One of the largest and longest-running student encampments in the country appears to be over after pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, on Tuesday tore down all but a few tents in the campus’s central plaza.
The decision to dismantle the encampment, which at its peak had grown to more than 180 tents and hundreds of students, notably at some universities including UCLA, USC, Pomona College and Cal Poly Humboldt Faced with using police to clear camps or take over buildings for pro-Palestinian protesters, there has been huge criticism. Ongoing unrest has plagued UCLA since a violent mob attack on a UCLA camp two weeks ago.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, said they had dismantled the encampment and would protest Wednesday at a UC Regents meeting at the University of California, Merced.
(Hannah Wiley/Los Angeles Times)
UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Crist resisted pressure to forcibly dismantle the encampment and instead sought to negotiate with protesters. In an interview with The Times last week, she said the Berkeley encampment was “largely peaceful and well-run,” although some of the protest banners made her uneasy.
“I have a long history with Berkeley, and in my experience, protests don’t end because of police action,” Christ said. “They ended up negotiating.”
It was unclear whether there was an agreement between university officials and protesters on the protesters’ demands, the biggest of which is for the university to dissociate from Israel and weapons companies involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
“It appears that protesters are taking down tents. If this process is completed peacefully, the university will be happy to discuss the talks we have with the protesters,” said Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor for administrative communications who was present at the time. )explain.
A spokesperson for the students also would not confirm details of the talks.
Students say their protests are far from over.
Activists said they would travel to Merced during a Free Palestine graduation rally Tuesday afternoon at the camp in front of Sproul Hall, Activists from across the state traveled to Wednesday’s UC Regents meeting.
Berkeley organizers are also encouraging members of UAW Local 4811, the academic workers union, to support the unfair labor practices strike in a vote that ends Wednesday afternoon. The union, which represents 48,000 workers across UC’s 10 campuses, including graduate students who serve as teaching assistants and researchers, was arrested after pro-Palestinian graduate student protesters at UCLA and issued suspensions and others at UC San Diego and UC Irvine. disciplinary action, accusing the university of retaliating against student workers and illegally changing workplace policies to suppress pro-Palestinian speech.
Throughout the afternoon, loudspeakers blasted Palestinian solidarity music as students collapsed tents and rolled up sleeping mats. They packed up the chairs, rolled up the banners, and the makeshift tent city slowly turned back into a standard campus square. Hours earlier, students had erected a new yard sign where the tent stood: “Heading to Merced”
While the camp appears to have quietly closed, it doesn’t end Berkeley’s ongoing controversy. For months, the campus has been deeply divided over pro-Palestinian activism, which some members of the Jewish community say has veered into anti-Semitism.
In March this year, the U.S. Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, to investigate possible violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Harassment based on common ancestry or racial characteristics.
The investigation follows a controversial incident in February, when protesters targeted a campus event featuring an Israeli speaker who was a former Israeli soldier. UC Berkeley police evacuated the event as protests escalated and demonstrators pried open the building’s door and broke a window. The university has also launched its own investigation into the incident.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley, a coalition of dozens of university groups, established the camp on April 23, demanding that the university call for a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas and withdraw its support for the Investments in Israeli and Hamas-linked arms and military companies.
The University of California has rejected calls to divest. In late April, it issued a statement saying the university system “has consistently opposed calls to boycott and divest from Israel…Such boycotts violate the academic freedom of our students and faculty and our unrestricted exchange of ideas.” ”.
A banner hanging in Sproul Hall on Tuesday afternoon read, “Free Palestine Camp Until UC Defunds. Glory to the Martyrs, Victory to the Resistance.”
The campsites are like the blue, orange, green and beige two- and four-person tents in REI’s catalog, and there are even some big enough to accommodate six people, complete with a few hammocks and lawn chairs. Meanwhile, students in graduation robes and caps strolled around campus, taking photos under the Sather Gate about 100 yards away. Some people stopped to take photos of the tents.
Last week, faculty at Berkeley issued a statement supporting Christ’s approach, saying it “strongly supports the continued leadership of Christ’s president and administration in finding peaceful solutions to nonviolent protests and encampment issues.”
“This approach is consistent with Berkeley’s values, principles of community, and longstanding tradition of allowing members of the campus community to peacefully protest on campus.”
In California, three other universities have reached agreements with pro-Palestinian protesters to dismantle encampments: Sacramento State, Occidental College and the University of California, Riverside. None of the schools explicitly agreed to break ties with Israel, but each said it would explore proposals for arms-selling companies or tighten investment policies.
Also on Tuesday, Harvard University activists said they would end their protests after 20 days in Harvard Yard. The university disagrees with divestment. The company said in a statement that it will “seek to have camp participants meet with the chair of the company’s Shareholder Responsibility Committee and other university leaders to discuss student donation-related issues.”
Harvard University also said it would reinstate at least 22 student protesters who were involuntarily absent.
“We are under no illusions: We do not believe these meetings are a victory for divestment. The purpose of these side deals is to move us away from full disclosure and divestment. Rest assured, they will not,” said a statement from the camp group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine. .
Recent agreements between the University of California and student protesters have similarities to the Harvard agreement, although some go further in terms of divestment.
UC Riverside President Kim A. Wilcox signed an agreement on May 3 to end camping on campus. It’s the first agreement of its kind on a UC campus and says the university will publicly disclose “full disclosure” of the companies and the size of their investments.
It also said UC Riverside will form a task force of students and faculty to “explore removing UC Riverside’s endowment from school administration.” [University of California] The Investment Office and the aforementioned endowment invest in a manner that makes financial and ethical sense for the university, taking into account the companies involved in the manufacture and delivery of weapons. The task force will present its findings to the board of directors by March 21, 2025.
“My goal was to resolve this issue peacefully, and I am encouraged by this outcome – which came about through constructive dialogue,” Wilcox said in a statement.
“This agreement does not change the reality of the war in Gaza or the need to address anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and discrimination,” Wilcox said. “However, I am pleased. We can have constructive and peaceful conversations about how to resolve these complex issues.”
A sign at the UC Berkeley encampment signals the protesters’ next move.
(Hannah Wiley/Los Angeles Times)
Sacramento State University President Luke Wood announced on May 8 that the university had agreed with the protesters and changed the investment policies of the five affiliated institutions it manages, including a philanthropic and fundraising arm, to focus solely on “ A socially responsible investment strategy that includes not investing directly”.
The policy will apply to Associated Students Inc., University Enterprises Inc., University Alliance, Sac State University Foundation and Capital Public Radio, which focus on student programs. The university also said it has no direct links to funding related to the Israeli military.
At Occidental College, the pro-Palestinian camp collapsed Friday after signing an agreement that said the college’s board of directors would vote by June 6 on whether to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
The agreement states: “The demonstrators agree not to cause or contribute to significant disruption to Occidental College’s commencement ceremony on May 19, 2024, which would create a safety hazard for attendees, violate any college policy, or require the suspension, cancellation or Reschedule the event.
Encampments at several other universities were dismantled by police.
Last month, at the University of Southern California, police arrested 93 protesters while clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment. Later, after the main campus commencement ceremony was canceled, the university installed metal detectors and fencing around campus ahead of school and departmental commencement ceremonies.
At UCLA, the administration and campus police faced intense scrutiny over their handling of pro-Palestinian encampments and counter-protests that erupted in violence and took police hours to quell. On May 2, police arrested more than 200 people and dismantled the camp. UC Chancellor Michael V. Drake announces external investigation into UCLA’s response, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block says amid internal review Welcome.
At Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, police last month arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters who barricaded themselves inside a campus building. The university closed its campus and then moved graduation ceremonies off-campus to locations including a high school and a casino.
Tensions on campus have risen since an Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and took about 240 hostage, followed by Israel’s retaliatory war in the Gaza Strip. Health authorities in Gaza say the war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.
The number of encampments on U.S. campuses grew rapidly last month after Columbia University President Nemat Shafik called on police to arrest at least 100 students who refused to leave the encampments. Police subsequently arrested at least dozens of protesters who occupied campus buildings. Colombia has said it will not divest.
The student divestment movement, part of the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement against Israel, has also come under renewed attack from Jewish organizations across the country, although many Jewish students have led the protests. Jewish groups have called the BDS movement anti-Semitic because they say it aims to isolate and delegitimize the only Jewish people.
Karim reported from Los Angeles, Watanabe reported from Merced, and Wiley reported from Berkeley.
