Penn weighs risk of removing encampment, saying it ‘is causing fear for many’

University of Pennsylvania interim president J. Larry Jameson, in a Monday email to the campus, reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment should come down, but said the university is weighing its response against the risk that any forceful action could cause.

At Penn, he said the risk is more significant because of the university’s open campus location in West Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: Faculty senate committee urged Penn to ‘de-escalate tensions’ and ‘find a negotiated resolution’

“It is in violation of our policies,” he said of the encampment, “it is disrupting campus operations and events, and it is causing fear for many in our large, diverse community, especially among our Jewish students. But any response to the encampment must balance possible escalation of the current situation with the need to protect the safety and rights of everyone.”

The university’s position, however, could change, he emphasized.

“We will maintain an enhanced security presence to support physical safety and will adjust our response as conditions warrant,” he wrote.

His statement came as the encampment was in day 12 and as finals are about to begin at the Ivy League institution. Around the country, some colleges have called in police to disband encampments, while others, including Rutgers and Brown, have negotiated agreements with protesters, only to face criticism from Jewish groups and some lawmakers.

Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway said during a meeting of the board of governors Monday that the university has received thousands of emails expressing “frustration or dismay” since it negotiated an agreement last week that led to the voluntary dismantling of the pro-Palestinian encampment there.

One New Jersey senator has called for hearings into the matter, while another condemned the university’s action.

The agreement included commitments for the president and chair of the joint committee on investments to meet with up to five students to discuss their request for Rutgers to divest from any firm connected to Israel, the establishment of an Arab Cultural Center and staff training in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racism.

“I am confident in our decisions,” Holloway said. “They allowed us to maintain a safe and controlled environment, to protect Rutgers students and Rutgers property, and to assure that our students’ academic progress — taking finals and completing the semester — was not impeded.”

» READ MORE: While a few other universities reach compromises with protesters, why can’t Penn?

Also Monday, Columbia University announced that it had canceled its main commencement ceremony as pro-Palestinian protests there continue. Smaller school-specific ceremonies will be held, the school said. Penn has not announced any changes to its commencement, scheduled for May 20.

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine called Jameson’s email “a textbook example of how admins are trying to delegitimize campus protests.”

“It adjudicates the legitimacy of encampments entirely by how disruptive/uncomfortable they make some, rather than by what is happening in Gaza & Rafah,” the group wrote.

Members of the faculty senate executive committee last week expressed differing views on the encampment but concurred that the university should work to “de-escalate tensions” and “find a negotiated resolution.”

At the encampment Monday morning, a lone police officer watched the cluster of 35tents from the steps of Van Pelt Library. Inside the encampment, all was calm. A group of students were singing “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” a ditty by bluegrass singer Harry McClintock about a utopia.

Down Locust Walk, an encampment member chatted about the definition of Zionism with a man in a kippah. A barricade stood between them.

» READ MORE: Penn protester climbs Ben Franklin statue; encampment at Rutgers University ends peacefully

Jameson acknowledged in his email that local public officials and law enforcement have recommended that the university continue to focus on de-escalating tensions.

He wrote that the university has been trying, but is concerned about reports that there are documents circulating with instructions to escalate a protest “through building occupations and violence.”

He said he has met twice with protesters and has proposed additional meetings, but that the protesters have made more demands and have been unwilling “to negotiate on reasonable terms.”

The two sides have remained at a stalemate, with the university insisting the encampment come down and protesters saying they won’t negotiate until the university removes the threat of disciplinary action and the dismantling of the encampment.

Sophia Rosser, a Penn junior and student organizer involved with the encampment, said she was “disappointed” by Jameson’s message, which she believes misconstrued both the encampment’s existence and administrators’ negotiations with its members.

“We have been trying to engage in good faith negotiations. It’s the university that has been refusing,” said Rossi. “We don’t think good faith negotiations can occur while the university is lording threats of arrest and other disciplinary actions over us.”

For negotiations to continue, student organizers asked the university to agree to not send police inside the encampment and to withdraw disciplinary notices sent to three students for alleged violations of Penn’s guidelines of open expression, which govern free speech and protest on campus.

The university has no intention of withdrawing its disciplinary actions, Jameson made clear.

“We are continuing to implement student conduct procedures, which may result in the inability of some of our students to graduate or continue their education at Penn in subsequent years,” he wrote. “The roles, responsibilities, and activities of Penn faculty and staff members in the encampment are also under review.”

Encampment organizers questioned Jameson’s assertion that there were fliers circulating with escalation instructions.

“That’s just [a] rumor,” said Nneka Azuka, 28, an encampment member from Germantown who has attended occasional classes at Penn over the last year. “Our main focus is keeping people safe.”

Over 2,500 people across the United States have been arrested for participating in encampments on college campuses, where city and state police forces have been called to disband the protests. At Columbia University, a New York City police officer accidentally fired a gun while clearing protesters from a building on campus. Officers at Arizona State University and the University of Texas at Austin discharged pepper spray, rubber bullets, and explosives while breaking up pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

Rossi and Azuka said flashpoints such as those, plus the fear of doxxing, are why organizers have encouraged encampment members to cover their faces and avoid giving their IDs to Penn administrators. There are websites dedicated to tracking and shaming anti-Zionist protesters, Rossi said, and they’ve read about several instances where expressing support for Gaza has cost people job opportunities.

Jameson asserted that the protest has not been peaceful, noting that both the Benjamin Franklin statue and the Button have been vandalized and reports of harassing and threatening speech.

He said protesters on Wednesday attempted to threaten and provoke Penn police officers, and on Friday the administration said it received “an alarming video that showed a Penn student being barred entry to the encampment and threatened.”

The video shows someone shining a flashlight in the student’s face and warning him: “Hope you got a good doctor. How’s your dental plan?”

“Penn Public Safety has opened an investigation and is in touch with the student to provide support,” Jameson said.

He acknowledged that protesters also have reported being spit on, harassed, and threatened. Last week, a man was charged with having cutting instruments in public places after entering the encampment with a large a knife. Another was cited for harassment after misrepresenting himself as a university employee and spraying down tents with chemicals.

And on Sunday, video circulated on social media of counterprotesters chanting “wake up terrorists” while banging pots and pans and calling for “UCLA 2.0″ a reference to the encampment at the University of California Los Angeles, where people were allowed to physically attack encampment members with little police intervention.

Jewish students have self-reported 132 incidents of harassment surrounding the encampment since its start, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Penn President’s Jewish Student Advisory Council and obtained by The Inquirer. The majority of the complaints stemmed from the encampment’s existence, non-Penn members, and controversial chants, while others called out specific incidents of confrontation. One Jewish student reported being called a “dirty liar and a big” while counterprotesting, while another claimed he was called a homophobic slur while walking past the tents.

”Although protest is most certainly an important part of our democracy, occupying our property is most certainly not,” one wrote.