New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Students may face discipline for protests
Officials at two Connecticut colleges are warning student protesters they may face discipline if their demonstrations do not adhere to school rules.
The warnings come after protesters affiliated with various pro-Palestinian groups held a peaceful march through downtown New Haven on Sunday afternoon, with participants calling for an end to to the war in Gaza.
Following the march, a small protest was also held at Yale University. Students had set up a tent encampment at an area known as Cross Campus in front of the Sterling Memorial Library. The encampment is the second erected by protesters, who have been staged at Cross Campus since since police removed their original encampment at Beinecke Plaza last week.
The university’s public affairs office said students began chanting and “blocked off walkways.”
“This space is adjacent to residential colleges, where many students are studying for final exams. Student protestors have since been asked to remove these tents as they violate the university’s policy, and they have been reminded of the university’s policies on the use of outdoor space, postering and chalking, and the use of amplified sound,” the school said.
“Since the protests began, the university and the Yale Police Department have worked to reduce the likelihood of confrontations and arrests.”
During Sunday’s activity, students interlinked arms to guard the tent encampment, while a person on a bullhorn led participants in protest songs and chants.
Demonstrators were issued a letter, warning them that continuing to occupy the space “without regard for university policies” could put them at risk for “university discipline and arrest or re-arrest.”
“Discipline could include suspension,” according to the letter, which was dated Sunday and signed by Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis “on behalf of University Leadership.”
A copy of the letter was posted on Instagram by groups affiliated with the Yale student protests, now ongoing for weeks.
At the University of Connecticut, school officials also issued a letter, informing students about possible repercussions from the demonstrations.
UConn’s letter noted that “larger-scale outdoor gatherings” are “permitted” but “safety, health and basic community standards need to be recognized and maintained, both in the interest of those who are gathering as well as other community members who may be impacted.”
A UConn spokesperson said as of Monday that no students associated with the protest have been “subject to discipline under the UConn Student Code of Conduct.”
The letter included a list of items banned at outdoor gatherings that included weapons, “tents/tarps/encampments,” generators, electrical cords, propane equipment, stoves, heaters and open flames.
The letter also noted the school started its traditional quiet hours at midnight Monday.
“They are in effect 24 hours a day each day until commencement in recognition of the study period in advance of final exams, and the exams themselves.”
“Once again, largerscale outdoor gatherings are permitted on our campuses provided they are peaceful; are held in accordance with university policy and practice; do not disrupt campus operations; and do not restrict access
to a public space for any member of the university community, including university employees,” UConn’s letter said.
“Should an outdoor gathering or its participants fail to observe these standards, the University will take appropriate action to address this,” the letter continued.
The warnings by the two universities come as campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war have roiled colleges and universities around the country, starting with Columbia University in New York. After Columbia officials called in New York Police Department in an attempt to quell the protest, leading to more than 100 arrests, Yale students set up an encampment in front of the Schwarzman Center in an area known as Beinecke Plaza. The protesters remained there through last weekend before police cleared the site last Monday, arresting dozens who refused to leave.
The Yale protesters later moved to the area at Cross Campus where they remain.
In the letter to the protesters at Cross Campus, Lewis said he expected them to “adhere to the policies and expectations of our university.”
“Many of your fellow students are preparing for finals and your unauthorized use of Cross Campus impedes their ability to student,” the letter said. “Students are also reporting concerns about chants and other behavior of those currently occupying Cross Campus, including the exclusion of students from using parts of Cross Campus, a public space, unless they declare political agreement with the protesters.”
Yale and UConn are not the only colleges facing protests over the war. At Wesleyan University in Middletown, some students have called for their school’s endowment to be divested from companies profiting from the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, echoing calls by the protesters at Columbia, Yale and UConn.
Like the demonstrations at Columbia, Yale, and UConn, protesters also set up tents at Wesleyan.
The Yale protesters have called for the school to “disclose and divest” its investments in weapon-makers. The panel that advises the school’s endowment has already said it has no plans to do so, because weapons manufacturing didn’t meet the “grave social injury” prerequisite for divestment.
At UConn, students have called for the school to end its ties with Pratt & Whitney, the aircraft engine manufacturer, as well as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies.
The unrest also comes as college and universities leaders have faced mounting pressure from lawmakers and alumni over instances of antisemitism tied to the protests.
During a news conference at Columbia University last week, U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson suggested calling in the U.S. National Guard to quell the unrest.
And in a letter to Yale President Peter Salovey, the chair of the school’s Jewish alumni association demanded “there be immediate removal of any protesters impeding free passage through any portion of the campus by physical blockage or intimidation.”
That came after the school’s newspaper reported people were being turned away from the Cross Campus protest area if they didn’t agree to the area’s community guidelines, which included “being committed to Palestinian liberation,” the paper reported.