An encampment at Pitt also disbanded after protestors alleged the school threatened to bring in more police.
In a new policy announced last week, the University of Pennsylvania is temporarily banning protest encampments and overnight demonstrations. This is in response to last month’s chaotic anti-Israel protest camp that led to multiple arrests.
The new order also prohibits protesters from preventing visiting speakers from presenting.
The student group that organized the encampment that led to arrests and the new guidance, Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, condemned the new policy. In an Instagram post, the group called Penn’s announcement “dystopian restrictions” and said, “the students and the people will never be silenced.”
Just days before Penn banned overnight demonstrations, similar protests at the University of Pittsburgh were disbanded following conversations between Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, the university, and protest leaders. Organizers of the encampment and protests later said the threat by the university chancellor of a heavier police presence prompted the protest’s dispersal.
Before the Pitt protest broke up, Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick alleged one of his campaign volunteers was attacked by pro-Palestine protestor who has no affiliation with Pitt according to the university.
Drexel University also recently threatened to disband the protest camp on its campus.
The proliferation of anti-Israel protests across Pennsylvania and the country led one Keystone State lawmaker to introduce legislation providing new criminal penalties called “institutional trespass”, considered trespassing “in sensitive areas such as houses of worship, cemeteries, and schools.” State Rep Kristin Marcell from Bucks County says, “unlawful protests that interfere with the right of other students to pursue their education will not be tolerated.”
Opinions on the campus protests are sharply dividing Democrats according to recent polling. Nearly half of Democratic respondents believe protesters’ concerns are valid but are “taking things too far.” One third of Democrats surveyed have an unfavorable view of the campus protests.
