Pro-Palestine protesters clash with counter-protesters at the encampment in the quad at the University of Chicago on Friday.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Pro-Palestinian encampment organizers at the University of Chicago had reached what they called an “impasse” with university officials Friday. With tensions having cooled after a brief confrontation with counter-protesters, the future of the encampment is still unclear.
A meeting held Thursday between three students, two faculty members, university president Paul Alivisatos and provost Katherine Baicker “ended without resolution,” according to UChicago United for Palestine, the group organizing the encampment.
They are demanding that the university disclose its investments in weapons manufacturers, divest from those connected to Israel and repair the damage those investments have inflicted on the South Side and abroad.
Organizers had previously rejected an offer for a one-hour meeting with Alivisatos and Baicker in exchange for removing the encampment.
“[UChicago United for Palestine] refuses to accept President Alivisatos’ repeated condescending offer of a public forum to discuss ‘diverse viewpoints’ … as this is clearly a poor attempt at saving face without material change,” Christopher Iacovetti, a student who participated in the negotiations, said in a statement Friday.
In a statement Friday, Alivisatos accused the group of creating a “systematic disruption” on campus, with protesters, among other things, destroying an installation of Israeli flags, vandalizing school buildings and flying the Palestinian flag on a university flagpole.
“Out of principle we provide the greatest leeway possible for free expression, even expression of viewpoints that some find deeply offensive, even in rare cases at the expense of some policy violations — for a time,” he wrote in the statement. “But the encampment cannot continue.”
“The administration has been refusing to meaningfully negotiate,” said Andrew Basta, a senior with UChicago Jews for a Free Palestine, said Friday morning.
“Do we feel like as a community that we can continue? The overwhelming answer is yes,” said Kelly H., a senior at the university encampment Friday morning who declined to share her last name out of safety concerns. “We’re gonna stay here until our demands are met.”
Others hoped for an end to the protest. When Eliza Ross, a senior at the university and a member of Maroons for Israel, got the president’s email Friday morning, she thought, “Finally.”
“You feel the fact that there’s an encampment. You hear it everyday, pass it everyday,” Ross said. “Whether or not this escalates depends on what the university decides to do.”
The day appeared mostly peaceful on the encampment’s corner of the grassy main quadrangle, where protesters had erected about 80 tents. The situation got more heated when counter-protesters confronted pro-Palestine demonstrators, prompting campus police to arrive.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the counter-protest arrived near the previously peaceful encampment, with some members carrying American flags. Encampment demonstrators chanted “Disclose, divest, we will not step, we will not rest,” while the opposing group chanted “U.S.A.” Some students threw punches during the skirmish.
Campus police arrived at the confrontation in riot gear, including shields and batons, standing between the two groups. No arrests were made.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) addressed the crowd, saying the “agitation and intimidation” seen against other campus protests around the country shouldn’t be allowed.
“We are not going to allow attacks on peaceful protesters,” said Sigcho-Lopez, standing across the line from counter-protesters. “The president should look into foreign policy and address the issues at the core here.”
But the fracas stayed contained and things calmed down a few hours later. The rest of the campus seemed unaffected; one group of people enjoyed playing a game of frisbee on the same quad. By about 3:25 p.m., most of the counter-protesters had dispersed and the quad was once again calm. Police officers were seen leaving the main quad area around 4 p.m., and a relaxed mood returned to the encampment.
“While members of the University community are free to express their views on the Quad and elsewhere, using force or physical intimidation to carry out a protest is never acceptable,” the university said in a statement.
Just before 6 p.m., officers were seen detaining a male on the quad. It was not clear if the male was a student or part of the encampment.
So far, pro-Palestinian encampments at Chicago schools have not experienced the same level of police escalation felt at Columbia University in New York and the University of California at Los Angeles — though students have expressed worries.
CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said at an unrelated news conference Friday the department does not want to unnecessarily escalate the situations and has deferred the plan of action to the universities.
“What we don’t want to do as a police department is escalate any situation unnecessarily,” Snelling told reporters. “So we take our time. We assess these situations. And if it’s not necessary for us to go in and attempt to start removing people, then we won’t.”
Snelling added that the department would work with campuses “to provide them any help if necessary.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson said his administration is “paying attention” to the national protests. His main goal, he said, is to ensure people’s safety, but that protecting people’s First Amendment rights was “paramount.”
“We’re at a critical point in our nation’s history,” he said. “But we will continue to evaluate and assess these demonstrations throughout the remainder of however long they last.”
At Northwestern University, encampment organizers reached a deal with the university to clear all but one resource tent in exchange for the university agreeing to disclose information about investments to people associated with the university within 30 days of the inquiry.
Three anonymous students have since filed a lawsuit, saying the university subjected them to harassment by not clearing the encampment. Several Jewish groups also called for the school’s president to resign.
Contributing: Lynn Sweet, Cindy Hernandez