Police clear pro-Palestinian encampment at University of Chicago; no arrests

CHICAGO (CBS) — Police in riot gear disbanded the pro-Palestinian encampments at the University of Chicago early Tuesday morning. 

Unlike Northwestern University, which saw its protesters vacate after terms of an agreement were reached, at UChicago the school cited mounting safety concerns as the reason behind the predawn dismantlement.

University of Chicago Police began clearing out the encampment on the Main Quad around 4:30 a.m., dismantling tents that had been set up for several days. They also set up barricades to prevent protesters from returning to the quad, but they took those barricades down by around 8 a.m. after the quad had been cleared.

There was a large University of Chicago police presence, and protesters were escorted from the protest site. The remaining protesters were ordered to "disperse immediately" or be criminally charged. UChicago said as of 8:30 a.m., no protesters were arrested.  

Crowds of protesters chanting and locking arms faced officers wearing shields and heavy protective gear. A yellow fence was placed between the police and protesters. 

Just before 6:45 a.m., police began pushing the barricades in an attempt to forcibly move protesters. 

The police intervention ended with no arrests or physical confrontations.  

Protesters returned to the quad after the barricades came down, but left by around 9 a.m., when heavy rain started falling. Protesters at the time said they planned to return.

CBS 2 reached out to the faculty and student protest leaders to see if there are any specific calls for action after the dismantling. There had been no response as of late Tuesday afternoon.

"Final Notice to Students" passed out to protesters 

Protesters were given papers titled "Final Notice to Students Participating in Encampment on Main Quad." The threat of arrest was written on the notices. 

The university stated, "This is your final warning to leave the encampment." 

The warning said that failure to leave the encampment would result in "disciplinary action," including being "immediately placed on emergency interim leave of absence from the University."

UChicago United for Palestine also claimed that the protesters received the written notices an hour and a half after the police intervention on the Quad had already happened.  

Construction equipment was brought into the area early Tuesday.

Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor in UChicago's Department of Comparative Human Development, joined protesters Tuesday morning and said they "feared" this action would be taken by police. 

"It's really devastating, and I think the viciousness of this attack, I mean, many of us were here at 3 a.m. because we wanted to be around in case there was another raid," Abdelhadi said.

"Ending the Encampment"

University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos, in a statement to members of the university community, wrote:

"Last Monday and Friday, I shared how we would approach making decisions about the encampment. Protest is a strongly protected form of speech in the UChicago culture, and the demonstrators had multiple opportunities to express their views. But many aspects of the protests also interfered with the free expression, learning, and work of others. Safety concerns have mounted over the last few days, and the risks were increasing too rapidly for the status quo to hold. This morning, the University intervened to end the encampment.

"The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests. Where appropriate, disciplinary action will proceed.
 
"Over multiple days, including through the weekend, we engaged with the representatives of the encampment to work toward a resolution. There were areas where we were able to achieve common ground, but ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the University's principled dedication to institutional neutrality. As such, we could not come to a resolution. 
 
"The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest."

CBS 2 wanted to know what safety issues exactly emerged between Monday and Tuesday.

In an email to the university community, Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen and Associate Vice President for Safety and Security Eric Heath wrote: "Since the encampment began last Monday, the University has provided the greatest possible leeway for freedom of expression, carefully monitoring the growing number of serious disruptions, policy violations, and safety hazards that the occupation has caused."

The email continued, "The encampment violated the University's commitment to free expression by monopolizing the center of campus – entirely obstructing physical access to a large part of the Quad, disrupting classes in nearby buildings, and contributing to an increasing unsafe environment of confrontation, particularly the events of last Friday."

The university said fair warning was given to those sleeping in tents – with UCPD officers and other staff members directing protesters to leave ahead of the police intervention, and warning that those who refused to do so could be arrested.

But some protesters said there was not such a warning.

On X—formerly Twitter—Abdelhadi called the school's framing of the morning "a lie. Students were not given a warning. Police watched and waited until faculty and legal observers left. They waited until students had gone to sleep, and they came in yelling, throwing chairs and items."

Not all students were upset by the dismantling. U of C student Declan Hurley, who led a petition to have protesters removed, estimates more than half of the student body was ready to return campus to normal.

"This encampment was illegal, disruptive, obstructive and incredibly dangerous," Hurley said. "We had people from off campus operating on our Quad for days on end, and I'm so happy to see our quad liberated."

As for what is next, the school said it will not allow for another round of indefinite disruptions.

"UCPD officers have acted with purposeful restraint throughout the period of encampment," Rasmussen and Heath wrote. "That will continue to the greatest extent possible while protecting public safety and preventing disruption."

Later in the day, brightly vested security teams manned the Main Quad and each of the nearly two dozen buildings around it—as protesters signaled their fight is not over.

Talks between pro-Palestinian protesters, university "suspended" Monday

Those talks between the pro-Palestinian protesters and the University of Chicago were "suspended" on Monday.  

The encampment has been in place at the U of C since Monday of last week. It was first set up on the Main Quad just north of Swift Hall and has been growing ever since. The students are part of a nationwide movement calling for immediate divestment from companies profiting from Israeli business amid the war in Gaza.

The protesters want the university to divest all funding to companies profiting from the war between Israel and Hamas – like manufacturers supplying weapons used in Israel.

The school's Faculty for Justice in Palestine— a group of more than 120 faculty and staff calling that was involved in the encampment protest—claimed the university issued a midnight Sunday night deadline for taking down the encampment. The group gathered Monday morning on the steps of Edward H. Levi Hall, the U of C's administration building at 5801 S. Ellis Ave.

On Friday, campus police in riot gear separated protesters who are part of the UChicago United for Palestine encampment and a group of counter-protesters carrying American and Israeli flags, following a clash between the two groups.