NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Pro-Palestinian protesters at Rutgers University in New Jersey faced a Thursday deadline to leave their encampment on campus, and after reaching a resolution with administrators in which some demands were met and others remain under review, the demonstrators voluntarily dispersed.
Rutgers University–New Brunswick postponed Thursday morning academic activities, including exams, at the College Avenue Campus location over an "anticipated escalation of protest activities."
The university set a 4 p.m. deadline for protesters to leave their encampment on the Voorhees Mall, where they were for days. With law enforcement intervention looming, protesters voluntarily dispersed and left the encampment just before the deadline.
"We value free speech and the right to protest, but it should not come at the cost of our students’ education and safety," President Jonathan Holloway said in a letter setting the deadline earlier in the day. "We strive to balance these rights and maintain a safe and secure environment for our students to learn and succeed."
In a message posted online, the school's chancellor Francine Conway wrote that officials had learned the group Students for Justice in Palestine had called for a rally on the mall that was "intended to disrupt finals for our students." Ultimately dozens of exams were canceled, with an impact on 1,000 students.
Despite these disruptions, Conway said in an update following the dispersment that "constructive dialogue" between protesting students and leadership made a peaceful resolution possible.
"Despite the myriad ways to address the national movement, our focus has remained on ensuring our students' safety and our university's smooth operation," Conway wrote. "This agreement opens the door for ongoing dialogue and better addresses the needs of our Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian student body, which numbers over 7,000."
Protesting students voiced their desire for representation at Rutgers through a cultural center, diversity initiatives, an expansion of Middle Eastern studies and other programs. Conway provided a comprehensive list of student requests, with a direct response to all 10 protester demands from the Office of the Chancellor, and noted that the agreement “is predicated on the absence of further disruptions and adherence to University policies.”
One of the requests, consistent across the national movement, is to divest from companies engaged in Israel, while also demanding the university sever ties with Tel Aviv University. Conway said that these decisions fall “outside our administrative scope,” but that the divestment request is under review.
“As per the Rutgers University Policy on Disruptions, we do not condone this morning's disruption but recognize the necessity of balancing free speech and peaceful protest with our educational, research, and operational imperatives,” Conway said.
Another demand was that Rutgers accept at least 10 displaced Gazan students to study at the university on scholarship, to which administrators said it would "work with a committee of students, faculty, and staff to implement support for 10 displaced Palestinian students to finish their education at Rutgers.”
While the university is committed to non-retaliation for peaceful protest, Conway said that individual students involved may still be subject to the Code of Student Conduct.
Meanwhile, 29 people were arrested by state and county police around 12:15 a.m. outside Staller Center on the campus in Stony Brook, where demonstrators had also been protesting the Israel-Gaza war.
People from "outside our campus community" were among those arrested for violation laws and university policies, according to a statement from the school, which is part of the State University of New York.
"What began as a peaceful demonstration escalated to include intimidation and harassment of other students and the erection of tents in violation of the University’s clearly stated policy," school officials said.
Administrators "made every effort to avert this outcome" and "de-escalate the growing tensions," including offering to set up a meeting Wednesday evening to discuss their demands with leadership in exchange for departing the Staller steps, officials said, but the offer was rejected.
"We explained that Stony Brook has no direct investments in Israel or weapons manufacturers, that SBU does not support the BDS movement, and that we will not limit the freedom of our faculty and students to be involved in research, travel, and the free exchange of ideas necessitated by their academic research and scholarship," Stony Brook President Maurie McInnis told Newsday.
Additional arrests were reported at another SUNY school, the University at Buffalo. A total of 16 people were arrested late Wednesday after failing to comply with an order to disperse.
The encampments are part of a larger effort by students nationwide to protest the war in Gaza and get schools to cut financial ties with Israel. More than 2,000 people have been arrested in the protests nationwide as of Thursday. The protests have also set off a national conversation about antisemitism on college campuses.
Earlier this week, the NYPD arrested hundreds of people in protests at Columbia University and the City College of New York, including dozens who'd occupied Columbia's iconic Hamilton Hall.
Mayor Eric Adams said the NYPD had found "outside agitators" had infiltrated the Columbia protest and had planned an escalation, leading to the decision to raid the hall. Demonstrators and a number of lawmakers have criticized the city's response, including U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, of New York, who wrote on X, "The militarization of college campuses, extensive police presence, and arrest of hundreds of students are in direct opposition to the role of education as a cornerstone of our democracy."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.