Johns Hopkins University president calls on protesters to end encampment on campus

BALTIMORE - Ron Daniels, President of Johns Hopkins University, called on protesters Thursday to end their encampment on the campus.

The president wrote in a letter that the university will "take additional steps as necessary," including disciplinary and legal actions.

The Hopkins Justice Collective, among other organizations, has taken responsibility for leading the charge in calling on the university administration to divest from Israel as the death toll in Gaza rises, according to the Health Ministry. 

In an area known as "the Beach," protesters set up additional tents in what's being referred to as a "liberated zone" of the "JHU Palestine Solidarity Encampment" for people to camp on campus.

The demonstration in Baltimore has remained peaceful and has yielded no reported violent clashes or arrests. 

However, Daniels cites "health and safety" as concerns for the encampment.

"We believe that the risks to personal safety from these conditions are real and will only increase with time," Daniels said.

Universities have differed in their approach on how to clear out encampments as commencement ceremonies near. Some institutions are continuing negotiations, while others are turning to force and ultimatums that have resulted in clashes with police.

Dozens of people have been arrested on college campuses in California, Texas, Utah and Virginia. 

Police on Tuesday entered the Manhattan campus of Columbia University, where the encampments began, to clear tents and a building the protesters were occupying. More than 100 protesters were arrested last week on the campus.

Violence broke out last weekend at UCLA in California where pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups breached a physical barrier. 

Northwestern University near Chicago said it reached an agreement with students and faculty representing the majority of protesters. It allows peaceful demonstrations through the end of spring classes, but only one aid tent may remain mounted.

Daniels also said he wants the encampments to end at JHU because it "goes to its inconsistency with the core values of the university."

"We recognize that the encampment is useful in seizing our attention. It forces us to confront different frames or narratives on the conflict," Daniels said. "But that is as far as it goes. By physically demarcating a space and by gathering, studying, and chanting with only those people who subscribe to a similar worldview on an incredibly complex subject, you fail to honor the university's foundational imperative for conversation across difference, for conversation that aims to test, evaluate, and understand competing claims."

The encampments on campus started Monday night.

That's when school leaders thought they had an agreement with protest organizers, which would allow protests from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. if the encampments were removed.

The next day, organizers said that a deal wasn't reached and that they weren't leaving until their demands are met.

They are demanding the university cut ties completely with Israel as the Hamas war continues and the death toll in Gaza rises. 

Hopkins is also being pressured to cut ties with Tel-Aviv University in Israel, where a two-year Master of Arts program partnership was established in recent years.    

"I am urging you to change course," Daniels wrote. "To move toward a solution born of good-faith dialogue and mutual respect so that the Beach is fully restored to its place as a destination for the use of all our students. As I shared with your representatives in our long conversation on Monday night, I remain open to further meetings toward a peaceful resolution."

You can read the president's full letter here.