Penn protesters warned they're trespassing; no ID checks so far at encampment

There’s no compass to navigate these troubled waters of university unrest.

At Columbia and Yale universities, college officials forcibly dismantled pro-Palestinian encampments and arrested dozens. But the encampments already are back up.

Pro-Palestinian students and faculty, including those at the University of Pennsylvania, say universities haven’t done enough to protect them, while pro-Israel students say they are the ones who actually have been subject to harassment and ridicule.

As Jewish people from different generations, Naomi Friedman and her father Gary Friedman have been trying to see eye-to-eye since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7.

On Monday, the Drexel University senior, who has spent time at the Penn encampment over three days but not stayed overnight, brought her father, a professor at Drexel, to the site for the first time.

“I want to know what they think and feel,” the father said. “I want to learn, hear, and maybe make up my own mind about all of this.”

Colleges around the U.S. implored pro-Palestinian student protesters to clear out tent encampments with rising levels of urgency Monday, including an ultimatum from Columbia University for students to sign a form and leave the encampment by the afternoon or face suspension.

Columbia activists defied the 2 p.m. deadline with chants, clapping and drumming from the encampment of more than 300 people. No officials appeared to enter the encampment, with at least 120 tents staying up as the deadline passed.

The notice sent Monday by the Ivy League university in Manhattan to protesters in the encampment said that if they left by the deadline and signed a form committing to abide by university policies through June 2025 or an earlier graduation, they could finish the semester in good standing. If not, the letter said, they will be suspended, pending further investigation.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Monday morning his office was aware of the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania and that he takes students’ First Amendment rights to assemble and protest “very seriously.” He stopped short, however, of saying whether he would prosecute students charged with any crimes in connection with the encampment at College Green.

“It is part of my sworn oath to uphold the Constitution,” Krasner said at a Monday news conference. “The very First Amendment to the Constitution is about free speech rights and about the opportunity for people to be heard. The opportunity for people to be heard is certainly a much better idea than not to let them be heard and to have them respond in other ways.”

“But having said that, all justice is individual,” he added. “If there is probable cause for a commission of a crime, then there is a basis for charges. And that has always been our North Star, is what are the facts.”

About 60 people were bracing the heat at the Penn encampment on Monday, partially protected by shade from trees on College Green, for the protest's fifth day.

“We are hopeful and waiting to have another round of negotiation,” student organizer Emma Herndon said.

As temperatures surpassed 80 degrees, the crowd drank water, passed around sunscreen samples, and hung out by the 30 tents remaining at the encampment.

Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber said encampments and the occupation of buildings — tactics that have been permitted at some local universities — are not allowed at Princeton, given their potential to interfere with the school’s educational mission.

The university has the right to limit the times and places where protests can occur, he wrote in a column for The Daily Princetonian, the student newspaper.

“Encampments can obstruct others from moving freely or conducting university business,” Eisgruber said. “They can create health and safety risks. They require significant staff time to keep occupants and bystanders safe, thereby diverting people and resources from fulfilling their primary purpose.

Signs were posted around the encampment area at the University of Pennsylvania Monday morning, warning protestors they are trespassing on school grounds.

The signs said protesters who set up tents at College Green were in violation of Philadelphia city code, which prohibits “tents and other structures” from being erected without first obtaining permits. The notice also said the area where protesters have set up are “not zoned for outdoor living accommodations.”

In a separate notice to protesters, the school also reiterated its calls for protesters to “provide identification” when asked by university officials, citing the school's "Guidelines on Open Expression, the Code of Student Conduct, and University Policy."

Pro-Palestinian protesters stood firm at the University of Pennsylvania Sunday, where an on-campus encampment grew — despite an explicit dispersal order — as organizers and college administrators met to discuss student demands.

As darkness fell Sunday, there were about 30 tents still pitched, and a few hundred people protesting the war in Gaza remained gathered in the center of campus, making plans in the event that police could imminently try to disband their encampment.

People crouched together in lantern light shortly after 8:30 p.m. as an organizer told the group that within the next few hours, Penn police and administrators would be asking to check protesters’ identification. Encampment members would not be complying, the organizer said, suggesting Penn’s goal was to separate students from nonstudents, and that nonstudents would be asked to leave.

City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier said she has been trying to talk to University of Pennsylvania President J. Larry Jameson about the pro-Palestinian encampment, but he won’t take her call.

“I don’t feel like that’s acceptable when there are serious things happening,” said Gauthier, a West Philadelphia native who represents the 3rd District, which includes West and Southwest Philadelphia. “It’s important for all the stakeholders involved to communicate. I’m reaching out to the president of Penn an an important stakeholder, an important leader of this community.”

Some of her staff members were at the encampment Sunday night and reached out to The Inquirer to express frustration.

Protests are roiling college campuses across the U.S. as upcoming graduation ceremonies are threatened by disruptive demonstrators, with students and others sparring over the war in Gaza and its mounting death toll.

Many campuses were largely quiet over the weekend as demonstrators stayed by tents erected as protest headquarters, although a few colleges saw forced removals and arrests. Many students are demanding their universities cut financial ties with Israel over the large-scale operation in Gaza it says was launched to stamp out the militant Palestinian group Hamas.

Protesters on both sides of the rancourous debate shouted and shoved each other during dueling demonstrations Sunday at the University of California, Los Angeles. The university stepped up security after “some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA Strategic Communications, said in a statement. There were no reports of arrests or injuries.