Emerson College officials on Wednesday warned students camping out in a public alleyway on the school’s downtown Boston campus to protest the college’s involvement with Israel and signal their support for the pro-Palestinian movement that they were in violation of city ordinances and to brace for “imminent law enforcement action.” The encampment sprang up on Sunday night in the wake of the arrest of more than 100 students at a similar encampment at Columbia University in New York City. The students who set up the encampment say they will not leave until the college meets their demands, which include calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and establishing financial transparency.
In an e-mail sent to students Wednesday and posted to the college’s news website, Emerson Today, President Jay Bernhardt and other senior leadership said the commissioners of both the Boston Police and Fire Departments had contacted the college to inform officials that “some actions of the protestors are in direct violation of city ordinances.” Specifically, they said, the tents occupying the alley violate city ordinances prohibiting tents in a right-of-way, public noise violations, fire hazards posed by blocking doors and hydrants and blocking pedestrian access to the alley.
“These are not Emerson College rules but laws and ordinances enforced by the city and the commonwealth,” the statement reads.
College officials also said they had received “credible reports” that some protestors had engaged in “targeted harassment and intimidation” of Jewish supporters of Israel and students, staff, faculty, and neighbors trying to pass through the alley.
“This type of behavior is unacceptable on our campus,” the statement reads.
Emerson said it had placed Windwalker Security staff in the alleyway to ensure the security of its campus.
“Emerson College remains steadfast in its support of community members’ right to peacefully protest,” the statement reads. “However, we must also emphasize that we cannot prevent the enforcement of Boston city ordinances or Massachusetts state law.”
In an Instagram post , Emerson Students for Justice in Palestine, the student group that organized the encampment, called for an emergency walkout and urged students to head to the alleyway.
“Come for the community, come for the education, come for Palestine,” the group wrote.
Campus protests began after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. During the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and noncombatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women, the Associated Press reported.
