Harvard University encampment comes down, ending Boston-area campus tent protests

CAMBRIDGE - The encampment on Harvard Yard, set up on campus nearly three weeks ago by pro-Palestinian protesters, is coming to an end.

The student group "Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine" announced on social media Tuesday morning that the encampment is over. It began on April 24 and was the last remaining tent encampment at a Boston-area college. SkyEye footage showed tents and other items still sitting on Harvard Yard shortly after the announcement.

"Encampments are a tactic - a big and beautiful one - in a larger strategy of divestment," the group said. "Here at Harvard, we believe the utility of this tactic has passed, and we have decided to re-group and carry out this protracted struggle through other means."

Will students at the Harvard encampment be disciplined?

The group said Harvard agreed to retract suspension notices issued to students last week and hold meetings about divesting from Israel. But Harvard says that's not quite accurate.

A university spokesperson said suspensions and discipline are up to individual schools at Harvard. And a meeting with students will cover the university's endowment - not divestment, which Harvard opposes.

"With the disruption to the educational environment caused by the encampment now abated, I will ask that the Schools promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence," interim president Alan Garber said in a message to the Harvard community. "I will also ask disciplinary boards within each School to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment."

Harvard community split over encampment end

Harvard political science professor Ryan Enos praised the University and Harvard students for ending the encampment peacefully. 

"I think this really speaks to Harvard's values and all the things that it says it represents like looking for the truth and open inquiry," Enos said. 

Next year, Enos says the university should remain committed to open dialogue. 

"I don't think discussion and saying we're going to have discussion should ever be thought of as giving in," he said. 

But not everyone agrees. Harvard alumnus Rotem Spigler spent Monday walking outside of Harvard Yard, draped in an Israeli flag. She says the University should not have given in to the protesters. 

"Honestly, giving them more leeway and more leverage, this will just get worse next year because when you teach kids that you scream loud enough you get what you want, you're only going to get louder screams next year," Spigler said.  

Turmoil at Harvard University

Undergraduate applications to Harvard dropped 5% this year after a tumultuous period on the Ivy League campus, including the short-lived tenure of university president Claudine Gay. 

Gay resigned in January after six months on the job. She was sharply criticized over Congressional testimony she gave last fall, in which she said language that is antisemitic does not necessarily qualify as bullying or harassment. 

In April, the Anti-Defamation League gave Harvard, MIT, Tufts University and UMass failing grades for "not doing the basics to protect Jewish students."

Harvard is set to host its commencement ceremonies on campus on May 23.

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• Cambridge News