After weeks of protests and disruptions on dozens of US campuses in solidarity with Palestine, a handful of universities have reached agreements with pro-Palestinian protesters, fending off possible interruptions to final exams and graduation ceremonies. These agreements stand out amidst the chaotic scenes and over 2,300 arrests at 44 campuses since April 17. Some schools, including Columbia and UCLA, have experienced tent encampments and building takeovers that hindered classes.
The deals struck at Brown, Northwestern, and Rutgers include commitments by the universities to at least review their investments in Israel or to hear demands for ceasing business with the Middle Eastern nation, a longtime US ally. Many protester demands have focused on alleged links to the Israeli military as the conflict in Gaza continues. The agreements to even discuss divestment mark a significant step in a controversial issue that has been debated for years, with opponents of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel accusing it of veering into antisemitism.
While the colleges have made concessions around amnesty for protesters and funding for Middle Eastern studies, they have refrained from making promises about altering their investments. Israel has labeled the protests as antisemitic, while critics of Israel argue that such allegations are used to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been recorded making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, protest organizers – some of whom are Jewish – maintain that it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.
The University of Minnesota resumed operations on Thursday after administrators announced an agreement to end an encampment in the heart of the Minneapolis campus. Interim President Jeff Ettinger stated that demonstrators agreed not to disrupt final exams or commencements. In return, student organizations will have an opportunity to address the university’s board at a meeting next week, where protesters are anticipated to demand divestment from Israel. Ettinger expressed optimism about the progress made, acknowledging that while there is still work to be done, conversations with other student groups affected by the situation in Palestine are planned.
Similarly, demonstrators at Rutgers University – where finals were suspended due to the protests on its New Brunswick campus – began dismantling their tents on Thursday afternoon. The state university agreed to establish an Arab Cultural Center and refrain from retaliating against any students involved in the protest camp. Chancellor Francine Conway acknowledged the protesters’ request for divestment from companies doing business with Israel and for Rutgers to sever ties with Tel Aviv University. She stated that the request is under review but emphasized that such decisions are beyond the university’s administrative purview.
Protesters at Brown University in Rhode Island consented to dismantle their pro-Palestinian encampment on Tuesday. University officials said students could present arguments for divesting Brown’s endowment from companies contributing to and profiting from the conflict in Gaza. Additionally, Brown President Christina Paxson will request an advisory committee to provide a recommendation on divestment by September 30, which will be presented to the school’s governing corporation for a vote in October.
Northwestern’s Deering Meadow in suburban Chicago also fell silent after an agreement was reached on Monday. The deal limited protest activity in exchange for the reestablishment of an advisory committee on university investments and other commitments. The arrangement sparked dissent from both sides, with some pro-Palestinian protesters condemning it as a departure from their original demands and supporters of Israel criticizing it as a “cowardly” capitulation. Consequently, seven out of 18 members resigned from a university committee tasked with advising the administration on addressing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and expressions of hatred on campus. They expressed their inability to continue serving amid the presence of antisemitism at Northwestern in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, arrests of protesters continued at other institutions. About a dozen protesters who refused police orders to leave a tent encampment at New York University were arrested early Friday, with approximately 30 more leaving voluntarily, according to NYU spokesperson John Beckman. The school requested the intervention of the New York Police Department (NYPD), Beckman said. NYPD officers also cleared an encampment at The New School in Greenwich Village. Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry posted on Twitter that the school asked the department to disperse the protesters. No arrests were reported.
Authorities stated that an additional 133 protesters were arrested when police dispersed a pro-Palestinian encampment at the State University of New York at New Paltz starting late Thursday. At the University of Tennessee, nine protesters were arrested, including seven students who Chancellor Donde Plowman said would also face sanctions under the school’s code of conduct.
The student protest movement began on April 17 at Columbia University, where student protesters set up an encampment to call for an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict. According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Israel launched its offensive in Gaza in response to an attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the capture of approximately 250 hostages.
More than 100 people were arrested late Tuesday when police dismantled the Columbia encampment. One officer accidentally discharged his gun inside Hamilton Hall during the operation, but no injuries were reported, the NYPD announced on Thursday. At the University of California, Los Angeles, over 200 people were taken into custody early Thursday after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave. Police dismantled a fortified encampment’s barricade made of plywood, pallets, metal fences, and dumpsters, before removing canopies and tents.
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block informed alumni on a call on Thursday afternoon that administrators had attempted to find a peaceful resolution and that the campus had been peaceful until counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment late Tuesday, resulting in at least 15 injuries. By Wednesday, it had become clear that police would need to dismantle the encampment, which had transformed into “a bunker,” Block explained. Police used loudspeakers to warn the crowd of impending arrests if they did not disperse. While hundreds left voluntarily, over 200 remained and were arrested.
