters and university officials to an impasse over the protesters’ demands.

The action, which sparked a subsequent standoff with demonstrators, began around 4:30 a.m. as campus police wearing riot gear surrounded the university’s main quadrangle in the Hyde Park neighborhood. As students woke up, chants including “Whose campus? Our campus!” broke out.

The encampment was fully cleared by 7 a.m., according to a senior organizer named Sammy who did not give their last name out of safety concerns. Work crews could be seen dismantling tents and loading them and other items onto trucks.

When the police barricade that blocked students’ path was removed about 8 a.m, a mass of protesters made for the steps of Edward H. Levi Hall, where they linked arms as police surrounded them. The crowd at one point appeared to swell to nearly 400 people, and protesters with bikes blocked the street on South Ellis Avenue as one pointed to cars trying to pass, telling them to turn around.

“The University of Chicago administration would rather ditch its free speech and brutalize its students than even say the word Palestine, am I right?” one speaker said into a megaphone to applause from protesters.

One police officer could be heard telling protesters making their way back to the quad: “No signs, no tents, nothing for the encampment.”

But by 9 a.m. protesters had dispersed of their own accord as a rainstorm moved through.

“The University’s policies, including those concerning free expression, apply to all,” said Michele Rasmussen, the university’s dean of students, in a statement. “While we anticipate further protests, we will not allow such activity to indefinitely disrupt the functioning or safety of the University.”

There were no injuries or arrests made, but people were pushed to the ground, Sammy told the Sun-Times.

“The administration hopes that nobody will pay attention to this because they did it at 4:40 in the morning,” Youssef Hasweh, a Palestinian student organizer with UChicago United for Palestine, said in a statement. “We will make sure that nobody forgets. We will all be back until UChicago divests, discloses, and repairs.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office said they were informed of the University of Chicago Police Department’s intention to dismantle the encampment early Tuesday morning and reached out to “reiterate serious safety and operational concerns about this plan.”

In an updated statement released Tuesday afternoon, the mayor’s office said University police requested Chicago police’s assistance but CPD “expressed an unwillingness to participate.”

University police “ultimately decided to move forward with the removal independently,” according to the mayor’s office.

UChicago United, a student protest group, set up the encampment a little more than a week ago, joining hundreds of other students across the country to express support for the Palestinian people and to call on the university to disclose its financial investments and to divest from “death in Gaza, the South Side and beyond.”

The encampment was peaceful and the demonstrators’ demands of the university were clear, according to Sammy. The university had not met with student organizers since Sunday, after both parties failed to come to terms over language in a draft agreement and funding for future scholarships and research.

“There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the University’s principled dedication to institutional neutrality,” said university president Paul Alivisatos in a statement.

“I think it shows the University of Chicago wants to protect free speech, but doesn’t listen to what we’re saying,” Sammy said. They added that the encampment took a lot of energy and resources to upkeep, and it’s unlikely it will be rebuilt.

Amira Sohail, a Palestinian student who’s one of the group’s negotiators, said protesters felt frustrated and disregarded in meetings with the university.

“The exhausting part is being in a meeting over a few words to validate someone’s existence,” she said, referring to the school’s refusal to put the word “Palestinians” or “Palestine” in the agreement to end the encampment.

Organizers said they will continue to push the school to divest from Israel and support its Palestinian students, with or without the encampment.

“This is one tactic in a much larger campaign,” Sammy said.

On Monday, a coalition of over 120 faculty and academic staff from the University of Chicago had called on the school’s administration to resume negotiations with the pro-Palestinian encampment organizers.

Any action to remove the University of Chicago encampment or its inhabitants would be “indefensible,” said Elham Mireshghi, an assistant instructional professor in the Divinity School.

Student protests over the war in Gaza are continuing around the city. Over the weekend, nearly 70 protesters were arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment set up outside the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

At Northwestern University, pro-Palestinian protesters were able to reach an agreement with administrators last week, which requires the university to, among other things, disclose information about any investments within 30 days of an inquiry and fully fund tuition for five Palestinian undergraduate students, among other agreements. Only one aid tent remains from the encampment, but protests may continue until June 1 when classes end.

At DePaul University, an encampment remains in the main quad of the school’s Lincoln Park campus. University officials say they have requested a meeting Monday with the DePaul Divest Coalition.

A DePaul spokesperson did not immediately return calls for comment Tuesday.