Drexel University president calls for campus pro-Palestinian encampment to disband ‘immediately’

Drexel University president John Fry called on the school’s pro-Palestinian encampment to disband ”immediately” in a letter emailed to students and staff Monday evening, adding that the university on Tuesday will “begin a phased return to normal operations.”

“This encampment cannot be allowed to remain in place,” Fry wrote. “It is paramount that the encampment is removed so that every member of our community is free to move safely across the campus without threat of intimidation or harassment.”

In the letter, Fry wrote that Drexel “safeguards free speech and recognizes the right to peaceful protest.” At the same time, Fry wrote, “the University has the right both to impose restrictions on any demonstration that disrupts normal operations or creates a threatening, unsafe environment for other members of our community, and to take action against illegal trespassing.”

Since the encampment emerged on Drexel’s Korman Family Quad Saturday night, Fry said it has “added strain on our Drexel Public Safety officers,” who have been patrolling the quad. Calling the demonstration “extensively disruptive to normal operations,” Fry wrote that the encampment has also forced the cancellation of campus events, and compelled Drexel to move to remote learning on Monday.

Lectures for students will remain virtual through Tuesday, Fry said. Virtual operations will also continue for all nonessential employees, such as researchers.

» READ MORE: Protesters descend on Drexel University’s quad to erect a new encampment

Around a dozen tents sprung up at the West Philadelphia university Saturday night following a march commemorating the 74th anniversary of the expulsion of Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba. By Monday, police at the encampment estimated that number had grown to around 50 tents, with an estimated 100 protesters on the quad.

A mix of students and community members are calling on the university to declare Israel’s siege in Gaza a genocide and provide amnesty for student activists. The encampment is the latest in a wave of protests on college campuses across the United States that are calling on universities to divest their endowments from entities benefiting from the war.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

» READ MORE: What is divestment? And why do students want it?

In his letter Monday, Fry wrote that the encampment has created a “hostile, confrontational environment” and alleged that members are engaging in antisemitic speech. He also said that the encampment’s demands ”have unacceptably targeted” individual staff and faculty members, as well as campus Jewish organizations.

A Drexel University spokesperson could not be immediately reached Monday night to elaborate on specifics.

Drexel Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine condemned Fry’s email in a statement Monday, saying the group supports the students’ right to protest on campus “in the strongest of terms.”

“The student protesters are not disrupting campus operations, nor are they disrupting any classroom activities,” the group wrote. “What is highly disruptive to university operations is the closing of campus buildings and facilities, causing many faculty and staff members to rush to create remote teaching plans, and cutting off access to necessary resources for students.”

Fry declaring the encampment as “not legally protected” was a “common tactic used by university administrators to target student protesters,” the group said, suggesting it also aimed to “scare community members.” Drexel’s claim that outside agitators were involved has “historically been used to delegitimize organized movements, particularly those driven by minoritized groups.”

Drexel Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine disputed the university’s classification of antisemitism, saying its “conflation with criticism of Israel’s actions” was concerning to both students and Jewish members of Drexel’s community.

The faculty and staff group also disagreed with Fry’s statement that the school had opened communications with protesters, saying “no attempt has been made” to contact the encampment.

Drexel’s pro-Palestinian encampment sprouted a little over a week after one at the neighboring University of Pennsylvania came down. There, student and community activists took over College Green with tents for nearly three weeks before negotiations with Penn administrators over disciplinary actions and publicizing their endowment failed.

Thirty-three protesters — including nine students — were detained when Penn’s encampment was disbanded. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro condemned the demonstration, while several faculty groups and local elected officials expressed disappointment in university’s punitive approach.

More than 3,000 people have been arrested for participating in pro-Palestinian encampments, according to a tracker from The Appeal.

» READ MORE: Philly Police have cleared Penn’s Pro-Palestinian encampment and detained 33 protesters

One other encampment still remains in the Philadelphia area. A monthlong protest at Swarthmore College has caused the liberal arts school to move its commencement ceremony — scheduled for Sunday — off-campus to the Mann Center for Performing Arts. There, negotiations broke down between students and administrators after students say the college refused to produce a statement denouncing the scholasticide in Gaza, where no universities remain.

At Drexel, Fry said the university “recognizes the right to peaceful protest, even when such protest features the expression of views that many members of our community might consider objectionable.”

“In authorizing all necessary steps to clear the encampment safely, I have not lost sight of the need to bridge the deep division within our community over the war in Gaza,” Fry wrote. “I look forward to the day after the encampment has been removed when we all can come together to utilize our teaching, research, and civic work toward making a real contribution toward fostering civil discourse and mutual understanding within our community.”

Staff photographer Steven M. Falk contributed to this article.