SWARTHMORE, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A group of Swarthmore College students is camping out in the middle of campus as part of a pro-Palestinian protest, the same demonstration as swaths of other student groups that have taken over Columbia, Yale and schools across the country.
Swarthmore students set up an encampment of about 20 tents in a campus courtyard, known as Parrish Beach, as part of their protest, demanding the school cut ties with Israel and divest from businesses aiding the war between Israel and Hamas.
Student protester Dart said organizers are making arrangements in case the police are called and demonstrators are arrested, but this protest is seemingly much calmer than ones taking place at other schools. Dart said Swarthmore students want to show support for citizens in Gaza and solidarity with other college protesters.
“[Swarthmore] must make its investment portfolio public so that we can hold them accountable,” they said. “A lot of people have seen the encampments throughout colleges in the states … as a beacon of hope, in a way that’s really empowering for us.”
Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University. The arrests backfired though, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.
By Thursday, police in Boston and Los Angeles said they had arrested protesters at schools in those cities, and at least one university — the University of Southern California — announced that it had closed its campus. Protests on Wednesday on the campuses of at least two universities involved clashes with police, including USC and the University of Texas at Austin. California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt shut down its campus for the rest of the week.
The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself.
Protests on many campuses have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups. The groups largely act independently, though students say they’re inspired by peers at other universities.
Read more: A look at the Gaza war protests that have emerged on US college campuses
At Princeton University in New Jersey, a professor posted on social media that two students were arrested, evicted and permanently barred from campus after setting up an encampment in a campus courtyard.
Administrators warned students in a letter not to build such encampments, noting that building takeovers are not permitted due to safety concerns for protesters and others. The letter said anyone who violates this policy would be removed and barred from campus, jeopardizing students’ ability to finish the semester.
“Swarthmore is a little different than Columbia,” Swarthmore student Dart continued. “It’s possible that we will never have to deal with that, and that would be great, honestly. We don’t want our students to be arrested.”
Swarthmore’s commencement ceremony is about a month away. “They’re having graduation here and the question is, I think, will they force us out?” they asked.
For now, the atmosphere on campus is calm.
In a statement, Swarthmore officials noted that these national protests “come at the start of Passover and as antisemitism across the country and around the world is on the rise. We fully condemn antisemitism, just as we do Islamophobia, anti-Arab hate, and all forms of discrimination.”
They said the college is exploring realistic ways to bring this “demonstration to a peaceful conclusion.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.