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.
This article is being updated as the situation develops.
Coverage from days one, two, three, four, and five of the encampment can be read on the Chicago Maroon.
Day 6 Summary
After yesterday’s heightened tensions, the sixth day of the encampment saw fewer major confrontations. The University released a statement on yesterday’s arrest of an adult male, which they said was “unrelated to the protest activity.” The University said an unregistered handgun was found in the individual’s car.
Negotiations between encampment leaders and University administrators occurred throughout the day and are expected to restart early Sunday morning.
Around 2 p.m., the launch of an encampment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago drew attention away from the UChicago encampment. Speakers at a UChicago rally encouraged protesters to bring support to SAIC: “They’re at risk, we’re not, so we encourage you to travel there.”
Speakers today included 35th Ward Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 8th District County Board Commissioner Anthony Quezada, and Reverend Jesse Jackson. The Maroon spoke with U.S. Representative Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), who visited the encampment and encouraged protesters to seek peaceful solutions as opposed to “a repeat” of the events at Columbia earlier this week.
May 4, 11:41 p.m.
There is significantly reduced police presence on the quad and immediate vicinity. No officers are consistently on the quad, 57th Street, or 58th Street, with at most one officer intermittently present.
This is a departure from previous days, when at least two, and often more, officers were visibly present on the quad at most times.
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
May 4, 11:16 p.m.
The Maroon observed an unidentified individual on a bicycle grabbing an Israeli flag from a lamppost on the southern side of the quad and leaving with it.
Last night, one of the two remaining banners set up by Maroons for Israel went missing.
— Sabrina Chang and Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editors
May 4, 11:06 p.m.
Negotiations have ended for the night and are expected to resume in the morning, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.
— Maroon Staff
May 4, 10:27 p.m.
UChicago Faculty Forward, which represents non-tenure-track faculty at UChicago, posted a statement regarding the encampment on X at 9:31 p.m.
In its statement, titled “Faculty Forward Statement on Freedom of Speech and Right to Protest,” Faculty Forward’s executive committee said it “unequivocally supports the rights of our members to freedom of speech and to participate in peaceful protest without fear of repression.”
Faculty Forward also urged administrators to refrain from deploying police to respond to the encampment. “We urge the University to refrain from any attempt to use its police force or other police agencies to arrest peaceful protestors and their supporters or to otherwise interfere with the encampment,” the statement reads.
“If the University administration were to escalate in this way, it would represent not only a serious infringement on activity that is both constitutionally protected and fundamental to the free exchange of ideas this University publicly espouses but also an irreparable breach of trust between administration and the community it purports to serve.”
— Anushree Vashist, Managing Editor
May 4, 10:25 p.m.
At 10:18 p.m., a rally began led by a UCUP member chanting into a megaphone with responses and drumming from the crowd. Most protesters are away from the chanting and engaged in a meeting within the encampment.
— Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editor
May 4, 10:21 p.m.
The University and UCUP organizers both confirmed that negotiations between the two parties are ongoing.
“Substantive discussions between the University and protesters are ongoing,” the University wrote.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor
May 4, 7:35 p.m.
Heavy rain has begun, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Encampment organizers stopped playing music and encampment participants sought cover in tents and under canopies, after which they began chanting. Allied Security officers have left the quad and are taking shelter in the walkway under Levi Hall.
— Tiffany Li and Sabrina Chang, Deputy News Editors
May 4, 7:16 p.m.
In an update posted on Instagram, UCUP announced that a live music event will take place from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the quad. They encouraged attendees to bring flashlights, noisemakers, and body shakers.
“President Pauly clearly wants us off his precious quad. We are not done yet, so we’re getting louder,” the caption reads.
The National Weather service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning from now until 7:45 p.m. for the Cook County area.
– Sabrina Chang and Katherine Weaver, Deputy News Editors
May 4, 7:05 p.m.
According to UCUP, the encampment has “horizontalized,” meaning that there are now organizations unaffiliated with UCUP working as part of the encampment. Within the encampment, there are groups that each have different tasks and priorities, such as a designated camp defense group.
UCUP said they are seeking to balance distinct interests among the groups.
– Maroon Staff
May 4, 6:28 p.m.
Four large wooden boards have been brought into the encampment.
These are in addition to a number of other wooden boards and pallets, along with metal galvanized 16-gauge wire fencing, that were brought to the encampment since yesterday night.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; Emma Janssen and Sabrina Chang, Deputy News Editors
May 4, 5 p.m.
Earlier this afternoon, U.S. Representative Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), who represents Hyde Park, visited the quad. Jackson is the son of Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., who visited the encampment today and on Tuesday. Speaking with the Maroon, Jackson urged the University to listen to the demonstrators and peacefully resolve the situation.
“We don’t want a repeat of what we saw happen in New York City, with the police being called on students doing nonviolent protest,” Jackson said. “The students have taken a moral position, and I support them.”
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen and Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editors
May 4, 4:33 p.m.
The protesters and the University are in ongoing negotiations, according to UCUP. It is unclear if or when an agreement will be reached.
The quad remains calm.
— Sabrina Chang, Deputy News Editor
May 4, 2:39 p.m.
A speaker at the rally spoke about two anniversaries happening on May 4: those of the 1970 Kent State Massacre and the 1886 Haymarket affair. The speaker called them “two of the most significant instances of state-sponsored violence against working people and students.”
On May 2, 1970, after days of confrontation between Kent State students and police regarding the Vietnam War, Kent’s mayor and Ohio’s governor sent in the Ohio National Guard. With more than 3,000 protesters gathered two days later on May 4, rocks were thrown and the guardsmen fired tear gas and later live rounds into the crowd. Four students were killed and nine were wounded.
“Remember that student protest has always been met with disproportionate violence and that students at Kent State like you today were on the right side of history… their memory lives on in every single one of you today,” the speaker said.
On May 4, 1886, an explosive was set off among police officers trying to disperse a labor demonstration in Haymarket Square in Chicago. Ensuing police gunfire killed at least four demonstrators and injured dozens more. Seven of the eight individuals charged with murder in the aftermath of the bombing were sentenced to death—four were hanged in 1887 while Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the other three in 1893.
“Police have always been the enemy of working people in this country and around the world,” the speaker said.
— Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor; Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor; Austin Zeglis, Senior News Reporter
May 4, 2:31 p.m.
The rally ended with chants of “Disclose, divest” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
A speaker asked gathered protesters to “please stay as long as you can” and to enjoy the space, food, and programming of the encampment.
Dhuhr prayer started after the end of the rally.
— Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
May 4, 2:20 p.m.
A member of SJP Chicago, a coalition of various chapters of SJP in the city, spoke at the rally.
They addressed the encampment organizers’ refusal of the University’s offer for a one-hour meeting between encampment organizers and University President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker, contingent on a full shutdown of the encampment, in addition to a public forum with Alivisatos and Baicker.
“We don’t want these bureaucratic forums, we want divestment!” the speaker said, calling the University’s offer “demands made in bad faith.” “We will not concede,” they said.
“We have nothing left to lose. These colonizers, these administrative members have everything to lose… they want this to end. And we see them crumbling when it comes to negotiations. So we will remain and we will not forget our martyrs,” the speaker said. “Let us be loud and let us be clear. We will not stop! We will not rest!”
— Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
May 4, 2:14 p.m.
The Revolutionary Communist [Party] of America (RCA) has set up a small table on the quad and are handing out copies of the Communist, their paper. Members of the party, known as “Revcoms,” have attended every UCUP rally this week.
– Zachary Leiter, Deputy Managing Editor
May 4, 2:05 p.m.
Reverend Jesse Jackson returned to the encampment and addressed protesters in a speech. He had previously visited on Tuesday, the second day of the encampment.
— Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editor
May 4, 1:54 p.m.
A protester spoke about the community the encampment has built over the past six days, saying, “We have built a community from all ages and background for one goal: To end a genocide.”
He connected the Palestinian cause to “a cause for all people who are oppressed.” Speaking to Black Americans, he said “for every George Floyd in America there is a George Floyd in the West Bank.”
He also spoke about his Irish, Puerto Ricans, and Latino “brothers and sisters,” telling them “we are stronger than our oppressors.”
Lastly, he called on his “Jewish brothers and sisters, especially those with us right now… you are one of my biggest inspirations.” He spoke about a future in which “you will watch my kids when I go to my Friday prayers, and when you go to your Shabbat services, I will watch yours.”
“Thank you for ensuring my identity isn’t erased, and thank you for standing up for my right of existence,” he said.
— Maroon Staff
May 4, 1:50 p.m.
An encampment organizer named Moon spoke over the loudspeaker, encouraging protesters with the means to travel to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) to provide support to the protesters there. “They’re at risk, we’re not, so we encourage you to travel there,” the speaker said.
“We are getting reports that SWAT has been deployed to SAIC,” said another speaker, who also mentioned there were officers with rubber bullets. “Please be aware of the safety situation over there. The situation is escalating quickly.”
— Maroon Staff
May 4, 1:39 p.m.
Anthony Quezada, the County Board Commissioner of the 8th district, demanded a ceasefire and for the University administration to “sit down with students in good faith and actually listen and understand the demands that are being made.” He called the conflict in Gaza “one of the worst atrocities that this generation and this century has seen” and said the University “must divest from its investment in the war machine, and it must invest in real reparations.”
“We are here gathered for peace and humanity,” he said. “I’m going to be here every day with you as you make these demands. Know that you are part of something historic.”
— Maroon Staff
May 4, 1:33 p.m.
Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, who represents the 35th ward of Chicago, has arrived on the quad and is speaking at the rally to roughly 200 gathered protesters.
He condemned the University for making statements about Ukraine and about former president Trump’s Muslim ban, while staying silent on Palestine and the conflict in Gaza.
“It is shameful, it is unjust, and it is ridiculous that universities like UChicago support those crimes,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “All of us must do every single thing we can to save the lives of the people of Gaza… and to bring an end to the illegal Israeli apartheid that has been going on for way too long.”
“Long live the students, long live Gaza, long live Palestine. Israeli apartheid will end in our lifetimes, and Palestine will be free,” Ramirez-Rosa concluded.
— Maroon Staff
May 1:28 p.m.
Around 1:20 p.m., a man started shouting “Who started the war” and “terrorists” at protesters. He has since left.
— Maroon Staff
May 4, 1:18 p.m.
The rally has begun. Around 200 protesters have gathered on the quad as organizers lead chants while drumming.
— Elena Eisenstadt, News Reporter; Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
May 4, 1:12 p.m.
Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UChicago member Callie Maidhof, the associate director of the Global Studies Program, has told the Maroon that negotiations between the encampment participants and University administration are currently ongoing. However, the parties have reached some early sticking points, according to Maidhof.
— Emma Janssen and Tiffany Li, Deputy News Editors
May 4, 11:56 a.m.
The University released a statement to the Maroon about the individual who was arrested by the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) at approximately 6 p.m. on Friday.
“UCPD made an arrest of an individual after UCPD officers located an unauthorized handgun in the individual’s car,” the statement read. “The arrest and the individual were unrelated to the protest activity.”
On Instagram on Friday, UCUP released a statement about the arrest.
“Since the start of the encampment on Monday 4/29, the UChicago Police Department has consistently singled out Black people in and around the encampment for arrest and harassment,” the statement read. “We recognize that heightened UCPD presence deployed to the Popular University for Gaza has put Black protestors, especially Black neighbors unaffiliated with the University, at increased risk for violence.”
— Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 4, 10:20 a.m.
UCUP posted its daily schedule on Instagram. It includes a rally at 1 p.m., teach-ins at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., and a concert at 10 p.m.
The quad remains calm, as it has been all morning.
— Austin Zeglis, Senior News Reporter
May 4, 10 a.m.
This marks 120 hours of the encampment since it was lodged at 10 a.m. on Monday.
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief
May 4, 8:24 a.m.
Protesters started emerging from tents as the UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) encampment entered its sixth day. The barriers placed around most of the encampment on Friday night remain in place.
On Thursday, UCPD officers told encampment organizers that similar barriers placed around the encampment on Wednesday night must be removed. UCUP later removed the barriers.
In a statement to the Maroon on Friday night, UCUP said the barriers were to “ensure protestors’ safety from Zionist aggressors.”
— Peter Maheras, News Editor
Joy / May 5, 2024 at 1:42 pm
Alumni here. This generation gives me hope. My heart is with the encampment, because those students’ hearts are on the side of compassion and courage to speak truth to power.
S / May 5, 2024 at 12:09 am
Thank you brave students and community members for standing up for what is right.
Benjamin Pourneault / May 4, 2024 at 9:50 pm
Dear U of C. You have gone from fair and patient (with hateful and/or uneducated people, especially employees) to IMPOTENT. Unless you are beholden to oil money donations, be ready for a dry fund raising season and significant liability.
Dear mob,
Males – 80,000 servants and 72 wives await you.
Females – kindly cover up and keep your mouths shut to complete the narrative.
LGTBQ community, please pay a visit to any country surrounding Israel and announce yourself. Good luck.
See the speech at the UN by the Israeli Ambassador
UC student / May 4, 2024 at 11:19 pm
how did you expect young optimistic people to deal with the use of their tax dollars and tuition dollars to kill more than 13,000 children? the comment suggests someone who doesn’t merely disagree with the protest (which is your right), but doesn’t understand their very straightforward demands. www(dot)instagram(dot)com/uchicagounited/p/C5jJa-LLeYK/?hl=en&img_index=1
It seems you’re projecting Islam onto something to help you see it as crazy. I’m not interested in analyzing why you’re doing that, just in asking you to see the demands for what they are.
Benjamin Pourneault / May 5, 2024 at 12:52 am
I expect students/employees to abide by University regulations or be dismissed if they do not wish to do so, regardless of whether I understand their demands.
You are welcome to your definition of optimism.
Alan / May 5, 2024 at 3:05 am
I guess you would be the ones who believe MLK should comply with the law and segregation instead of protesting.
student / May 5, 2024 at 8:34 am
American society is shifting in regards to Israel. In 10, 20 years, people may look back at protests like this with a vastly different perception of and appreciation for the demands, and perhaps with significantly less attention to whether protestors abided by this or that line of the student conduct code. Let’s see. This about an institution that talks the talk of free and open discourse while concealing – to date without even offering a justification – its ties to the inflicting of grave social injury. In 2018, when Yale pledged not to invest in the manufacture of assault weapons retailers, they drew a line for something that they as a higher education institution cannot accept being financially wrapped up with.
yaledailynews(dot)com/blog/2018/08/24/yale-pledges-not-to-invest-in-assault-weapon-retailers/
Amnesty International ranked Yale 24/40 in regard to the transparency and ethical due diligence of their endowment investments. Know what we scored here?
Ploppy / May 4, 2024 at 7:31 pm
They just inciting provocation now, being loud from 10 pm – 1 am. Want the police to come and frame them like the bad guys.
The Portrait of Hanna Gray / May 4, 2024 at 7:08 pm
Instead of fretting over the fence currently being erected by the encampers, I suggest university respond by building their own bigger, stronger wall surrounding it. One imagines the protestors then extending their own wall to attempt an envelopment of the university’s wall-builders, thereby turning the whole quad into a glorious IRL game of Snake/Blockade.
But upon further consideration, I don’t imagine the encampers actually doing that. After all, when the wall is complete they’d be getting exactly what they want: their own one-POV solution, without the burden of having to “persuade” anyone of their arguments’ merits before they’re accepted as absolute truth.. They’d be in paradise!
It would be hard on the university community to part with such scholars, but the sacrifice would at least allow us to part on amiable terms. Maybe as a token of our good will, as the last brick is being laid, we could even spare a nice bottle of amontillado to pass them through the gap…
Justaparent / May 4, 2024 at 5:33 pm
M
John Welch / May 4, 2024 at 3:46 pm
Historical mistake in the article: “On May 4, 1886, an explosive was set off among police officers trying to disperse a labor demonstration in Haymarket Square in Chicago. Ensuing police gunfire killed at least four demonstrators and injured dozens more. Seven of the eight individuals involved in setting off the explosive were sentenced to death—four were hanged in 1887 while Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the other three in 1893.”
One of those accused might have helped to make the bomb, but the rest were not even at the demonstration. They were anarchists, so they were tried and four were executed. But that is why Illinois governor Oglesby commuted a cou0ple of sentences to life in prison, and why the great Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned all surviving “Haymarket Martyrs”.
Concerned Parent / May 4, 2024 at 3:29 pm
The fact that the last dispatch ends with this unchallenged “factual” statement tells the reader what they need to know about the outlook of the reporter:
“Police have always been the enemy of working people in this country and around the world,” the speaker said.
Police are themselves working people.
Alum / May 4, 2024 at 5:46 pm
The editors and reporter who wrote that particular dispatch are reporting what the speaker said because it was provocative. It speaks concisely to the ethos of the protests, prompts discussion, and doesn’t necessarily reflect the reporters’ own views. That’s why they left it in quotes and attributed it to the speaker.
Since you’re responding to the quote and engaging with the claim, I think they did exactly what they ought to have done as journalists.
As for the statement itself: yes, police are working people. That doesn’t mean that they can’t participate in the systemic disenfranchisment of themselves or others through their job.
Anon Minority / May 5, 2024 at 8:14 am
Go back to your Real Housewives, “Concerned Parent.”
EightiesAlum / May 4, 2024 at 3:11 pm
“Police have always been the enemy of working people in this country”
Indeed, what have they ever done for us?
Oh, it would have been handy to have had more around in 2020, a year that saw almost 5,000 more homicides than the previous year — about a 30% increase. But, “Defund the Police” and all that because “all cops are bastards” who go to work every day looking for any possible opportunity to kill black Americans. Unfortunately, it just so happens that is was black Americans who bore the brunt of those extra 5,000 homicides (more than one-half of the 5000) so the aggressive demoralization of law enforcement and revolving door justice didn’t work out so well.
Of course, there were no rallies for the nameless, faceless victims of 2020’s “bonus” homicides. There is no political utility in highlighting the tragic mistakes of woke elected officials who listen to the bleating of woke mobs.
Nitin / May 4, 2024 at 3:09 pm
From the Midway to Max P, campus will be free of these dumb protestors
Student / May 4, 2024 at 2:50 pm
So on day one they justified October 7 and were joined by Weather Underground terrorists.
Day three they invited a terrorist to rally them over Zoom.
Day four they raised their banner in the place of the U.S. flag. They start asking for medical supplies to treat wounds (I don’t know, from when they seize Levi Hall).
Day five they assaulted students for trying to raise the flag back at the quad.
Today they’re justifying the bombing of police officers.
President Alivisatos, what are you waiting for? They’re not even hiding their desire to take over campus and harm both their fellow students and UCPD. They have told you again and again they don’t care about the Chicago Principles or the rules. They want to break them, and they want to cause harm to their peers. Every hour you wait to take action they grow bolder. Do something!!!
The Portrait of Hanna Gray / May 4, 2024 at 2:21 pm
My plan for how the protestors can broaden their movement’s appeal to the campus community at-large:
1. Tear down the fences (both rubber and ideological) by inviting the entire campus join them in camping on the quad, regardless of political affiliation or beliefs.
2. Coordinate with the registrar’s office to hold a lottery on the first night of the encampment for rising second, third, and fourth-year undergraduates. The lottery would determine the order in which these students would register for classes in the 2024-25 term. Lottery winners would be required to remain on the quad for the duration of the encampment, or else risk losing their place in line.
3. Invite RSOs to put on performances, host dance parties, etc. to pass time and fill the weekend with lots of fun, community-building activities. Perhaps DOC films could be even persuaded to set up a screen at one end of the quad and show movies each night.
4. Change the name of the event to “Sleepout.”
I realize that for some folks this might not sound as fun as holding teach-ins with convicted terrorists or absolutely *pwning* Maroons for Israel in a one-sided game of capture the (Jew) flag; but I feel if given a chance this event could really catch on.
EightiesAlum / May 4, 2024 at 2:18 pm
Jesse is not looking very stylish these days.
Back in the day, he was quite the sharp dresser. I think he said he bought his beautifully-tailored suits in “Hymietown.”
The Feral Kidz have attracted some prominent folks. Bill Ayers. Jesse Jackson. What is David Duke up to these days? Pretty sure he is politically in sync with this crowd.
Jane / May 4, 2024 at 1:19 pm
Please stop platforming Callie Maidhof after what she did. It’s despicable and you become complicit.
Diver / May 4, 2024 at 1:23 pm
What did she do?
Lexi / May 4, 2024 at 12:26 pm
What a bizarre series of mental gymnastics by the cupheads: we’re sorry our protest got someone arrested for illegally having a gun?
Mba2000 / May 4, 2024 at 12:07 pm
If I am reading the mayor correctly, I don’t think we’ll be seeing the CPD anytime soon.
UIUC Rocket Scientist / May 4, 2024 at 2:00 pm
CPD officers were on site near Levy Hall prepared to make arrests on Friday at and after 1 PM.
Their squad cars were up and down Ellis.
I personally observed them.
John Doe / May 4, 2024 at 11:49 am
A minimum of 580,000 people, mostly Muslim civilians have been killed in the Syrian civil war. Almost 380,000 and counting, 70% of which are Muslim children under age 5 have been slaughtered in the Yemeni civil war.
Muslims have killed tens of thousands of other Muslims in the Sahel, Burkina Faso, and Somalia
Every day in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan etc. Buddhists, Sikh, Hindus and Christians are lynched to death, forcibly abducted and forcibly converted to Islam and dehumanized as “dhimmis” (second class citizens)
Do you see any campus protests for these?
You will never see any protests for any of these on any University campus
Every wonder why? I will tell you.
Muslim on non Muslim violence: Leftists and Islamic apologists don’t care. They may even support it. Oct 7th is just one great example of many
Muslim on Muslim violence: Leftists and Islamic apologists don’t care about this either.
Non Muslim on Muslim violence: Oh man!!, Now you are talking. The entire Islamist and leftist machine gears up for protests, whether it is Rohingyas or Gazans.
Don’t have any sympathy for the protestors. They are a bunch of informed hypocrites.
Alexi Assmus / May 4, 2024 at 1:19 pm
The protests are about the military aid that the US provides Israeli, bombs that have destroyed Gaza for instance. Protestors want to change US policy.
US not providing the military assistance for the warfare in Syria, Yemen, …
Howie / May 4, 2024 at 1:58 pm
The deaths in Yemen are caused by Saudi Arabia whose weapons are supplied by the United States, same as Israeli weapons. But it is a case of Muslims killing Muslims so of no interest to protesters in this country.
Also, the call for divestment of university investment in companies that do business with Israel or are Israeli is incredibly anti-Semitic and mirrors Hitler’s ban of Jewish businesses. Why don’t the protesters call for divestment of companies that do business with China where hundreds of thousands if not millions of Muslims are held in concentration camps. The hypocrisy is so transparent. The real target of these protests are the elimination of the state of Israel (from the river to the sea) and therefore the deaths of millions of Jews.
Not one peep of criticism of Hamas who are referred to as freedom fighters an incredible joke. Women have virtually no rights in Gaza and LGBTQ practice is unlawful.
UIUC Rocket Scientist / May 4, 2024 at 2:22 pm
The best place to protest US policy is in DC around the Capitol and White House.
UC does not control federal policy and federal funding for Israel which is significant.
I also heard protests demanding reparations for the South Side of Chicago from the UC.
UCUP is calling for an end of the State of Israel and the removal of Jews from the area (Free, free Palestine, etc.).
The protest at the UC will accomplish none of these goals.
Go to DC if you want to protest US aid to Israel.
The UC can’t do anything about it.
Alexi Assmus / May 4, 2024 at 3:13 pm
I don’t hear “Free, agree, Palestine” as calling for an end to the State of Israeli
Another Alum / May 4, 2024 at 3:35 pm
From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free = the elimination of the State of Israeli. They are not asking for a 2nd state. They are asking for demanding it all. There have been many opporunities for peace – Israeli has been willing to trade land for peace on multiple occasions (although not now). Protesting for a ceasefire is one thing — these protests have moved far beyond that. Although I doubt many in the crowd even realize what they are asking for.
Alexi Assmus / May 7, 2024 at 7:32 am
There are Palestinians who want the right to live on all the land in current Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
There are Israelis who want the same and are part of a coalition government that has enormous military power to kill Palestinians in the West Bank and support Jewish settlement there.
There are also people who are more flexible, some want to be able to return to their family’s land, some may also wish to be part of a democratic state with more freedom of speech and opportunity than they currently have.
An attorney who has worked on the conflict for decades said the majority of Palestinians don’t care much about a state, they want their civil rights.
From the River to the Sea can mean many things. Some people may want the right to live and move on contiguous land from the river to the sea but that doesn’t necessarily mean all of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.
Be creative.
Student / May 4, 2024 at 3:05 pm
Is blatant religious bigotry tolerated and endorsed by the Maroon now?
kev / May 4, 2024 at 11:34 am
I don’t envy the challenge that President Alivisatos has in finding the right balance in clearing this situation without further escalation. I do think the principles and communications he has provided have been excellent.
I really don’t understand some of the commentary regarding this testing the Chicago Principles. As I understand it, the principles protect speech that others might find disagreeable or even offensive. Camping is not speech. Vandalism is not speech. Blocking access to buildings is not speech. Riding a motorcycle through the middle of the Quad while firing a weapon into the air would not suddenly become permissible if the rider is also holding a banner that says “Free Tibet”
Alexi Assmus / May 4, 2024 at 1:28 pm
Vandalism seems like a strong charge. I’ve only seen one scrawled graffiti, and it may have been chalked. I know some Israeli flags were taken down.
What access to buildings are blocked?
The protest at Primceton is peaceful and I’ve heard the same about UChicago.
Can’t understand why people are not talking about the 100+ thugs who attacked the UCLA encampment in the middle of the night after the university announced it was unlawful. The NYTimes now has a long article with numerous videos of that attack. Gaza protestors being beaten. Trying to protect themselves by barricading themselves in the encampment . Current headline on that article “Counterprotestors Attack On UCLA Gaza Encampment”
Kev / May 4, 2024 at 1:51 pm
The message from President Alivisatos cites “repeated destruction of an approved installation of Israeli flags, shouting down speakers they disagree with, vandalism and graffiti on historic buildings, incorporating walkways into the encampment, and co-opting the University flagpole to fly the Palestinian flag.”
My point is that protected speech is protected speech. Maybe there are differences of beliefs on the facts on the ground — I am 1,000+ miles away and have no way to independently verify. However, it is clear — and undisputed — that there is an encampment. Can we agree that camping is not protected speech?
As for UCLA, the violence as I understand it is disgusting and I hope that the perpetrators get prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I don’t see that as somehow justifying a disruptive encampment at UChicago 2,000 miles away.
Alexi Assmus / May 4, 2024 at 3:22 pm
“ The message from President Alivisatos cites “repeated destruction of an approved installation of Israeli flags, shouting down speakers they disagree with, vandalism and graffiti on historic buildings, incorporating walkways into the encampment, and co-opting the University flagpole to fly the Palestinian flag.”
— destroying Israeli flags
—shouting down speakers
— incorporating encampment into walkways
— flying Palestinian flag on flagpole
Wish they didn’t destroy the flags and shout down speakers but it doesn’t sound like they are disrupting the functioning of the university, stopping people from going to class or blocking entryways.
Kev / May 4, 2024 at 3:37 pm
President Alivisatos directly disagrees:
“On Monday, I stated that we would only intervene if what might have been an exercise of free expression blocks the learning or expression of others or substantially disrupts the functioning or safety of the University.
Without an agreement to end the encampment, we have reached that point.”
As an unrelated point, I don’t understand the point of the protests on campus. Universities are at best very marginal players in US public policy decisions regarding the Middle East. If you want to protest US policy, shouldn’t you protest at a location that makes US policy?
Howie / May 4, 2024 at 2:03 pm
Protestors tried to block me from walking on a walkway through the quad because I am a Jew wearing a kippot. They called me a “dirty Zionist” without ever speaking to me. All they knew is that I am a Jew. These “protestors” are essentially fascists.
student / May 4, 2024 at 7:46 pm
While there today (like prev days) i saw and heard 5-10 pro-Israeli people standing by the art installations wearing kippots and near the tents debating amongst themselves. After being there for an hour chilling no one at any point harrassed them. This doesn’t nullify your shitty experience, if it happened (do you have witnesses?). I have seen a slew of false claims on here like the claim that people have engaged in large, anti-US chants and chants explicitly , unambiguously calling for the targeting of Jewish people. If such things happened there would be video evidence on national news. So, I have to say your account differs from camp leaders’ directions, differs from all my observations there over the course of about ten hours, and given the circumstances (truth is the first casualty of war, on all sides) is hard to believe without documentary evidence. But if that happened and people said “dirty Zionist” to you and tried to block your movement, I as a current student agree you deserve basic respect like anyone else in the campus community. Friends of mine in the encampment definitely would not have talked or acted in that way and are some of the most decent people i know. I fear they face imminent police brutality for standing up for what they and I believe must change in this institution, disclosure, divestment.
Student / May 4, 2024 at 10:19 am
Glad to see the protestors have embraced a message of love ❤️ All people deserve dignity
Alum / May 4, 2024 at 10:03 am
In an inverse of “All Creatures of our God and King” the encampment rises. All goblins of our cosplay progressive campus. We have a sample of them all here – the screeching harpy, the pudgy soy boy, the hyper-ventilating she-SJW, the maladjusted Muslim, the dysfunctional she-grad-student who quotes Foucault but not Homer, and all the depravities of these progressive times!
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 9:50 am
“Today Palestine, tomorrow diversity, never the soup kitchen around the corner.”
Thoughts:
– Day six of this filth fest. Alivisatos’s grand words have proven hollow. Where is the leadership?
– Did anyone read the Times yesterday? We made its front page. Our reputation has been irreparably damaged by these wokerites and their detestable smells and appearances. Meanwhile, our so-called “peers” have cleaned the muckery from their campuses.
– I know of several Jew donors who are withholding donations for the foreseeable future. I am not surprised. Jews are fed up with wokery and its legalized discrimination against them, and rightfully so.
– Expect a Trump victory in November.
– Alivisatos is a traitor. Occupying American soil by force and hoisting a foreign flag is an act of terrorism. So is sanctioning it.
– For those approving of this contemptible display on the basis that it is consistent with the University’s values: let us dispel the notion that free expression is absolute in this place. It is not. It is a privilege; this has always been the case.
UChicago is a place of learning, not a circus, not a loony bin. Students do not have the right to hijack shared spaces, declare themselves exempt from the rule of law, rain filth on their peers, and shriek at all hours into classrooms. (Although, increasingly, it seems diversity admits *do* have this right.)
These slovenlies been given numerous opportunities to communicate with the administration in a civilized manner. They have refused. Instead of acting like adults, they have resorted to barbarism.
Why? Because the he- and she-rioters do not want a resolution. They want to escalate and antagonize. They crave the attention. Hysteria is their fix.
– Remember folks: we have affirmative action to thank for all of this.
UIUC Rocket Scientist / May 4, 2024 at 11:26 am
I am not going to fault UC administration on taking their time to plan an orderly removal of the illegal encampment so this campus isn’t turned into a war zone as so many others have been.
This situation is not about being “woke” and has nothing to do with “DEI”, so it would be nice if those of you who think it is to focus on the present problem.
This entire situation is the result of a terrorist act by Hamas on 10/7. This seems to be lost in the discussion.
You can believe that Hamas needs to be eradicated from the face of the Earth and disagree with Netanyahu’s “Ender’s Game” approach.
You can agree that Israel’s property laws tended to deprive Arabs of property rights in some cases and support legal recourse that exists under Israel’s laws and disagree with the extremist position of UCUP (“Free, free Palestine”).
You can agree the UCUP has a right to protest what is going on in Gaza and disagree with their inappropriate tactics in doing so.
UC administration is going to end the encampment and try to do so as peacefully as possible and soon. Be patient.
This too shall pass. It’s not rocket science.
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 12:09 pm
Your comment is in bad faith. No mention of your race or your ethnicity. Therefore, I am inclined to think you identify with them on account of one of those shared characteristics.
The fact is that most all of the encamperers are non-Asian minorities. Make of that what you will…
JB / May 4, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Sorry, why does this commenter’s race or ethnicity matter? And from the comment it’s clear they do not identify with the protesters (nor do I).
And what do you mean by that second paragraph? I genuinely don’t know what to “make of that.” Your views are confusing at best and problematic at worst.
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 2:54 pm
And the same goes for you; no mention of either. Just bad writing littered with insults.
My sixth sense is sounding off.
I know what you are, and it isn’t pleasant.
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 12:45 pm
““Since the start of the encampment on Monday 4/29, the UChicago Police Department has consistently singled out Black people in and around the encampment for arrest and harassment,”
If this isn’t wokery, I do not know what is.
current student / May 4, 2024 at 12:58 pm
Hung out at the peaceful encampment this morning, and as usual, it remains completely contrary to your characterizations. Just to be clear, you’re the alum who has spent the last six days obsessively commenting on the student paper of your alma mater, trying to explain humanitarian concerns via your anti affirmative action agenda – right? Sorry to hear you’re this upset about young people putting themselves at risk to do what they believe will contribute to a slightly more just world, instead of just playing video games or saying empty talk on social media. They’re taking real risks based on their moral convictions, and they’ve created a temporary community centered around the conviction that business cannot go on as usual, and they’re articulating reasonable demands clearly for anyone who is willing to actually listen.
For anyone reading, please don’t take my word for it: go see for yourself how decent, thoughtful, and conscientious my peers there are. Perusing the hate in the comments sections here, I am worried for my friends’ safety and admire them for refusing to be complicit in what’s being done to the people of Gaza.
Anonymous student / May 4, 2024 at 2:49 pm
When I walked past last night I was immediately surrounded and followed by about 5 of the “protesters.” They repeatedly asked me what I was doing and where I was from, even aggressively interrupting a respectful conversation I was having to do so. To characterize that behavior as “conscientious” and “thoughtful” seems very strange to me! And to suggest that they are at all interested in people popping by to chat about issues seems even stranger.
student / May 4, 2024 at 9:27 pm
I wasnt characterizing that as conscientious, nor did I observe it. If shown evidence that matches what you describe, I would call it unthoughtful and un conscientious. Think of it like this, there are 1000+ data points before us, and still more beyond our knowledge. Of those, we each select a tiny subset, knowingly or not, and craft a narrative. The one I’ve crafted stays focused on those with the most power, who have zero cogent justification for hiding where billions of dollars are invested. Your chosen data points pertain to behaviors by unidentified students with very little power as individuals, but admittedly they have the power to be jerks if they so choose. For me the key is to not get too comfortable with neglecting data points outside my chosen subset, which is why your experience is admittedly weird and not cool. A right wing undergrad filmed me without my consent yesterday as I tried to look out for the safety of Muslim friends as they prayed, and she then delightedly scurried off to post it who knows where and try to somehow ruin me or create a narrative about me. For me, this is annoying, but not a key data point: I’m watching what those in power do and how it affects those with the least power (e.g., how dedperately the Board of Trustees and Alivisatos oppose mere transparency).
Anon Minority / May 4, 2024 at 2:56 pm
“Hung out at the peaceful encampment this morning”
That is all I needed to immediately dismiss your opinions. You are part of their ilk, and are therefore incapable of reason.
I know exactly what you are. It isn’t pleasant.
Alexi Assmus / May 4, 2024 at 9:03 pm
Is this a parody?
American / May 4, 2024 at 9:23 am
Why are we still waiting? UCPD just arrested a man near the camp with a gun. Protestors were bashing counter-protestors over the head with plywood boards for exercising their right to use the quad sidewalk. They have committed vandalism who knows how many times against the Maroons for Israel display.
When one side of the aisle gets to break the rules with impunity, and the other gets intense scrutiny, the Chicago Principles are nothing more than a joke. Equal rights should also mean equal punishment. Paul, give UCPD the green light, please!
UIUC Rocket Scientist / May 4, 2024 at 11:42 am
If you were in the Quad yesterday around 1 PM when the UCPD, CPD and Allied showed up in force, the UCUP people called for support and swarms of individuals rushed to resist the police.
The extraction has to be done at a time and in a manner of the administration’s choosing and will have to be a surprise so UCUP can’t bring in human shields.
The extraction will be well-planned and hopefully peacefully executed.
The area will be cleared and cleaned up well before graduation.
The administration offered UCUP the carrot. UCUP rebuffed. The administration has stated the encampment will end. UCUP knows the stick is coming.
The outsiders will be arrested and barred from campus, and UC students, staff and faculty who resist will be subject to discipline.
But it’s going to be done without the news media and helicopters we all saw yesterday.
Howie / May 4, 2024 at 11:46 am
I work at the U of Chicago Medical Center as a leukemia researcher for over 23 years. Every day I walk through the quad to and from work. I am a long time anti-war and civil rights activist and know from where I speak. Everyday I hear vile anti-Semitic speech coming from that encampment. This is not protest this is hate speech. Jewish students are being vilified and harassed. The Palestinian flag flys on our campus flagpole. This is disgraceful and has nothing to do with free speech. What is taking the administration so long to clear out the haters from and campus and expel the students who participated. These people are basically Nazis.
Publius / May 4, 2024 at 8:50 am
If UChicago won’t remove the protesters, at least confiscate their tents and sleeping bags. Let them stay, but don’t let them camp. That’ll end this fiasco before tomorrow morning. It avoids arrests and direct physical contact with the protesters. If the protesters physically try to stop the confiscation, that’s on them.