
Eric Fang
Signs placed on the quad in front of the encampment.
UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) launched an encampment on the quad outside of Swift Hall at 10 a.m. on Monday, following in the steps of pro-Palestinian groups at numerous other universities that have set up encampments in recent weeks.
Coverage of day two of the encampment is ongoing here.
Day 1 Summary
Today saw the launch of UCUP’s encampment on the quad at 10 a.m. Protestors set up tents and demanded that the University disclose its investments, divest from weapon manufacturers and fossil fuel companies, and provide reparations to Palestine and the South Side.
The day was marked by moments of tension. An online streamer moved around the encampment, attempting to film protestors, including those praying. In the evening, Maroons for Israel rehung Israeli flags, which had been approved by University Student Centers, that had been taken down. Maroons for Israel also received derogatory comments from onlookers. Encampment organizers reminded protestors not to engage with counter protesters or pro-Israel observers.
University President Paul Alivisatos and Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen sent emails that said the demonstration violated the University’s policies while emphasizing the University’s commitment to free speech. UChicago United for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine responded that they will “continue to disrupt business as usual” until UChicago meets the demonstrators’ demands.
April 29, 11:55 p.m.
In an Instagram post co-published by UChicago United for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine, the demonstrators responded to University President Paul Alivisatos’s email by expressing that “[they] will not stand by and attempt to ‘persuade’ the University to stop funding the genocide.” The post went on to describe how the demonstrators had already attempted to reach the University through “rallies, teach-ins, flyering, and marches,” and how the encampment is an “escalatory tactic” in response to the University ignoring these previous efforts.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 11:25 p.m.
Protesters appear to be winding down for the night as encampment quiet hours have commenced.
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 10:32 p.m.
Correction, April 30, 2024, 7:45 a.m.: A previous version of this update claimed the person who made the comment was with a dog. Further review of the video shows the man near a dog, not with one.
Maroons for Israel set up their Israeli flags again. Someone near a dog watching them said, “The dog smells some rats.” This incident was caught on video and confirmed by the Maroon.
Noting that the Israeli flags were going up again, encampment organizers made an announcement telling protestors not to engage with “Zionists” or “counter-protestors,” stressing that confrontations were a threat to the entire encampment.
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief, and Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
April 29, 9:50 p.m.
The string of Israeli flags hung earlier in the day were taken down. The flags, along with the poster on a nearby lamppost, were approved by the University.
This marks 12 hours of the encampment.
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief, and Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor

April 29, 9:34 p.m.
Protesters have formed a circle and are playing bucket drums, chanting: “The people united will never be defeated,” “Free, free Palestine,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” “Get up and take a stand, we are taking back our land,” and “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
A protester using a megaphone asks “What do we want?” The crowd responds, “Justice; shut it down.”
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-Chief
April 29, 9:16 p.m.
Throughout the day, the encampment has drawn the attention of campus organizations, prominent national figures, and various media outlets.
On social media, Doc Films expressed support for protestors. Jewish Voice for Peace, Harper Cafe, Hallowed Grounds, OLAS, and Blacklight Magazine all reposted UChicago United’s promotion of the encampment.
Alex Morey, Director of Campus Rights Advocacy at First Amendment advocacy organization Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), tweeted that “Universities should adopt [UChicago’s] Statement on freedom of expression and the Kalven principles on institutional neutrality. Admins make their lives so much easier with these in place.”
Ben Smith, the editor-in-chief of news organization Semafor and former editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that events at UChicago showed “the benefits of having clear principals [sic] around speech.”
Maroon reporters have been joined at the encampment by television crews from CBS 2, ABC 7, and WGN 9; reporters from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the South Side Weekly, the Hyde Park Herald, Block Club Chicago; and WBEZ, Chicago’s local NPR station. Press TV, Iran’s state-owned English-language news network, also reported from the encampment.
— Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 29, 9 p.m.
The DJs for Palestine event is still ongoing.
University policy states, “To minimize the disruption of academic and administrative activities, music, amplified sound, or other loud noise is permitted generally only between noon and 1:00 p.m. and after 5:00 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends.”
Demonstrators can be seen dancing across the encampment, while others continue to set up new tents in front of Levi Hall. The music is an upbeat mix of techno and pop.
UCPD presence has decreased since the daytime.
— Eva McCord and Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editors-in-Chief
April 29, 8:25 p.m.
The “DJs for Palestine” event has begun.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief

April 29, 8:15 p.m.
Chants of “Free, free Palestine!” have restarted. The size of the encampment has grown since this morning, with tents spanning from the front of Swift Hall to the grass just in front of Kent Chemical Laboratory.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 8:01 p.m.
As the sun sets over the encampment, The Maroon spoke with Novak, a third-year in the College, on UCUP’s plans for feeding protestors.
“Anyone who walks through can grab food, there’s no requirement,” Novak said. “Obviously, we’re trying to feed a lot of people. We want to make sure that there’s food for anyone who comes at any point in the day.”
The encampment has received donations from groups and individuals, as well as local restaurants. They have options for many dietary restrictions, including gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, allergies, halal, and kosher. “Specifically, because it’s the seventh day of Passover, we have food that’s kosher for Passover, which was provided with the help of Jewish Voice for Peace. So the JVP members were the ones who cooked it.” Novak said. “It was just really nice of them to offer to help us with that because there’s additional kinds of dietary restrictions that go on during Passover, and we wanted to make sure to have those available because we know that there are people who are here who observe Passover.”
— Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editor
April 29, 6:38 p.m.
Additional UCPD officers have arrived to the encampment.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief

April 29, 6:29 p.m.
25th Ward alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, who represents the Lower West Side and parts of Little Village and Pilsen, spoke to the encampment: “So today I say to you all: I’m so proud as a City Council member to see the unity of the students, their clarity and their courage.”
Sigcho-Lopez also compared the encampment to protests against the Vietnam War: “Make no mistake about it: what we see is history being played out again.”
Sigcho-Lopez expressed his pride at seeing “unity in action” on UChicago’s campus, and commended the demonstrators for standing up in the face of opposition from “reactionaries” and “fascists.”
“There’s no mistake that the resistance starts on college campuses,” Sigcho-Lopez said. “Those reactionary hypocrites that use religion to justify attacks on human dignity and the genocide of 44,000 human beings should be ashamed of themselves and I stand in full solidarity of the movement here at The University of Chicago.”
He ended his speech with chants of “Free, free Palestine!”
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; and Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editor

April 29, 5:37 p.m.
As the encampment neared its eighth hour, Bill Ayers addressed a group of demonstrators gathered in a section of the quad. Ayers co-founded the left-wing militant group Weather Underground in the 1970s.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor

April 29, 4 p.m.
Maroons for Israel informed the Maroon that the students who had hung the lamppost poster and string of Israeli flags early in the day were not counter-protestors to the encampment. The students were re-hanging a poster that had been previously taken down between its posting on Friday and this morning.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
April 29, 3:52 p.m.
Dean of Students in the University Michele Rasmussen has released an email entitled “Demonstration on the Main Quad.” In the email, Rasmussen writes that the “individuals involved [with the encampment] are on notice that the University is prepared to take further action in the event of continued violations of our time, place, and manner policies.”
“We will continue working to balance the University’s deep commitment to free expression and open discourse with the need to uphold safety and carry on the vital work being done across the University every day,” the email ends.
– Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
April 29, 3:30 p.m.
Demonstrators are painting banners in support of Palestine in front of Swift Hall. At least one “Stand [with] Israel” sign has been painted by a student protestor.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief


April 29, 3:23 p.m.
University President Paul Alivisatos has released an email entitled “Concerning the Encampment.” The email states that “I believe the protesters should also consider that an encampment, with all the etymological connections of the word to military origins, is a way of using force of a kind rather than reason to persuade others. For a short period of time, however, the impact of a modest encampment does not differ so much from a conventional rally or march. Given the importance of the expressive rights of our students, we may allow an encampment to remain for a short time despite the obvious violations of policy—but those violating university policy should expect to face disciplinary consequences.” The email went on to state that “[UChicago] only will intervene when what might have been an exercise of free expression blocks the learning or expression of others or that substantially disrupts the functioning or safety of the University.”
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 2:04–3:00 p.m.
Shortly before the Dhuhr began, a man attempted to record demonstrators’ faces while they sat in a circle conversing. The demonstrators held up keffiyehs and paper signs to block the man from taking photos. A UCPD officer told the man to stop. The same man attempted to disturb the ongoing prayer. Demonstrators again formed a barrier with Palestinian flags and keffiyehs.
The man is a streamer on the streaming platform Kick, who uses the username Waxiest. Users on the livestream chat allege that Waxiest was recently on the University of Minnesota’s campus disturbing pro-Palestine demonstrators in a similar manner.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor; and Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor

April 29, 1:57 p.m.
The Dhuhr prayer, the second of the five daily Islamic prayers, has begun. Conversations on the quad have hushed to a low murmur. During the prayer, demonstrators who are not praying quietly wave approximately a dozen Palestinian flags.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 1:12 p.m.
The rally has concluded with approximately 300 demonstrators in attendance. The final speaker closed the rally by advising those in attendance to “not talk to cops or Zionists.” The crowd then chanted, “Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe.”
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 29, 12:56 p.m.
Students observing the rally from the outskirts of the quad shared their concerns about the encampment.
“I’m just worried that it’s going to turn into something like it’s turned into at other schools and I’m going to be told to go back to Poland or go back to Germany. Or people are going to praise the death of my family,” a third-year Israeli student in the College said.
“I think that everybody here is wasting their time because I don’t think that the University will respond to this kind of pressure,” Ben, a third-year in the College, said. “It makes me think that all of this is just a very performative act to signal to a lot of their fellow students that they support a cause.”
– Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
April 29, 12:40 p.m.
As a speaker from UChicago Jews for a Free Palestine spoke at the rally, a director and rabbi of Chabad attempted to walk through the encampment area before protestors stopped him. UCPD told protestors that they cannot block the path, and the rabbi proceeded to walk in front of the rally’s speaker. He stood behind the speakers as they spoke.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Anu Vashist, Managing Editor; and Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editor
April 29, 12:19 p.m.
Over 200 demonstrators are outside Levi Hall at a rally UChicago United for Palestine organized at the encampment. The crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Israel bombs, UChicago pays; how many kids did you kill today?”
The chants were called over speakers connected to a portable generator and accompanied by clapping and beating on homemade bucket drums. “Intifada, intifada, long live the intifada,” a speaker chanted over a megaphone. “There is only one solution: intifada revolution.”
“Hey Paul, are you scared yet? Because you should be grateful! You should be grateful that all of these students are reminding you of your conscience!” a speaker named Moon from the Palestine Assembly for Liberation and Jisoor said, referring to University president Paul Alivisatos. “You have dropped it, and you have abandoned it. You should be grateful that these students are reminding you of your goddamned humanity.”
“Paul, where do you stand? Because you’re not standing with us! And there doesn’t seem to be so fine a line between academic integrity and the freedom to speak against genocide,” they called.
The next speaker, Yaa Angie from the group We, Not Me, spoke on systemic racism and solidarity between Black Americans and Palestinians.
“Black people in America are experiencing low-level warfare. We are experiencing genocide. So we know all too well the practices that are taking place in Palestine, because those same practices have been employed [in our community],” Angie said. “In uniting in solidarity and lifting up the issues of what’s taking place in Palestine, we say free Palestine from the river to the sea. We say free Palestine from the Mississippi river to the Mediterranean sea.”
A third speaker named Saif from the Chicago Chapter of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network cited the encampment’s inspiration from the more than 100 solidarity encampments across the country. They also cited the Kent State shootings in 1970, an instance of police brutality by the Ohio National Guard against students protesting the Vietnam War.
A fourth speaker named Sanya, representing UChicago United for Palestine, reiterated the demands of the encampment, ending with a chant of “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest!”
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Anu Vashist, Managing Editor; Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editor; and Austin Zeglis, Senior News Reporter

April 29, 11:27 a.m.
Three students holding a string of Israeli flags appeared across from the encampment on the quad. The students were observed by seven UCPD officers as they hoisted a sign from a lamppost that reads, “When they show you who they are, believe them.”
The crowd of students around the light pole has grown to approximately a dozen people. The demonstrators received prior approval from the University.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief

April 29, 11:15 a.m.
The crowd has steadily grown in size since the encampment was launched at 10 a.m. The Maroon estimates the crowd to be roughly 200 people.
– Peter Maheras, News Editor
April 29, 10:40 a.m.
UChicago United’s Instagram, in a joint post with UChicago Against Displacement and Students for Justice in Palestine at UChicago, released an Encampment Events schedule, with a rally scheduled for noon and an Environmental Justice Task Force Teach-in at 1 p.m.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Austin Zeglis, Senior News Reporter
April 29, 10:30 a.m.
One of the organizers began speaking to the crowd and told them, “Do not engage with Zionists.”
The crowd, led by another speaker, began chants including “Free, free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea.” He told the members of the encampment to “get settled in and get ready for a long day of programming,” which was met with cheers.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief, and Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
April 29, 10:18 a.m.
A man began yelling “Don’t touch me!” to another man while walking through the encampment. He was wearing noise-canceling headphones and carrying a white trash bag and a small bottle with a red spout. The air became filled with a noxious smell.
Members of the encampment verbally confronted the individual about the substance inside the bottle.
University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) officers searched the trash bag after the individual dumped an unidentified clear liquid from the bottle onto the grass across from the encampment.
UCPD later escorted the individual away from the encampment to speak with him before bringing the individual to Rosenwald Hall.
– Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Peter Maheras, News Editor; and Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
