University of California, Riverside

Timeline of Events

March 1, 2024: On Friday, March 1, the University of California, Riverside (UCR) released a short statement. The statement, titled “University Statement on ASUCR’s Divestment Resolution,” does not name an author, nor office attribution. The statement condemned the passage of a resolution calling for ASUCR’s full divestment from companies complicit in aiding Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The statement reads:

“The Associated Students of UCR passed a resolution last night calling for divestment from Israel. This resolution runs counter to UC Riverside’s longstanding position and practices, does not align with the university’s views, and does not affect the investment practices of the university. We strongly oppose this action and believe that it goes against the culture of open dialogue and discourse. The UCR community must be a place where all people feel welcome and safe, and where we engage constructively on complicated issues.”

April 29, 2024: Protestors begin an encampment near Bell Tower, demanding for the university to disclose its investments and divest from Israel. They aim to remain at the encampment until the university meets their demands. The university had made accommodations so overnight campers would have access to restrooms nearby (Ramirez, 2024).

May 1, 2024: A negotiation meeting is held with UCR administration and students (Paxton, 2024). A rally is held the same day, drawing several hundred participants to the campus where they march from the encampment to the administration building and back (Hofmann, 2024).

May 2, 2024: A follow up meeting occurs (Paxton, 2024), where students are able to propose their own draft of demands.

May 3, 2024: UCR becomes the first UC school to come to a (Hofmann, 2024). Chancellor Kim Wilcox announces a formal agreement between the students and campus administration, with negotiations that led to a peaceful end to the encampment (Granda, 2024).

Total Arrests Made

None

Negotiations

University Chancellor agrees to divest from Israel and companies complicit with the genocide.

All investment information will be public on the UCR campus website.

The School of Business discontinued global programs in Oxford, USA, Cuba, Vietnam, Brazil, China, Egypt, Jordan, and Israel.

UCR aims to modify its approval process for all study abroad programs to ensure they are compliant with the UC’s Anti-Discriminatory Policies (Sharp, 2024).

Their full agreement terms can be found here

Policy Changes

An additional bill limits the university’s annual $1 million budget, preventing it from being spent on companies such as McDonalds complicit in the genocide as well.

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: A | Police: A | Negotiations: A | Academic Freedom: A | Overall: A (4.00)

University of California, Berkeley

Timeline of Events

April 22, 2024: The encampment begins at UC Berkeley in support of Palestine at the main plaza of Sproul Hall and the surrounding area totalling approximately 50+ tents (Afaneh, 2024). Students demand to end the silence surrounding Gaza, an academic boycott, to end repression of pro-Palestinians, and for the university to divest from companies supporting Israel (Alam, 2025).

April 23, 2024: The encampment grows to around 175 tents, with students and community members present (Kukura, 2024).

April 24, 2024:Violence breaks out between pro-Palestinian protestors and counter-protestors. Many injuries happened, with one pro-Palestinian punched in the eye and another with a bloody nose (CBS News Bay Area, 2024).

May 14, 2024:Students end the encampment, removing tents and barricades after reaching an agreement with the university (CBS News, 2024). The chancellor, Carol T. Christ, writes a letter to the encampment, addressing all demands of the encampment (Christ, 2024). The school agrees to review its Israel-related investments through rigorous examinations (Lozano, 2024).

May 16, 2024: Twelve individuals are arrested from an abandoned hall at UC Berkeley as part of a pro-Palestine protest. 60-65 people were in the building, many of whom left voluntarily after police arrived (Regimbal, 2024).

September 9, 2024: UC Berkeley establishes a new Palestinian and Arab Studies program (UC Berkeley, 2024). The university claims that this program had been in the works for 2+ years, possible due to anonymous donors. The program begins in November of 2024, with an inaugural conference on Nov. 12 and 13 where leaders would convene to discuss how to best teach and learn about Palestinian and Arab history (Gibbs, 2024).

March 6, 2025: A Law professor, Jonathan Gould, quits teaching his Law course a day after an interaction with a student, Zaid Yousef, who was wearing a crewneck with pro-Palestine symbols on it. The two discussed the designs on his shirt, with Yousef eventually walking out of the class, as the professor had compared the symbols on the shirt to the confederate flag. The professor had additionally reprimanded Zaid for having a pro-Palestinian sticker on his phone in the past, calling it offensive (Kofman, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

12

Negotiations

University officials agree to reevaluate companies that the university is aligned with (Lozano, 2024).

Carol Christ resists pressure from the University of California regents to end the encampment with police force (Zinshteyn & Reagan, 2024).

Policy Changes

The new UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons claims that the rules to be implemented as laid out by Drake are already in place at UC Berkeley, with tents, sleeping outside campus buildings, blocking paths, and concealing identity when violating campus policies already prohibited. Lyons adds that UC Berkeley is committed to free speech as of August 2024 (DiPierro & Burke, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: C | Police: C | Negotiations: B | Academic Freedom: A | Overall: C (2.75)

University of Washington

Timeline of Events

April 29, 2024:An encampment for Palestine begins. Students at the encampment demand divesting from Israel, cutting ties with Boeing, and calls to ensure safety of Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students and protestors (Oron, 2024).

May 20, 2024:Campus administration and students reach some agreements, leading to students complying with the deadline to clear the encampment (Vee, 2024).

December 13, 2024:The University of Washington suspends student group Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return, now having restricted access to meet and organize (Super_uw, 2024).

May 5, 2025:30 demonstrators are arrested during a protest and release a statement calling on the university to cut ties with Boeing due to the aircraft maker's relationship with Israel The students are accused of setting fire to dumpsters and occupying a UW engineering building, which had been underwritten by Boeing in the amount of $10 million (Falconer, 2025).

May 7, 2025: The University of Washington suspends 21 students who were arrested during pro-Palestinian protests at the Seattle campus. The suspended students are banned from all college campuses (Falconer, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

34 (Torres, 2025).

Negotiations

Campus administration and students reach an agreement. These included: (1) allowing two representatives from the protest group on a proposed Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing, (2) waiving tuition for at least 20 Palestinian students from Gaza, (3) creating a faculty committee to assess study-abroad programs, (4) supporting faculty in establishing academic ties with Palestinian universities, and (5) disclosing investment holdings and ensuring no direct investments in Boeing, major weapons manufacturers, or Israeli-based companies. The same day, students comply with the deadline to clear the encampment (Vee, 2024).

Policy Changes

None

Quotes

Referring to May 5th protests and arrests, a spokesperson for UW said that the university “considers it antisemitic to refer to the Oct 7 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel – the largest mass murder targeting Jewish people since the Holocaust – as a ‘heroic victory’, which is what the suspended student group called it in the ‘manifesto’ the group posted Monday.” (Betts, 2025)

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: C | Police: A | Negotiations: B | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: C (2.50)

Rutgers University

Timeline of Events

November 29, 2023:Students hold an occupation in the Business Building on the Livingston campus (Gupta, 2023).

December 17, 2023:Rutgers New Brunswick suspends Students for Justice in Palestine for multiple apparent infractions of the student code of conduct. Students report that they were not properly informed of the suspension and were not given the opportunity to address the accusations of breaking student code of conduct.

January 17, 2024:Rutgers New Brunswick reinstates Students for Justice in Palestine after its suspension in the previous month. The university claims that none of the disciplinary actions were based on student speech but rather in regards to safety and protection of a supportive environment for all students.

April 29, 2024:Students assemble an encampment on Voorhees Mall at Rutgers’ College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick (Gross, 2024). The protestors demand that the university divest its financial holdings from companies which support Israel, sever its partnership with Tel Aviv University, call for a ceasefire, bring in displaced Palestinian students to finish their education, create an Arab Cultural Center, follow up on its relationship with Birzeit University to explore further connections, reaffirm and name Palestinians, Gaza and Palestine in future communications, establish training on anti-Palestinian anti-Muslim anti-Arab racism and hate for all Rutgers University administrators and staff, createa Department of Middle East Studies, ensure that Palestinian, Kurdish, and Kashmiri flags are placed on around campus along with the other flags already present, and receive amnesty from university retaliation (Baldwin, 2024).

May 1, 2024:Students at Rutgers University Newark Campus assemble an encampment. Their demands include the same ones as New Brunswick, however also include local demands regarding tuition waivers (Gross, 2024).

May 2, 2024:During the encampment, there was a counter protester who assaulted a woman who was a part of the encampment, and called her a slur. Rutgers also postpones the final exams scheduled for that day due to apparent disruption from the encampment (Caruso, 2024).

May 2, 2024:Students anticipate and prepare for police arrival, organizing a jail support structure. Professors state that they stand ready to be arrested on behalf of the students. Students at Rutgers New Brunswick Campus dismantle their encampment at 4pm after threats from the university to forcibly sweep the encampment. Some students remain after most of the encampment had dispersed, continuing to chant until 6pm when campus police called for them to disperse due to police activity in the area. The decampment occurred in accordance with negotiations made with the administration, the student protesters received the university’s agreement to 8 out of their 10 demands, which did not include the demands of divestment or of breaking the partnership with Tel Aviv University (Nieto-Miunez & Difilippo, 2024). Rutgers police are on site throughout the encampment’s existence but remain at a distance from the protest (Caruso, 2024).

June 9 2024:The Rutgers Newark campus encampment is raided by Rutgers police at 7am. Police employ a barricade method to enter and overwhelm the encampment (Public Square, 2024). There are no injuries, however reportedly and individual is “roughed up” in the raid. Lasting a total of 40 days before the police raid, the Rutgers Newark encampment is the longest running encampment in the country. Of note, several of the residents of the Rutgers encampment were unhoused during the vigil, and completely lost their housing during the encampment’s sweep. While Rutgers offered housing vouchers to some residents, it was not sufficient to replace their housing (Holmes, 2024). The Rutgers Newark location also secured negotiations with administration, however they were also not awarded the demands of divestment and splitting ties with Tel Aviv University. Rutgers University publishes a letter following the raid, justifying their decision to evict the students and disperse the encampment (Holmes, 2024).

August 23 2024:Rutgers New Brunswick suspends Students for Justice in PalestineSJP for one year claiming they allegedly broke school policy for disrupting final exams with the encampment and failing to comply with the orders of the university (Gupta, 2024).

January 2, 2025:Rutgers is under investigation for creating a hostile environment for Jews and Palestinian students under the U.S. Department of Education. They reach a settlement with the organization, agreeing to review complaints, policies, and implement policy changes to ensure a more welcoming environment (Kudisch, 2025).

March 26, 2025:A faculty union sues the Trump administration for arresting and deporting pro-Palestinian faculty and students, arguing the violation of the first amendment. A professor on campus mentions how pro-Palestinian projects and general speech was halted on campus due to the threat of deportation (Adely, 2025).

April 29, 2025:During a pro-Palestine protest on Rutgers’ campus, three students are arrested and charged with rioting amongst other offenses (Baldwin, 2025).

May 9, 2025:International students who had their immigration status/visa revoked in April sue the federal government which included 5 students from India and China. The court sides with the students, allowing them to return to their lives in America (Nieto-Munoz, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

0

Negotiations

Yes

Policy Changes

In August 2024, Rutgers releases an updated version of protest and freedom of expression policy (Rutgers University, 2024). Its changes in policy include a new ban on encampments, limiting protest hours to between 9am and 4pm, and only at specific locations on campus, as well as implementing a new permitting process for protests (Keating, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: C | Police: C | Negotiations: B | Academic Freedom: C | Overall: C (2.25)

Northwestern University

Timeline of Events

April 24, 2024:Northwestern Student Senate votes to adopt a people’s resolution which demands that the university divest its endowment from weapons companies supporting Israeli apartheid and genocide, and ends its partnerships with the Israel Innovation Project (Harrison & Neal, 2024).

April 25, 2024:Students set up an encampment at 7am on Deering Meadow with demands of divestment and cutting ties with Israel (Freuer et al., 2024). Campus police arrive shortly after to threaten citation and arrest if the students do not disperse. At about 10am 250 students link arms around the encampment in response to the arrival of campus police. The same morning, the university president announces an emergency addendum to the student code of conduct banning tents (Smith & Hirsh, 2024).

April 28, 2024:A massive group of about 150 pro-Israel counter-protesters arrive and confront the encampment. They contact the Northwestern University police and include in attendance the Midwest Regional director of the ADL (Harrison & Neal, 2024). The counter protesters reportedly verbally harass the encampment using slurs and spitting on and shoving protesters (Instagram, 2024).

April 29, 2024:Students arrive at an agreement with university administration to end the encampment, which allows the students to demonstrate on Deering Meadow until June 1st but under the restrictions of campus police, or they would face suspension and other institutional disciplinary actions. The university agrees to provide a conduit through which the students can communicate with the Board of Trustees Investment Committee (Wendler & Kalra, 2024).

July 18, 2024:Northwestern University Police arrest four Northwestern educators including two professors, one graduate student, and one librarian for obstructing police during the encampment. They face Class A misdemeanor charges (Philip, 2024).

April 8, 2025:The Trump Administration freezes $790 million of federal funding (Wu et al. 2025).

Total Arrests Made

4

Negotiations

University agrees to connect students with the Board of Trustees Investment Committee, and to re-establish an advisory committee. Most of the terms of the negotiation are focused on ending the encampment. It pledges to support Palestinian students and to provide the cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates.

Policy Changes

On April 25, the day the encampment is established, the school issues a temporary policy change to the student code of conduct outlining new rules on how students may engage in protesting on campus (Schill, 2024).

Overnight demonstrations are banned, along with the usage of tents and flyers being regulated (Koso & Steinberg, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: C | Police: C | Negotiations: B | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: C (2.00)

Harvard University

Timeline of Events

April 22, 2024:The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee is suspended by Harvard College. The group was ordered to stop all activities for the remainder of Spring 2024 otherwise they would be at risk for expulsion (Amponsah & Kim, 2024). The University restricts access to Harvard Yard until April 24th to avoid student protesting (Amponsah & Kim, 2024).

April 24, 2024:A pro-Palestine protest begins on campus, which turns into an encampment on Harvard Yale. The protest stems from the suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee (Amponsah et al., 2024). The group additionally calls for the university to divest from Israel. The President Alan M. Garber mentions that he wouldn’t rule out the idea of bringing the police, but it would have an extremely high bar (The Harvard Crimson, 2024). Throughout the night, sprinklers turn on inside the encampments, disturbing the protestors.

May 6, 2024:University president Alan Garber sends a university-wide email threatening students participating in the encampment to be forced into an involuntary leave, inability to take final exams, and removal from Harvard housing (Haidar & Kettles, 2024) On May 7, 352 faculty members respond with a signed petition (Robinson & Shah, 2024) urging Garber to meet with students and engage in a peaceful dialogue (Krupnick, 2024).

May 7, 2024:Over 60 students are reported to be facing severe disciplinary consequences over their participation in the encampment (The Harvard Crimson, 2024).

May 8, 2024:Garber meets with a group of protesting students (Krupnick, 2024). The students’ reject his offer to end the encampment to avoid suspensions (Turner, 2024).

May 10, 2024:The university begins to send out suspension notices to encampment participants. This prevents students from taking exams, having access to university housing, and are barred access to campus due to disruptions stemming from the encampment. Garber allegedly informally speaks to the students that morning, offering to remove the notices. The encampment group counter-offer four of their own demands, stating that if not met, the encampment would continue. Garber rejects this offer, and the encampment and suspension notices continue (Krupnick, 2024).

May 14, 2024:The university and students come to an agreement and the encampment ends. The university agrees to reverse the involuntary leave of absences of 22 students. He also offers the protestors a meeting with the University board about divestment. The University additionally agrees to expedite the cases for the 60 students facing charges for their involvement in the encampment (Kim & Lemann, 2024).

May 17, 2024:5 students are suspended, with another 20 on probation, and 15 seniors barred from graduation due to involvement with the pro-Palestine encampments by the Harvard College Administrative Board despite President Garbers’ claim to reconsider the disciplinary actions (The Harvard Crimson, 2024).

July 10, 2024:The Harvard College Administrative Board reverses its decision to suspend five students that participated in the pro-Palestine encampment. Other students’ have their probations reduced, with the harshest punishment being a one-semester long probation. 13 students are still denied their degrees for participating in the protest (Hussain, 2024).

September 9, 2024:The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee is reestablished, with full privileges as a recognized student organization on campus. The group is successfully reinstated as a student organization after completing the necessary requirements (Amponsah & Kim, 2024).

September 22, 2024:Harvard threatens to discipline students at a library study-in a few days prior who wore keffiyehs with fliers on their laptops calling for divestment (Amponsah & Church).

October 24, 2024:The Harvard Law School Widener Library bans 60+ students from its library after a study-in for Palestine occurs. Their access to the library is revoked for two weeks. The students also report losing access to some study rooms on campus (Healey & Sundar, 2024). Additionally, 25 faculty members are suspended from library access (Shah, 2024).

November 20, 2024:Four Harvard graduate students are suspended for two weeks from access to the library after they help plan a pro-Palestine study-in on the 12th (Olmos & Taukolo, 2024).

January 21, 2025:In the morning, Harvard Medical School cancels a lecture planned for the evening about a panel with patients from Gaza receiving healthcare. There is no further comment on the cancellation of the event, although many suspect it was cancelled due to complaints of it being a “one-sided” event (Goncalves & Ravi, 2025).

April 29, 2025:Harvard releases two internal reports– “one on how antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias is handled on campus, and another on anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias” as a part of the response to the legal battle with the Trump administration over federal funding (Allen & Brooks, 2025).

June 6, 2025:Presidential Proclamation Halts Foreign Student Visas at Harvard University (Shin & Tang, 2025).

June 6, 2025:Harvard PSC Asks To Submit Amicus Brief Supporting University in Lawsuit Against Trump Admin’s Funding Freeze (Church & Srivastava, 2025).

June 9, 2025:Harvard abruptly cancels a Special Issue report on Palestine, which sparks debate amongst editorials and publishers (Sepri, 2025).

June 30, 2025:BBC news reports that the White House says Harvard has violated jewish and israeli students rights. This would soon be followed up by a notice from the Office for Civil Rights (BBC News, 2025).

July 1, 2025:Notice of Violation: Harvard University; Office for Civil Rights. The notice falls under a violation of title VI for discrimination directed towards Jewish and Israeli students (Meron & Garber, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

None

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

Nothing recorded. Harvard simply issues harsh punishments for those speaking out for Palestine.

Quotes

None

Comments

Our survey indicated that a Harvard professor strongly disagreed with the statement that “Academic freedom and free speech are upheld during pro-Palestine demonstrations” and agreed with the statement that “Students and faculty face challenges from their institutions when they try to express their views on Palestine.”

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: D | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: D (0.75)

University of North Carolina

Timeline of Events

October 27, 2023:Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosts a sit-in in front of the South Building administrative building on UNC campus. They deliver demands of divestment to administrators (Rhodes, 2024).

November 17, 2023:SJP hosts another sit-in this time inside of the South Building. About 40 protesters enter the building before the entrance is blocked by UNC police. UNC chancellor accepts a letter of demands and the UNC police chief threatens trespassing charges and other punishments. Students then disperse.

April 19, 2024:Students assemble an encampment in solidarity with Columbia University’s encampment in front of the administration’s South Building at 10:00am. At 2pm administrators approach the encampment and inform them that they are in violation of a UNC facilities use standard and that because they had not received permission from the university, their encampment is in violation of school policy. By 3pm, most of the students disperse and decamp (Khan, 2024).

March 5, 2024:GPSG (UNC’s Graduate and Professional Senate) passes a ceasefire and divestment resolution with a 35-6 vote in favor (Rhodes, 2024).

March 27-28, 2024:SJP protests and disrupts a series of Board of Trustees meetings (Rhodes, 2024).

April 26, 2024:Students establish a second encampment at 9:45 am at Polk Place which is in front of the administrative South Building at UNC. Over 100 protesters and supporters participate on this first day. The students issue three demands: complete transparency in UNC investments, divestment from products supporting Israeli genocide and a full academic boycott, and collaboration with students, faculty and staff to ensure compliance with the demands. Later in the day students from Duke and N.C. State arrive to support the encampment. Several administrators arrive at the encampment throughout the day to ask students to take it down, and students demand a meeting with the chancellor as the condition for them taking down the encampment. At 12:35 pm, the Dean of Students and Chief of Staff to the Chancellor, Desiree Rickenburg and Christi Hurt agree to facilitate a meeting with the chancellor, but demand that students remove the tents. Students agree to take the poles out of their tents and disassemble, but remain present on the lawn. At 2:30 pm, counter protesters approach the encampment and walk its perimeter, recording the encampment with cameras (Reilly, 2024).

April 27 2024:As more supporters from Duke and N.C. State join the new encampment, it is known as “Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment” (Rhodes, 2024).

April 28 2024:Over 500 protesters march from the encampment around UNC campus. Students reassemble their tents, adding the poles back, as an escalatory move (Rhodes, 2024).

April 30, 2024:At about 5:30 am, UNC Interim Chancellor Lee Roberts and Provost Christopher Clemens issue a letter to the protesters demanding that they disassemble the encampment. The letter threatens arrest, suspension, and expulsion for failing to comply. At 6:00 am police from several departments including North Carolina Highway Patrol sweep the encampment and detain 36 protesters, transporting them to Gerrard Hall. Six of the 36 that are detained are arrested and brought to the magistrates office in the Orange County Detention Center. The six individuals are charged with trespassing and given written warnings and court dates. Polk Place is cleared of the encampment in approximately 45 minutes, and students begin to attempt to occupy the South Building in response. One member of the encampment is injured with a dislocated shoulder during their arrest. At 7:00 am two sheriff's department vans arrive to transport the detained students. Police officers from six departments arrive at UNC, and the sheriff’s department and state patrol are armed with riot gear. Campus facilities clear the encampment as protesters move towards Gerrard Hall, and place metal barricades around the previous site of encampment. At 8:00 am 30 protesters are released from Gerrard Hall where they had been detained. According to campus officials, the students’ choice to reassemble the tents by adding the poles back in place incited their calling of the police, as they felt it was a violation of safety. At 1:45 pm, demonstrators return to the site of the encampment and overcome the metal barriers to reoccupy the space (Martin, 2024).

April 9, 2025:Six international students have their visas terminated without any noted reason by the U.S. (Dean, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

6 --> 39 Detained

Negotiations

Some, but no demands met

Policy Changes

The policy updates requires the institution to remain neutrality, avoid promoting political or social beliefs, and refrain from forcing others to express a certain idea or belief. It does protect faculty’s decisions in research as well as their autonomy over teaching their courses (Troyer & Bailey, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: C | Police: D | Negotiations: D | Academic Freedom: C | Overall: D (1.50)

University of Minnesota

Timeline of Events

April 23, 2024:An encampment is established on Northrop, with students demanding the university divest from companies supporting Israel. Nine protestors are arrested on accounts of trespassing and erecting tents on campus without permission. Nearby buildings are locked, with students unable to attend classrooms and workplaces in key facilities(Cassel, et. al., 2024).

May 2, 2024:University officials and students reach an agreement, with the university officials agreeing to meet ⅚ of the students’ demands. The university president, Jeff Ettinger, meets with the students twice for long periods of time to negotiate, claiming that meetings were constructive and respectful. The university agrees to attempt to meet the following demands: (1) divesting from companies supporting Israel’s military, banning employers that are linked to military action from career fairs, (3) boycotting Israeli universities, (4) disclosing investments, (5) recognizing the rights of Palestinian people and granting amnesty to those participating in pro-Palestine activities (Wiita, 2024). Students agree to remove their encampment once the agreement is finalized.

August 27, 2024:The University of Minnesota declines to divest from some investments related to Israel, despite their agreement to try and do so in May (Premo, et. al., 2024).

October 21, 2024:A pro-Palestine protest begins in Morrill Hall. A group called the UMN Students for a Democratic Society initiate the protest, calling for the university to divest from companies supporting Israel. Although students are aiming to stay overnight, police arrive on scene and arrest 11 people, thus ending the protests (WCCO Staff, 2024). A student describes around 50 police cars parked outside, with officers behaving aggressively when arresting protesters. They are wearing riot gear and carrying batons (Vue, et. al., 2024). Arrested students are issued suspensions, given thousands of dollars in fines, and evicted from student housing.

March 14, 2025:A student protester is arrested after the Board of Regents approves a resolution which restricts institutional speech. Many protesters are present in the room, yelling words such as “shame” and “cowards” to the regents (Unger, 2025).

April 1, 2025:The university removes 11 different statements addressing international conflicts, including Gaza and Ukraine. This is following the Board of Regents Meeting in March (Church, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

21

Negotiations

University initially agrees to meet students’ demands. The school’s investments are disclosed. However, other demands are not met.

Policy Changes

The university actively reiterates their free speech and encampment policies to remind students to not participate in certain activities.

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: C | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (1.25)

University of Virginia

Timeline of Events

April 30, 2024: Student groups at the University of Virginia (UVA) organize a demonstration in support of Palestine, called the "Liberation Zone" on campus. The students demands include divestment from Israeli institutions and companies, transparency about the university’s investments, and protection of students from disciplinary action from protesting (Koene & van der Hee, 2024).

May 2, 2024: Students send a letter to campus administration with all of their demands, giving them until the afternoon to respond. UVA administration responds, offering to arrange a meeting between students and administration. The Administration refuses to cut academic ties with Israeli institutions, however, it was agreed that students and faculty members could continue demonstrations without disciplinary action, conditioned upon the demonstrations to remaining within the policies of the school (Armesto, 2024).

May 3, 2024: Students initially do not erect tents due to campus policy, however, after it rained overnight, students erect several tents, which violate campus policy (Camp, 2024).

May 4, 2024: The encampment is cleared by over 50 police officers dressed in riot gear and carrying large rifles. 25 protesters are arrested. Police use chemical irritants on the crowd multiple times to clear the encampment, forcing some to use water to flush out their eyes. The irritants move beyond the crowd, reaching bystanders (Camp, 2024). Police officers are seen pushing protesters on the ground and shoving them away from the encampment (Baxter & Trainer, 2024). Four of the arrested students are not awarded their degrees and allowed to graduate due to their participation in the encampment (Davis, 2024). Although the university verbally declared that tents were not allowed at encampments, an official UVA document stated the permissibility of recreational tents on campus grounds, a clause that was quietly removed from the document hours before police arrived to break up the encampment (Armesto, 2024).

September 11, 2024: UVA drops all disciplinary actions against arrested students (Ratiff, 2024).

February 7, 2025: A UVA law student, Kirk Wolff does his homework on the lawn of the law school with two pro-Palestinian signs are propped next to him. Within 15 minutes, a police car drives by slowly, with more police cars driving by every few minutes afterwards. From one police car, a campus administrator and police officer exit and instruct Wolff to leave. The administrator threatens to expel Wolff if he does not leave, but Wolff sticks to his legal rights (as he’s not breaking any laws), and the administrator eventually leaves. Although the Vice President of Student Affairs, Marsh Pattie, tells Wolff that the administrator did not follow procedures, the university’s issued statement claims that the administrator did nothing wrong (Camp, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

25

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

Campus policies were updated in regards to campus demonstrations, attempting to uphold First Amendment rights, but adding restrictions on free expression. The new rules ban encampments, require masked individuals to show themselves, limit where events can be held, and implement strict rules on using chalk on campus grounds (Capital News Service, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: C | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (1.25)

University of Pennsylvania

Timeline of Events

April 19, 2024: UPenn revokes Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine’s status as a student organization following an investigation from UPenn’s Center for Community Standards and Accountability (Wang, 2024).

April 25, 2024: Beginning as a protest organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition at City Hall, which relocates to the UPenn campus, students begin their encampment on College Green. The encampment protesters demand disclosure of investments, as well as divestment from companies which support Israel’s genocide and occupation of Palestine.

April 26, 2024: UPenn interim President Jameson issues a statement saying that he is closely monitoring the encampment. He also meets with members of the Jewish Student Advisory Board who allege harassment from the encampment members. Jameson issues a statement demanding that the encampment disband immediately, listing violations of harassment and vandalism. Several counter protesters project images of October 7th and gather in front of the encampment with Israeli flags at approximately 11pm. Penn Police erect barricades to separate the two groups (Lie & Wong, 2024).

April 27, 2024: Students meet with President Jameson and Provost John Jackson Jr. to discuss their three goals of disclosure, divestment, and defense of Palestinian students. According to organizers, the President and Provost claim that disclosure was “bad business sense” (Lie & Wong, 2024).

April 28, 2024: Pro-Israel counterprotestors organized by Penn Hillel gather at Annenburg Plaza at 12pm. The protestors march toward and reach the encampment on College Green whilst singing the Israeli national anthem. At 4pm, a pro-Israel counter protestor, armed with knives on his belt, enters the encamoment during an event hosted by JVP, Rabbis for Ceasefire Philadelphia, Families for Ceasefire Philly, and Tikkun Olam Chavurah. The man is placed in handcuffs, and his knives are confiscated. He is issued a citation by the police (Lie & Wong, 2024). Fire marshalls sweep the encampment, checking for alcohol, fire hazards, and drugs. The fire marshal searches each tent (Binday et al., 2024).

April 29, 2024: University facilities workers power wash encampment chalk art in front of the Ben Franklin statue. University officials post official notices of trespassing and violations of Philadelphia city codes (Lie & Wong, 2024).

April 30, 2024: UPenn launches student code of conduct proceedings for at least three students at the encampment (Ni, 2024). The university announces that it will be checking IDs in accordance with Penn’s Open Expression Policies (Bartlett, 2024).

May 1, 2024: An unknown individual walks through the encampment spraying an odorous liquid on the signs at the encampment, which reportedly smells like sulfur. UPenn’s Division of Public Safety handcuffs and detains the individual. The students in the encampment report that the man targeted food supplies and tents, and that the police observed for a while before intervening. The individual is later charged with disorderly conduct and harassment. Later that day, after 12pm, the Penn Police Department of Investigations arrives at the encampment and removes pro-Palestine banners that the students had hung on the barriers around the encampment. A spokesperson from Philadelphia Councilmember Jamie Gauthier issues a statement affirming the students’ right to protest peacefully, and reminding Penn of their obligation to allow this protest. The spokesperson also states that Councilmember Gauthier had not been able to contact President Jameson since April 29th regarding the encampment, which is “unusual and concerning.” Later, student organizers emphasize that they will not negotiate with administrators until the administration agrees to specific stipulations of the removal of code of conduct violations, removal of police presence from the encampment, and issuing no threats of eviction. The administration and organizers do not arrive at an agreement about meeting these stipulations (Bartlett, 2024).

May 2, 2024: Police physically confront protesters after one protester hops the barricade surrounding the Ben Franklin statue. One protester standing at the base of the statue is forcibly removed by police which results in a physical clash between students and police. Students knock down the barricades surrounding the statue. Later, over 20 police officers assemble around the encampment holding zipties. UPenn requests help from Philadelphia Police Department to disband encampment while the PPD refuses to assist. Penn Public Safety issues a UPenn alert regarding a rally at the encampment (Castiglione, et al., 2024).

May 8, 2024: Negotiations between encampment organizers and administrators stall and UPenn refers 9 more students for disciplinary actions leading encampment protesters to establish a second encampment on the other side of the College Green.

May 9, 2024: UPenn places six students on mandatory leaves of absence for their affiliation with the encampments (Scolnick, et. al., 2024). One student reports that they had also been evicted from their dorm. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro calls for an end to the encampment, claiming that the encampment disrupts UPenn’s obligation to provide safety on campus (Wang, 2024).

May 10, 2024: At 6:00 am, around 100 Philadelphia Police officers join Penn Police to sweep the encampment (Wang, 2024). The police announce a 2 minute dispersal warning before they would begin arrests. Students refuse to leave and argue that they were not causing harm. Some students remain with arms linked around the Ben Franklin statue. At 6:05 am police begin violently kicking and breaking down tents with clubs. About 50 police form a border with their riot shields on one side of the Ben Franklin statue. Police begin arresting people at the statue at around 6:10 am, and protesters do not appear to resist arrest. At around 6:28 am, police physically push journalists and photographers away from the area where they are making arrests. They also threaten to arrest legal observers if they do not move away. One student alleges being kneed in the face by a police officer and having her hair pulled. Individuals are pulled out of their tents. At 7:12 am at least 20 more police officers arrive. Police erect barricades around campus and close down multiple roads. At around 7:50 am, Penn employees begin dismantling the encampment which includes shredding belongings such as tents, backpacks and signs with a garbage truck. Five Penn faculty members are told they are placed under arrest or pushed away by police for sitting in at one of the blocked off intersections. By about 9:00 am, around 33 protesters had been arrested and released shortly after. Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and Representative Rick Krajewski criticize the university’s choice to bring in military police and to dismantle the encampment. At 2:22 pm Faculty Senate chair Tulia Falleti resigns over UPenn’s calling of police to campus to arrest students and dismantle the encampment. At about 9:00 pm additional protesters march towards UPenn campus and rally outside of the president’s house. 10 police cars are parked around the rally. Drexel University Police arrive following the protest around 10:30 pm as the rally begins to border Drexel University (Ni, 2024).

June 27, 2024: Four students involved in pro-Palestinian protests are suspended for one year. They are unable to access university healthcare and on-campus jobs (Young, 2024).

October 18, 2024: At least 13 police officers search a house of one of the pro-Palestinian student organizers at around 6am, some wearing full tactical gear. They received a search warrant. Officers are reported pointing guns at residents’ heads, not showing the warrant, and threatening to break down the door. One student is taken in for questioning, and this individual’s phone is taken away from them on suspicion of vandalism and evidence being present on the device. The student is not charged, and no one is arrested (Scolnick, et. al., 2024).

March 22, 2025: Mr. Fish, a UPenn faculty member and cartoonist, is terminated after some of his cartoons come under fire for allegedly being anti semitic (JNS.org, 2025).

April 3, 2025: A report reveals that in 2023, a family of one of the university’s trustees, Natan and Lidia Peisach Family Foundation, gave $100,000 in 2023 to Canary Mission, a pro-Israel group that aims to identify pro-Palestinian activists, including on UPenn’s campus. Canary Mission creates profiles of targets on their websites, blacklisting them to prevent them from leading normal professional lives (Peisach, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

33

Negotiations

Some negotiations, however the administration did not seem to consider student concerns during those negotiations.

Policy Changes

Temporary rules banning encampments and unauthorized overnight events. No chalking or projecting slogans, and preventing speakers who come to campus from expressing their views (Hartocollis, 2024).

On September 10, The university president, Larry Jameson, announces to the university that its leaders will limit their statements on local and world events to remain an institutional neutrality (Bartlett, 2024)

On September 11, the university installs additional fences and barricades around various places on campus to prevent any disruptions to the upcoming presidential debate and vandalism to university statues. The location of the encampment, College Green, had already been fenced off since May 10. They additionally required two PennCall checks to enter College Hall (Scolnick, et. al., 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: C | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (1.25)

George Washington University

Timeline of Events

November 15, 2023: Students for Justice in Palestine is suspended as a group after advocating for Palestine through projecting images on a campus library (Weil & Svrluga, 2024).

April 25, 2024: An encampment is established on George Washington University’s University Yard (U-Yard) early morning. Students call for the university to cut ties with Israel and protect free speech on campus for pro-Palestinitan students (Silverman et al., 2024). Seven students are already suspended for their participation in the encampment with nine counts of misconduct. Students face eviction from their campus housing, inability to access campus facilities, and unable to complete coursework. Other students are suspended for a longer period of time and would not receive credit or refunds for their courses of that semester.

April 26, 2024: The protesters expect the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to sweep the encampment. The sweep, however, does not occur because the action was not authorized by the MPD. Officers from George Washington University Police Department (GWPD) start placing metal barricades around the encampment to ensure no one else joins. Seven students are suspended that evening, each with 9 student code violations. An alum and retiree from the Milken Institute School of Public Health, Karyn Pomerantz, is expelled from the listserv from the school due to supporting the encampment (Pomerantz, 2024).

April 28-29, 2024: GWPD escorts a protester out of the U-Yard, claiming that the protester hopped the fence. The protesters march and push down the barricade to stop GWPD and demand them to return the detained protester. The protesters successfully push through metal fences and a line of police officers and make it to the U-Hall, locking arms and chanting. MPD arrives in surrounding areas, but no police action is taken. The students eventually go back to their tents in the early morning hours (Filter, 2024).

May 1, 2024: Official representatives from the House Oversight Committee meet with university officials and students, calling for a removal of the encampment, threatening arrest (Binford-Ross et al., 2024).

May 8, 2024: Police officers break up the encampment, with 33 arrests made (Al Jazeera, 2024). Several of the arrested students are suspended (Moyer & Hermann, 2024). Two officers use pepper spray on students. With the 24/7 campus Consumer Value Store (CVS) pharmacy forced to close, protesters set up a medical area and get water from Wawa, a local convenience store, to rinse their eyes. Additionally, officers use physical force on many more protesters. A university statement is sent out following the altercation, with no mention of negotiations or mention of Israel or Gaza (The GW Hatchet, 2024).

May 9, 2024: Second Encampment is established on F Street right outside of Granberg’s House (Aanya).

August 19, 2024: Two student groups, Students for Justice in PalestineSJP and JVP are suspended for supporting Palestine and spreading rhetoric against Israel (McDonald, 2024) throughout fall semester. The groups are no longer able to host any events on campus, nor receive funding from the university.

February 10, 2025: The university sanctions 9 student groups that were involved with the encampments in May. Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voices for Peace, and the Muslim Student Association, amongst others were placed on disciplinary probation, preventing on campus events for students (Forgette, 2025). A student from campus describes how seven of the student organizations were charged with violation of student code of conduct, with 16 counts including property damage, physical abuse, vandalism, etc (Aanya).

February 24, 2025: A planned Teach-In for Palestine is cancelled due to claims of incorrect booking procedures. Campus administration received several phone calls from Zionists complaining of the event, eventually leading to the event being cancelled (Instagram, 2025) due to safety precautions as the location was publicly posted (Aanya).

March 7th 2025: Students for Justice in PalestineSJP receives an email from a whistleblower claiming that the GWU administration would cancel all Students for Justice in PalestineSJP events planned for a week of Palestine events. An hour later, all events between the period of March 17-April 6 are cancelled for Students for Justice in PalestineSJP with the claim that Students for Justice in PalestineSJP violated a policy by not letting the Associate Vice Provost of Student Affairs attend an Students for Justice in PalestineSJP event. There is no applicable policy found that Students for Justice in PalestineSJP violated (GWSJP, 2025).

March 20, 2025: Badar Khan Suri, an Indian student, is arrested in the US for criticizing Israel. His wife’s photograph is placed online by pro-Israeli groups with the intention of doxxing her (Presstv, 2025).

May 1, 2025: GWU suspends their chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. They are now not allowed to host campus activities at least until May of 2026 (Benari, 2025).

May 14, 2025: A federal judge issues an order for Badar Khan Suri to be released from immigration detention (Stepansky, Joseph).

May 21, 2025: Cecilia Culver, a commencement speaker, criticizes GWU for their connections to Israel, and addresses the audience to withhold donations to the university. The university bans her from campus and university-related events as a result (Dunbar, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

33

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

The university implements policies in September, 2024, to ensure that campus supervisors are now armed to face any threats on campus (Enhancing Public Safety, 2024).

An 8-foot tall metal fence is installed around the U-Yard and closed during protests and vigils to keep student protestors out (Igbonoba, 2024).

The university meets with students across 2-3 meetings to discuss their demands. The negotiators said they would go to their superiors with the demands, where they were rejected completely. All efforts of negotiation end around October/November. (Aanya)

Quotes

Current Student: “Administrators have tried to frame the issue of Palestine and the Israeli occupation as a religious issue between Muslim and Jewish students. They frame the issue like they’re addressing islamophobia and antisemitism while refusing to discuss their ties to weapons. It’s also increasingly becoming difficult to conduct weekly Jummah prayers, since the prayer mats were thrown out during the encampment by GW police and booking a room for prayer comes with a lot of complications now.”

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: D | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (1.00)

Brown University

Timeline of Events

November 8, 2023: A student group, Jews for Ceasefire Now, hold a sit-in at University Hall demanding Brown University call for a ceasefire and divest from companies funding Israel’s military. The police are called on the students, with all twenty students arrested and charged with trespassing (Brown, 2023).

November 27, 2023: The University drops charges against the 20 students after a Brown Palestinian student, Hisham Awartani, and two of his friends, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmed, are shot and severely injured on Saturday, November 25 (Brown, 2023). The perpetrator was a 48-year-old man, Jason J. Eaton, who fired shots at the boys and left the scene instantly (Lambert, 2023).

December 11, 2023: Students from Brown Divest Coalition occupied University Hall, demanding that President Christina Paxson support a divestment from Israel and call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Law enforcement arrive on scene and arrest 41 protesters (‌Dahlkamp & Kumar, 2023).

April 24, 2024: Students establish an encampment demanding that Brown University drop charges against 41 students from the Brown Divest Coalition and demand for divestment from Israel (Brown, 2024).

April 27, 2024: Students from the encampment receive disciplinary letters from the university. The letter threatens students to remove themselves from the encampment or face restriction from non-essential and non-academic activities as well as probation until the end of August, with the possibility of denial from housing, campus, and graduation (Dahlkamp, 2024).

April 30, 2024: Campus administration meets with students and reaches an agreement. The university agrees to vote to divest from companies supporting Israel in a future October meeting. The university votes to approve the motion of (1) presenting a divestment proposal, and (2) dropping charges on the students. Both motions pass, but University President Christina Paxson refuses to drop charges against the 41 students. However, students agree to remove the encampment by that evening (Dahlkamp et al., 2024).

October 28, 2024: Brown University suspends its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine one week after they hold a protest calling for divestment from Israel. Members are not allowed to hold activities, post on social media, or hold any meetings (Guilfoil, 2024).

Total Arrests Made

61+

Negotiations

The university agreed to present a divestment proposal but met no other demands.

Policy Changes

None

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: C | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (1.00)

Duke University

Timeline of Events

April 26, 2024: 150 students organize a protest for Palestine, demanding a cease-fire, divestment from companies supporting Israel, and protection of free-speech on campus. UNC, Duke, and North Carolina State chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) all create the Triangle Gaza Solidarity Encampment (Kolenovsky, 2024). Campus administration ensures the Protests, Pickets, and Demonstrations (PPD) is present to ensure students are safe during the protests (Spiller & Kolenovsky, 2024).

April 30, 2025: 36 protestors are arrested. One of the arrestees has their shoulder dislocated due to the arrest. Another student suffers heat exhaustion while another vomits. No protesters are attended to for their injuries. Many police officers wearing riot gear are present for the arrest (Martin, 2024). One of the arrested is a Duke faculty member (Austin & Kolenovsky, 2024), with another seven being Duke students (Kolenovsky, 2024). The faculty member arrested, Emily Rogers, is disabled and uses a cane to walk. Despite telling the police officer, she is escorted by the police, who holds her cane.

November 19, 2024: A protest is held for Palestine on the West Campus. Around 50 people gather at a social sciences building to protest against an event featuring the former Israeli Attorney (Spiller, 2024). Seven protesters face disciplinary action for participating, including suspensions, expulsions, and termination of employment for the faculty members (Duke Deploys “Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations” Policy to Silence Dissent - Duke for Palestine, 2025).

November 21, 2024: An email is issued by campus administration, warning protest participants of an investigation and threatening them with disciplinary action. Hearings are scheduled for seven protesters. No outcome of these hearings is visible, despite significant student mobilization to drop the hearings (Duke Deploys “Pickets, Protests, and Demonstrations” Policy to Silence Dissent - Duke for Palestine, 2025).

April 7, 2025: Two Duke international students and one alumnus have their student visas revoked. The students are not allowed to continue their studies or work in the U.S. There is no reason indicated for the revocation of the visas.

Total Arrests Made

36

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

Duke University tightens its rules in September on student protests. The University reserves the right to limit the duration, location, and sound level of protests. If any policies are violated, students can be expelled and legally charged. Any PPD event requires registration with the university (Littman, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: F | Negotiations: D | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (0.75)

Ohio State University

Timeline of Events

April 23, 2024: Police arrest two students at a protest which occurred between Mirror Lake Amphitheater and Meiling Hall on Ohio State Campus (LeBus, M, 2024). University administrators claimed that the protest became disruptive when the protest entered Meiling Hall, outside of a Board of Trustees meeting (Barry, 2024).

April 25, 2024: In the morning, students attempt to establish a solidarity encampment. Four hours into the encampment, OSUPD issues dispersal orders, giving students 5 minutes to leave, and three individuals including one student, one unaffiliated individual, and one graduate student attempt to establish an encampment on the South Oval on campus, and are arrested by campus police (Barry, 2024). Later that day, hundreds of students protest and attempt to start an encampment on South Oval following the failed first attempt. This time, over 300 students are able to gather and successfully establish an encampment around 5:30pm (Carter, 2024). Following OSUPD and state trooper orders of dispersal, 38 students and community members are arrested. Students report that armed state troopers are positioned on the roof of the Ohio Union building which overlook the student protestors on the South Oval, which was later confirmed by Ohio State representative Ben Johnson (Meighan & Behrens, 2024).

May 1, 2024: Two students are detained by OSUPD while passing out flyers at a rally. One student is issued conduct charges and placed on probation (Barry, 2024).

August 26, 2024: Criminal charges are dropped for students arrested on April 25th, however community members still face charges.

June 1, 2024: Students hold a rally protesting an event that is hosting the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Three individuals are arrested by OSUPD (Barry, 2024).

June 30, 2024: Three students and two community members are detained by OSUPD after chalking Pro-Palestine phrases on campus sidewalks. They are threatened with arrest, forced to get on their hands and knees, and reported to the student conduct office (Barry, 2024).

March 24, 2025: Ohio State University cancels the 2025 Global Health Symposium, that included a planned keynote speaker about healthcare in Gaza. The speaker was Dr. Nick Maynard, who had made multiple trips to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid (Bush, 2025).

April 15, 2025: At least 12 international students have their visas revoked or immigration status terminated by the Trump administration. A few of the students who lost their visas described being involved in the pro-Palestinian protests (Hendrix, 2025).

April 24, 2025: The Trump administration agrees to restore visas and the immigration status of the students who were abruptly affected. However, students report feelings of fear and of being in a limbo, not knowing where things will progress (Hendrix, 2025). One of these students who was active at a protest was charged with trespassing for using a microphone to amplify her speech to the crowd. Ahwar Sultan, a graduate student with a revoked visa, has his lawyer present at the event, who subsequently had her car blocked by the police when she tried to leave the campus (Shillcock, 2025).

April 25, 2025: Ahwar Sultan, one of the students whose visa was revoked, sues the Trump administration for revoking his visa on wrongful grounds. His visa gets reinstated (Millard, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

~46

Negotiations

None - Ohio State states that it must comply with a state law (Ohio Revised Code Section 9.76) which prohibits divesting any interest from Israel or adopting any policy which requires divestment from Israel.

Policy Changes

Events not approved by university must end by 10 pm (Millard, 2024).

Approved events must be restricted to a 24 hour period and not be in the same space for multiple days.

Tents and structures must be approved by the university facilities department and cannot penetrate the ground.

New definitions section of guidelines which defines registered student organizations, restricted noise, “university authorized activity,” and “with an intent to disrupt.”

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: D | Police: D | Negotiations: F | Academic Freedom: D | Overall: D (0.75)

University of Chicago

Timeline of Events

November 9, 2023: A sit-in for Palestine occurs in front of Rosenwald Hall by a pro-Palestine group. 26 students and two faculty members are arrested and charged with trespassing. Charges are eventually dropped from protesters, but charges remain on protesters’ records (Li, 2023).

April 29, 2024: Protesters set up tents and launch an encampment in support for Palestine. Students call for an end to the genocide and for university leaders to divest from Israeli companies and commit to a program of reparations in Palestine (Evans & Boyle, 2024).

April 30, 2024: Organizers of the encampment claim to have met with University administrators. The university refused to meet negotiations and decline to comment (Maheras & Jansen 2024).

May 8, 2024: Campus police dressed in riot gear dismantle the encampment around 4am. Trucks arrive onto campus to remove the tents and signs posted around the area. Witnesses claim officers physically push students back with yellow barriers. Some students are handed a notice, which suspends students from the university, disbanding their housing, barring access from campus, and preventing students from taking exams and participating in student and academic program activities (Wade et a., 2024). Five seniors are told they would not be awarded their degrees to graduate. No one is arrested.

May 4, 2024: University officials claim they will create an initiative which would support up to eight scholars affected by the genocide in Gaza. However, to date the promise has not been upheld (Shelat, 2024).

August 12, 2024: Cases are dropped against students, and students that had their degrees withheld are told they would now receive them (Duly, 2024).

October 11, 2024: UChicago United for Palestine holds a rally on campus. It begins with an on campus walkout turning into a protest with about 80 protesters. The Police Department is called. Officers use pepper spray on protesters, and physical force to arrest students. One student is hit with a baton, chased, and tackled into a police car. Witnesses describe police use brutal force, with many students injured, and washing their eyes with water due to the pepper spray. The protest ends with three arrests (The Chicago Maroon, 2024).

October 23, 2024: One of the arrested students faces suspension and eviction from student housing. The student claims to have no other housing or family in the area (Philip, 2024).

December 11, 2024: Mamayan Jabteh was arrested, expelled from the University of Chicago, banned from campus, and evicted from university housing (Pharo, 2025).

April 21, 2025: Around 60 protestors gather for the reopening of the encampment for Palestine, known as Popular University, The University Chicago Police Department (UPCD) arrive on the scene and surround the demonstrators. No one is detained (Blaisdell, 2025). Protestors lock arms to prevent arrest. Officers start asking protestors for their names and date of births, and after receiving no responses, they eventually leave the scene.

Total Arrests Made

31+

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

The university bans overnight encampments on campus (Lebrun, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: D | Negotiations: C | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.75)

University of Southern California

Timeline of Events

April 15, 2024: USC bans pro-Palestinian valedictorian, Asna Tabassum from speaking at commencement, with the Provost claims the decision was made due to safety concerns. Her Instagram bio includes a link arguably containing “anti semitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric,” a potential justification on why she was no longer allowed to speak (Seghers, et. al., 2024).

April 24, 2024: USC students launch an encampment at Alumni Park around 7am to protest for Gaza and demand the university’s divestment from Israel. USC Administration locks the surrounding buildings. LAPD arrives on scene around 12:30 pm, the majority of them coming onto campus at 3:05pm carrying zip-tie handcuffs. Campus is closed down, with no entry or exit allowed except by LAPD officers. A group of protestors remain in the center of the park, linking arms before they are arrested one by one. A Muslim student performs his prayer in handcuffs as arrestees are removed from campus to the police station. 93 people are arrested in total, including 53 students, faculty members, and protestors from outside of campus (Macias, et. al., 2024).

April 25, 2024: USC cancels its main graduation ceremony, including guest speakers for commencement (Chkarboul & Park, 2024). The encampment is launched again.

April 28, 2024: Various sprinklers are turned on at the encampment, disrupting those occupying the space. Approximately 60 LAPD vehicles with sirens arrive at campus. LAPD departs without making any arrests (Shafi Khan, Anusha, & Goldbach, 2024).

May 3, 2024: Adjacent to the encampment, counter-protestors play a movie on a projector screen using loudspeakers. Police officers arrive on the scene. Students complain about the noise of the movie from nearby dorm buildings. Others ask law enforcement why the movie isn’t being shut down, given that loudspeakers are against the law. No action is taken, and police officers mention they were instructed to be present and but not intervene.

May 4, 2024: Campus buildings begin closing down. Wire fences are added around Alumni Park and other campus entrances. Campus is on shut down after 6:30pm, with only students allowed to leave (Bhalla-Ladd, 2024).

May 5, 2024: LAPD arrive at the encampment early morning around 4am. Students are informed that if they remain at Alumni park, they will be arrested (Bhalla-Ladd, 2024). The campus is swept, with students being led off campus and gates being closed on them. One student is shoved off of campus by a police officer, and some students have their IDs swiped, although no further action is taken.

Oct 8, 2024: USC student groups host ‘The Art of Resistance’ to raise money for Palestine.

October 9, 2024: The University Religious Center announces that student groups are required to receive special approval from the dean of Spiritual and Religious Life to host events in the courtyard (Reinardy, 2024). Approximately 25 student protestors conduct a study-in on the lawn of Leavey Library. USC Department of Public Safety officers arrive on scene and ask the students to leave. They march off campus and continue to protest. The university shuts down some entrances to campus to prevent re-entry (Corral & Rendon, 2024).

October 22, 2024: The University Religious Center bans Jewish Voices for Peace’s event, the Solidarity Sukkot, with the reason given being their poster appeared political, and they did not get prior approval by the Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life. The poster said the words “Solidarity Sukkah” and had colors of the Palestinian flag. The students instead move the event off campus (Whalen, 2024).

Total Arrests Made

93

Negotiations

None- Weekly Undergraduate Student Government meetings, usually public, are moved to zoom. Many students’ voices through the comments of the zoom room remain unheard during the meeting.

Policy Changes

Security is tighter on campus, with students having to swipe their IDs. They are additionally subject to bag and identity searches (Kaleem, 2024).

Free speech regulations happen on campus, with only designated sections available for free speech (Kaleem, 2024).

Barricades are added to the campus, allowing only a few entry spots and specific walkways to enter campus.

Sleeping, camping, and using tents on campus is prohibited.

Quotes

Current Professor at USC: “Whenever there is an instance of harassment that students or faculty face regarding Palestine, we are all told the same thing: to report it to USC’s Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX. No one has any confidence in this process, especially since the professor who walked by a student action to grieve and commemorate the Palestinians killed by Israel said they should all be killed and walking on the names of the deceased was cleared with no consequence.”

Comments

None

Final Grade

University of Michigan

Timeline of Events

November 17, 2023: At least 300 pro-Palestinian protestors gather at an administrative building of the president’s office, Ruthven Administration Building, demanding for the university to divest from Israel (Kalakailo, 2023). 200 of these individuals occupy the building for a sit-in which lasts hours. At night, 25 police vehicles arrive at the campus, with some officers armed with riot shields. The police arrest 40 individuals, with 2 of them injured. Many others are ticketed for trespassing by the police (Koo & Code, 2023). Arrested and ticketed students are banned from the hall for one year. The organizers of the protest claim that a Muslim student’s hijab was removed while she was forced to the ground during the arrest. Students are also not allowed to drink water or use the restrooms. Medics are prevented from treating any protestors as well (Prestininzi, 2023).

November 30, 2023: The University of Michigan cancels voting on two Central Student Government ballot resolutions related to the genocide in Gaza after determining that a mass email urging students to vote violates university policies. The administration claims the email, processed by a university staff member, compromised election integrity. The university defends the decision, but student leaders and the TAHRIR (Transparency, Accountability, Humanity, Reparations, Investment, Resistance) coalition, a student-led coalition of 100+ organizations supporting Palestinian liberation, found it to be suppressing student voices. The university claims that they would not have made such a decision if the mass email were not sent out/university policies not violated, as they support students’ rights to vote (Treisman, et. al., 2024).

April 22, 2024: Students at University of Michigan, organized by Tahrir Coalition, set up a Gaza solidarity encampment on the Diag, a site used historically for student protests (Householder & White, 2024). Their demands include the university divesting from companies that profit off of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.(The Michigan Daily, 2024).

May 21, 2024: Police end the near month-long encampment. Police wearing helmets and using irritant spray break up the group and drive them away (Householder & White, 2024). Officers use pepper spray and tear gas, arresting protestors inside the encampment and using force to remove protestors. Four protestors are arrested and released the same afternoon (The Michigan Daily, 2024). Garbage removal vehicles are present at the scene, removing items from the encampment (Warikoo & Boucher, 2024). Once the camp is cleared, nearby buildings are closed down, with police turning away students arriving to study (The Associated Press, 2024). The university claims that the encampment is cleared due to fire hazards present on the site that were identified by the fire marshal. However, students claim that no fire marshal came to inspect the encampment, despite the university’s claim (Johnston, et. al., 2024).

December 23, 2024: The president and vice president of University of Michigan Student Government, Alifa Chowdury and Elias Atkinson, are impeached from office and barred from holding Central Student Government (CSG) positions in the future. They are found guilty on the count of dereliction of duty (Fioritto & Velky, 2024). Their impeachment seems to stem from the executive’s active efforts in supporting Palestine, which leads the student body to feel unheard and unsupported. The two had already promised when running for their positions that they would withhold $1.3 million of funding until the university divested from Israel. The two refused to support groups on campus by aiding them with funds until the university met their demands, which they refused to do (Bennet, 2024).

January 16, 2025: A pro-palestinian group, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, is suspended for two years and will lose all of its funding due to being connected with protestors’ demanding for the university’s divestment from Israel. The group had held a protest in the prior spring semester without school permission, which the university claimed was a violation of their policies (Corsi, 2025). Additionally, they cannot reserve spaces on campus.

April 23, 2025: The FBI and other law enforcement agencies search homes of many UMich student organizers. Student’s electronics and other personal items are seized. Four individuals are detained but later released (Arria, 2025).

June 6, 2025: The Guardian published a story revealing the university had paid ~$800,000 to City Shield, a Detroit-based surveillance firm, to monitor pro-Palestinian students between June 2023 and September 2024 (Rigney, 2025).

June 11, 2025: The University of Michigan ended its surveillance contracts, but concerns over chilling effects on student speech remain (Rigney, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

240+

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

The university updates their policy to allow the university to have the ability to file complaints against students, when in the past only students, faculty, or staff members could do this.

Another policy was implemented, with appeals to complaints only being allowed to be reviewed by the vice president of student life, Martino Harmon.

The university adds a new policy about facility use, adding stricter guidelines (Gala-Garza, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: F | Negotiations: D | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.25)

Columbia University

Timeline of Events

April 17, 2024: Pro-Palestine encampment is established on the east side of the South Lawn with hundreds of students demanding the university divest from companies that have ties with Israel. There are false alarms of the NYPD responding that evening, but no police arrive. Notices to protestors in the encampment are passed out, telling them to leave or face suspension (Walton, 2024).

April 18, 2024: Three Barnard students are suspended that morning for participating in the encampment, with one of the students evicted from her housing. Students who did not leave the encampment are additionally threatened with suspensions and expulsion. At around 1pm, Columbia president Minouche Shafik orders the NYPD to sweep the encampment (Walton, 2024). Police dressed in riot gear carry zip ties and batons. This was the first time in 50 years NYPD was allowed to enter the campus, a heartbreaking and new development for many. Students are sitting together with their arms linked as they are separated one by one, arrested, and moved to police buses to be taken away. 100+ students are arrested. Arrested students are suspended by the university and treated as trespassers. As the encampment is swept and the tents are removed by law enforcement, protestors move their tents to the west side of the lawn (Stahl et al., 2024). 53 students are additionally suspended from the university (Fahy, 2024).

April 20, 2024: The encampment remains on the South Lawn, now on the west side, where students now sleep on tarps instead of tents (Ventura, 2024).

April 21, 2024: Tents are placed again at the encampment (Ventura, 2024). Columbia University COO Cas Holloway sends an email announcing enhanced security measures and personnel around campus. Three Barnard Student Admissions representatives resign from their positions expressing, “we realized we can no longer be complicit in advertising this school to prospective students, nor can we truthfully encourage people to come here.” (Graduate Student).

April 23, 2024: Minouche Shafik sends an email at 1:14 am, her first statement to the Columbia community following the arrests on Thursday, sharing that classes are being moved to remote instruction (Ventura, 2024).. In the evening, University Provost Angela Olinto sends an email that for the following four days, classes will be hybrid for Columbia students and remain in-person for Barnard. Barnard College President sends an email following Shafik, her first since the arrests, addressing how 53 of the 108 students were from Barnard and that she plans to address student interim suspension measures. Columbia Business School assistant professor Shai Davidai denied swipe access to campus ahead of planned entry to encampment, held a rally outside Broadway gates (Graduate Student).

April 24, 2024: University administration agrees to hold dialogue with student representatives over the course of the next 48 hours (Ventura, 2024).

April 29, 2024: The university announces an impasse and end to all negotiations and orders the encampment to be vacated by 2pm that day (Ventura, 2024). Columbia makes it clear they will not divest from Israel (Bernstein & Huddleston, 2024).

April 30, 2024: University public safety officers begin removing tents without warning anyone on the lawn (Huddleston & Stahl, 2024). The encampment spreads to Hamilton Hall, where NYPD arrive and arrest dozens of protesters around the area. One of the protesters is thrown down the stairs in front of the building, and officers slam other protestors with barricades (Huddlestone & Forgash, 2024). The NYPD arrest 109 individuals and disassemble the encampment (Ventura, 2024).

May 6, 2024: Columbia cancels its main commencement at graduation (Al Jazeera Staff, 2024).

May 31, 2024: A group of two dozen students affiliated with CUAD repitch around 10 tents and banners on the South Lawns in the evening during Columbia’s annual alumni reunion. Students remain overnight.

June 1, 2024: Public Safety officers remove four tents in the evening.

June 2, 2024: Participants in the encampment dismantled their tents and removed their items and belongings from the South Lawn, leaving graffiti on the tents and tarp. A few hours after all students left, NYPD entered the area to document the vandalism, university permission is not required in this instance.

June 20, 2024: 30 students who face criminal charges have their charges against them dropped (Allen, 2024).

June 26, 2024: Barnard indefinitely postpones disciplinary hearings for two students who were suspended.

July 19, 2024: A majority of Hamilton Hall disciplinary cases are moved from the Center for Student Success and Intervention (CSSI) to the University Judicial Board.

July 26, 2024: 13 defendants who first had their charges of criminal trespassing dropped a month prior and declined, now accepted the offer. These 13 individuals were not currently enrolled in Columbia, and the offer was made on the basis of age and lack of evidence and any previous criminal history.

August 14, 2024: Minouche Shafik resigns, Chief Executive Officer for CUIMC Katrina Armstrong will serve as interim President.

September 3, 2024: As students hold a pro-Palestine protest, two students demanding divestment from companies tied to Israel and boycotting of classes for the day to support Palestine (Blake, 2024) are arrested outside of the university’s gates, facing charges for attempted obstruction and disorderly conduct.

October 7, 2024: Hundreds of students stage a walkout to the Low Steps at noon and march around the north end of campus, then disperse to join the Within Our Lifetime protest.

December 9, 2024: CUAD held a protest on the last day of classes at the Barnard gates and marched around the campus. NYPD was present for the duration of the protest, no arrests.

January 21, 2025: On the first day of spring semester, a walkout and protest take place both inside and outside campus. A few students enter and disrupt “History of Modern Israel” class.

January 22, 2025: Katrina Armstrong publishes statement condemning class disruption and announces expedited investigation of the incident and modified security protocols to require Columbia ID swipe access for all buildings on the Morningside campus. Three individuals have been identified among those taking part in the disruption.

January 29, 2025: On the anniversary of the killing of Hind Rajab, vandalism was found in the School of International Affairs Building and Kravis Hall. Toilets in the women's bathrooms on the fourth, sixth, fourteenth, and fifteenth floors had cement thrown inside and graffiti was found on the fifteenth floor. Red paint was sprayed on the Kravis Hall building.

February 21, 2025: Two Columbia students are arrested for distributing fliers inside a lecture, History of Modern Israel, taught by a former IDF soldier (Walton, 2025).

February 26, 2025: Student stage sit-in outside Barnard Dean Leslie Grinage’s office demanding the immediate reversal of two student expulsions. Protesters disperse at 10:30 under tentative agreement to meet with the Barnard Dean and President the following day. Barnard made no promises of amnesty to protestors nor concessions were negotiated.

February 28, 2025: Another student who previously participated in the Hamilton Hall Occupation in April is expelled as well (Walton, 2025).

March 5, 2025: A protest happens at Milstein Center, where protestors are outside the center. They call for the reinstatement of the three expelled students, divestment from Israel, and justice for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a doctor detained by Israel. The Vice President of the college claims there is a bomb threat, telling students to leave the area. He calls the NYPD, which sweeps the building and arrests nine students. Students are zip-tied and led away (MEE staff, 2025).

March 9, 2025: A Palestinian Graduate student, Mahmoud Khalil, is arrested at his university residence. He is flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana. He faces potential deportation back to Syria. He is the first known person arrested under Trump’s promise to crack down on student protests. He is currently married to an American citizen who is expecting a child (Offenhartz & Marcelo, 2025).

March 13, 2025: The university sends out a campus-wide email where they explain how they “issued sanctions to students ranging from multi-year suspensions, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions related to the occupation of Hamilton Hall last spring (Lawal, 2025).” A Columbia student group claims a total of 22 students are facing sanctions, with 9 students expelled (Instagram, post deleted). Some students are notified that they are under investigation for sharing social media posts that support Palestine or due to joining “unauthorised” protests (Lawal, 2025).

May 7, 2025: Pro-Palestinian protestors take over a room in one of Columbia’s libraries. The police are called, and more than 76 people are detained with zip ties and escorted out of the library (Cohen, 2025). One of the students appears to have a face injury, while another is carried away on a stretcher (Allen & Murphy, 2025).

May 10, 2025: Columbia announces it had suspended over 65 students following the library protest (Singh, 2025).

July 15, 2025: Columbia formally adopts the IHRA definition of antisemitism, expanding its disciplinary framework. Announces new partnerships with ADL and other pro-Israel organizations (Turki, 2025).

July 20, 2025: Columbia removes student and faculty oversight from protest-related disciplinary processes and restructures the University Judicial Board (Turki, 2025).

July 22, 2025: Columbia announces final disciplinary outcomes: over 70 students suspended, expelled, or had degrees revoked. Occurs two days before Columbia announces a $200 million settlement with the federal government to restore lost funding. Marks “the most suspensions for a single political protest in Columbia history” (Singh 2025, Turki, 2025).

September 7, 2025: Columbia students, faculty, and alumni gather in front of the main campus gates to protest its continued closure. Campus access was first restricted in 2023 as a response to planned demonstrations over the war in Gaza. Since the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” in the spring of 2024, campus has been restricted to those with Columbia ids (Gluck 2025, Columbia Spectator).

DATE: TEXT

DATE: TEXT

Total Arrests Made

220+

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

Only ID holders and registered guests are allowed to enter campus, with limited gates open for entry secured by guards (Ventura, 2024).

Public safety officers begin guarding the entrances of the lawns previously used for encampments with the new school year, with signs banning camping (Allen, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

SIPA Graduate Student (Class of 2025): Now, in the 2025-2026 academic year, so many University policies have changed and been amended for students to hesitate speaking on Palestine in any way. There have been no hints of or attempts to have any demonstrations on campus so far, and with SJP and CUAD not in place anymore, there is no organization or advocacy for Palestine in any way. Apart from minimal discussions among peers and in classes, there is almost no discussion of Palestine at the level it was in the past academic year. It has taken a 180 turn and it is avoided all the time. Although what happened last year has been subject to the past, what is still felt is the suppression and censorship that stems from the University policies and silence on the issue.

University representatives and officials did offer negotiations, and during the encampment negotiations lasted multiple days and were in close communication with the student representatives. Although negotiations were taking place, to the students involved in the encampment it did not seem in good faith, we believed the University was doing this to have us vacate the lawns in time for commencement.

The University made it clear that they will not divest from Israel. Minouche Shafik mentioned the University offered to make investments in health and education in Gaza, including supporting early childhood development and support for displaced scholars. It is unclear if this was ever followed through. I am not entirely sure if we ever found out the result of the negotiations or what was agreed from both sides, as the circumstances on campus continued to worsen for the rest of that semester.

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: F | Negotiations: D | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.25)

Arizona State University

Timeline of Events

November 17, 2023: ASU cancels an on-campus event called “Palestine is an American Issue.” The university claims they are canceling it due to the event being planned by groups not affiliated with ASU, asserting that it is outside of ASU policies and procedures (Kabiri, 2023). Students are informed of the cancellation of the event the night before it was scheduled to occur.

April 26, 2024: Pro-Palestinian protestors gather in the morning and establish an encampment in front of Old Main on the Tempe Campus, demanding for a ceasefire in Gaza and for a divestment from Israel from ASU. One individual is arrested due to trespassing charges. A counter-protest occurs, with police interfering to keep the groups separated. The protest remains without conflict. The same night, ASU police officers and the Department of Public Safety officers arrive in riot gear (Hendricks, 2024).

April 27, 2024: 72 people are arrested, 20 of which are students. Four women claim their hijabs were forcibly and publicly removed during the arrest by ASU police officers, despite the protest being a peaceful one, with no inherent threat of weapons (Gonzalez & Rummel, 2024). 20 students are suspended and not allowed on campus, with some kicked out of student housing and others unable to walk at graduation (Brown, 2024).

May 14, 2024: Charges are dismissed against the arrested protestors with a one year period where they can be refiled (Ragas, 2024).

May 17, 2024: A judge declines to reverse disciplinary actions taken against 20 ASU students who were suspended following the protests, upholding the university’s decision against these students (Duhownik, 2025).

October 9, 2024: 68 students who participated in the protest in April are charged with misdemeanor charges of trespassing (Stone, 2024).

April 22, 2025: Over 100 international student visas are revoked as a part of the national crackdown on students who supported Palestine and participated in the protests (Pricco, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

72

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

A fence was placed around the lawn the encampment was established on (Boehm, 2024).

University claimed that freedom of expression is protected at ASU unless it disrupts campus operations and cannot be between the hours of 11pm-5am (Hendricks, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: F | Negotiations: F | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.00)

University of California, Los Angeles

Timeline of Events

April 25, 2024: A pro-Palestinian encampment is established to demand UCLA divestment from the genocide in Gaza (Winward & Hamilton, 2024). Around thirty tents are erected in front of Royce Hall. Their demands include a full divestment with transparency, an end for the repression of pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus, calling a permanent ceasefire, and severing the university’s connections to Israeli universities, including disbanding study abroad programs, fellowships, and research collaborations (McDonagh-Wong, 2024).

April 28, 2024: In the morning, a UCLA security guard is allegedly pepper sprayed and a demonstrator has a bloody face, allegedly from an assault by counter-protestors. A counterprotest happens the same day. They play loud music next to the encampment, where a student claims it disturbs the Muslim congregational prayers Muslims occurring during the encampment. The music included the American and Israeli anthems. The protest ends shortly before 1pm. They additionally set up a screen and loudspeakers near the encampment, displaying footage from the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. No arrests are made (Dai-Liu, et. al., 2024).

April 30, 2024-May 1, 2024: More than 100 counter-protestors attack the encampment, throwing fireworks into tents, spraying aerosol irritants, tearing away encampment barricades, and hitting students at the encampment with metal poles and wooden planks. The attack began around midnight on April 30, leading into the early morning of May 1. Law enforcement was called immediately, but more help didn’t arrive until almost 3 hours later nor began removing aggressors until 3am. Police officers reportedly stood and watched the violence happen instead of moving in and controlling the situation.Many students from the encampment did not engage or fight back as it went against the encampment’s purpose. Many students were badly injured, bleeding, unable to see, and in need of stitches. Peers treated each other with medical knowledge, and some were taken to the hospital. One of the students asked a security officer why they were not helping, and the response was that the protestors were at fault. One of the students claimed that the police were called more than 100 times, but officers kept hanging up on people claiming there was no emergency. No one was arrested that night (Hamilton, 2024).

May 1-2, 2024: On Wednesday night, police assemble on campus and order students to leave camp. Students prepared themselves with masks, shields, and helmets to protect themselves against the police (Fauria, 2024). At around 4am on the morning of May 2nd, police in riot gear enter campus, pushing into the encampment. More than 200 people are arrested as the camp is shut down (Carless, 2024). Arrested protestors are zip tied and taken away. Some students are visibly injured when being dragged out of the encampment. Officers use stun grenades and pointed guns with less-than-lethal-rounds at the students. A series of noises, flash-bangs, sound as students are arrested (Hamilton & Royer, 2024). Classes are moved virtually for the remainder of the week (Saric, 2024).

May 6, 2025: 43 individuals, including students, are arrested in Parking Structure 2 after a sit-in for Palestine is initiated at Moore Hall. The students are accused of curfew violations and charged with conspiracy to commit burglary. Moore Hall and surrounding buildings are closed, with classes in those buildings moved to remote instruction (Winward, 2024).

November 19, 2024: Four students are arrested after an on-campus demonstration for Palestine (Gurvis, 2024). Three people are arrested for obstructing Bruin Walk, and another individual is arrested for interfering with a police officer (Mulick & Konecky, 2024).

February 12, 2025: UCLA suspends Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine as student organizations on campus. The groups are no longer allowed to reserve campus spaces, apply for club funding, or affiliate with UCLA (Crosnoe, 2024).

February 18, 2025: Students protest in response and call on the university to reinstate the chapters. Counter-protesters arrive at the scene and chant. 15 UCLA Police Department officers arrive with riot gear, zip ties, and batons, and block the path of the protestors. The protestors return to the main campus. The protest ends around 4:10pm. Twenty minutes later, one person is detained. UCLA Media Relations did not comment on the arrest when reporting the news (Gillette, et. al., 2025).

March 24, 2025: UCLA bans Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus organization, as well the Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine for four years. They are now unable to use campus spaces for events, student funds, or represent themselves as UCLA organizations.

July 29, 2025: UCLA agreed to a $6 million settlement with the plaintiffs. The agreement includes individual payments, organizational donations, and policy changes aimed at combating antisemitism (Yam, 2025).

July 30, 2025: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that UCLA had violated federal civil rights law, citing “deliberate indifference” to the hostile environment faced by Jewish and Israeli students since October 7, 2023 (Yam, 2025).

July 31, 2025: UCLA announced it had received notice from the federal government suspending some research funding via the National Science Foundation (NSF), NIH, and other agencies, citing antisemitism (Helsel, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

250+

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

The president of the UCs’, Micheal V. Drake, clarifies the prohibition of encampment and unauthorized structures. He additionally bans the usage of masks to hide one’s identity and encourages UC university leaders to be strict in the enforcement of these rules (Nowell & Aguiano, 2024)

On August 14th, a US district judge ruled that UCLA cannot allow pro-Palestinian protestors to block the path of Jewish students attending classes and campus areas. UCLA claimed they were not responsible, rather the protestors were (Nowell & Aguiano, 2024).

From counter protestors, only 3 arrests were made, with 2 having an unknown status, and third’s charge being reduced from a felony and misdemeanor. The charge of a misdemeanor was filed after immense public pressure (Hills, 2025).

Students are required to identify themselves when asked by university officials (Patel & Winward, 2024).

Spaces are limited for public expression activities– must be done between 6am and midnight without disrupting campus activities (Patel & Winward, 2024).

Demonstrations in Bruin Plaza require permission (Patel & Winward, 2024).

Tents and camping equipment are banned. Chalk is not permitted on sidewalks. Food must not be distributed between 6am-midnight (Patel & Winward, 2024).

Use of audio equipment such as megaphones, drums, and bull horns must be approved for use beforehand and are otherwise prohibited during marches (Patel & Winward, 2024).

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: F | Negotiations: F | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.00)

University of Texas at Austin

Timeline of Events

April 24, 2024: Students from the Palestine Solidarity Committee (Kepner & Seipp, 2024), a registered student organization, hold a walk-out and sit-in protest. About 57 people are arrested and brought to Travis County Jail (Chandler et. al., 2024). Police and DPS are called to campus by explicit direction from UT Austin President Hartzell and at least 50 police officers arrive in riot gear. Police become aggressive, grabbing and pushing protesters (The Daily Texan, 2024). Police also use excessive force on press, pushing them to the ground, and arrest a Fox 7 Austin photographer (Paul, 2024). Students erect tents in the afternoon, following the arrests. Shortly after, police began ripping out the tents. At 4:18pm, police surround the protesters with riot gear and batons, while some carry assault rifles. State troopers are called in by Texas Governor Greg Abbott at 5pm.

April 25, 2024: Over 1,000 students and faculty members protest in front of the Main Tower Building on UT Austin campus calling for the resignation of President Hartzwell after the mass arrests of the previous day (Brager, 2024).

April 29, 2024: Around 50 students initiate a Palestine solidarity encampment on the UT Austin South Mall at 12:45 pm (Ahmed, 2024). The UT police department issues a dispersal order at 1:10pm and threatens arrest. UTPD begins barricading the Main Mall and Tower at 1:20pm. As the crowd increases to about 100, over 50 DPS officers assemble at the South Mall. Officers continuously arrest students at the encampment. At 2:00pm state troopers enter the encampment. Police reportedly prevent students who are overheating from accessing water unless they leave the encampment. By 4:00pm police and state troopers had detained everyone in the encampment. At 4:10pm, 25 students form a barricade at Inner Campus Drive to attempt to block one of the buses transporting arrested students. Police drive motorcycles into the student barricade, and at 4:30pm, begin pepper spraying the crowd of protesters. They also set off two flash bangs. At 4:55pm, protesters reoccupy the South Mall. By 5:00pm, over 43 people are arrested. At 6:08pm, police deploy more pepper spray against protesters near the Flawn Academic center. By 6:30pm over 100 students are arrested. At 8:14pm, the university issues a statement claiming that it called police against the protesters to “preserve a safe, conducive learning environment.”

April 30, 2025: Four students initiate lawsuits over their arrests from the prior year at the encampments including against officers from the UT Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety (Fogel, 2025).

May 14th, 2025: Texas Senate passes SB 2972 (21-10) with no debate.(Priest, 2025).

May 19th, 2025: House Higher Ed Committee advances SB 2972 without additional student testimony (Priest, 2025).

May 28th, 2025: Texas House passes less restrictive version of SB 2972 (97–39 vote).

June 1st, 2025: Final version of SB 2972 approved by Legislature

June 20th, 2025: Governor Greg Abbott signs SB 2972 into law.

June 23rd, 2025: Public article analyzes implications for campus free speech and protest (Priest, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

157

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

None

Quotes

“I’ve heard them say that there were state troopers coming, and that’s what I feared the most,” an anonymous protester said. “It’s like, why are (they) scared of students?” - anonymous quote from the Daily Texan article on the 29th (Ahmed, 2024).

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: F | Negotiations: F | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.00)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Timeline of Events

November 9, 2023: University President Sally Kornbluth announces that students that participated in a pro-Palestinian die in would be suspended from non academic activities. The protest involved the occupation of a university building. The number of students that would be suspended was not specified (Lapin, 2023).

February 13, 2024: A student group on campus, the Coalition Against Apartheid, was suspended as a recognized student organization after they protested Israel’s airstrikes and invasion of Rafah. The group can no longer utilize spaces on campus or organize any events (Rock, 2024).

April 21, 2024: An encampment led by the Coalition for Palestine is established on MIT’s campus on Kresge Oval. The encampment initially begins as a response to the arrests that happened on Columbia’s campus from the encampment (The Tech, 2024). Students’ demands include breaking MIT’s financial ties with Israel.

April 26, 2024: The MIT Coalition for Palestine claims that they met with university leaders. However, the university cancels a meeting for the following day that would discuss the demands to cut ties with Israel's military (Wayman, 2024).

April 27, 2024: University president, Sally Kornbluth calls for the end of the encampment, threatening students that they would face disciplinary action if school rules were broken.

May 6, 2024: Kornbluth sends a letter to the university community saying that no agreement could be reached between the university and students. Again students are warned with disciplinary action, including suspension, if they did not leave the encampment. Campus access is restricted, with students allowed to leave campus but not re-enter as a means to isolate those at the encampment (Zhuang, 2024). Police are dispatched and they construct fences to block the protest. Many students leave the encampment, but high school protestors show up and break through the barricades to reclaim it. The number of students back at the encampment rises to more than 200 students. No arrests are made (Eadie & Russell, 2024).

May 8, 2024: At least 23 student protesters are suspended through graduation, being banned from campus. Students are unable to take exams and lose access to housing, leaving some homeless or with minimal time to find temporary housing. One of the students without a home iss a student with a wife and 5-year-daughter, who had a week to find a new home before being evicted from housing (Alonso, 2024).

May 9, 2024: Nine arrests occur. Students were allegedly blocking a parking garage, refusing to listen to the police, and blocking cars in the area. Police use excessive force to arrest students, shoving them to the ground. Some students are handcuffed while others are zip-tied and moved away from the scene (Montgomery, 2024).

May 20, 2024: Hundreds of police officers wearing riot gear encircle the encampment at 4am. Only 10 students are arrested (Larson, 2024). Many individuals from the encampment leave on their own. The only ten students that remain do not resist when arrested.

December 11, 2024: A PhD student, Prahlad Iyengar, is suspended after his pro-Palestinian essay is published in the student magazine. He is barred from entering campus and terminated from his fellowship. The student magazine, Written Revolution, is also banned (Khan, 2024). Iyengar had previously been suspended after participating in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the past, this being his second time being suspended (Narayan, 2024).

April 7th, 2025: MIT defends its response to Gaza protests at the First Circuit Court. The judges collectively decided that MIT did not violate the law, despite claims from zionist students (Harrison, 2025).

June 1st, 2025: Megha Vemuri, 2025 MIT class president, was barred for attending her graduation ceremony following a speech where she addressed her class. University chancellor Nobles sent Vemuri an email sharing that her tickets were deactivated and that Vemuri was not permitted to attend the event (CNN, 2025).

Total Arrests Made

19

Negotiations

None

Policy Changes

None

Quotes

None

Comments

None

Final Grade

Administration: F | Police: F | Negotiations: F | Academic Freedom: F | Overall: F (0.00)