CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — DePaul University administrators have reached a stalemate in their negotiations with anti-war protesters who set up a tent encampment on the university's quad, officials said Saturday night.
Under terms proposed by the university — obtained by WBBM Newsradio — the encampment would need to be cleared out by Sunday at noon.
Less than two hours before that noon deadline, though, the Lincoln Park campus quad appeared quiet and peaceful.
One organizer on Sunday morning said they weren’t anticipating that they will be removed.
In its letter to protest organizers, DePaul President Robert Manuel said the university would not agree to refer to the war in Gaza as a genocide or a scholasticide.
Manuel said DePaul would commit to engage coalition leadership in ongoing discussions of the university’s investments, though he added that the meeting would be “informational only” and said it “does not mean that the board will consider the idea of divesting from companies doing business with Israel.”
Manuel’s letter also included several steps that the university was willing to take in an effort to “think of the future of this dialogue in positive terms.”
If the protesters agreed to the university’s terms, Manuel wrote that the university would not take disciplinary actions against students, faculty, staff or alumni for policy violations that were committed as part of the encampment protests. The university would also look the other way on any physical damage to the campus property.
The president left the door open, though, to investigating or taking disciplinary action for “individual misconduct policy violations” that took place before, during or after the encampment.
This is a developing story and will be updated as WBBM Newsradio learns more.
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