Eva McCord
UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) launched an encampment on the quad outside of Swift Hall at 10 a.m. last 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, five, six, seven, and eight of the encampment can be read on the Chicago Maroon.
Day 9 Summary
Day nine saw UCPD disbanding UCUP’s encampment on the main quad. At around 4:25 a.m., UCPD officers in riot gear entered the quad and cleared out tents, barricades, and displays that protesters had placed around the encampment. Facilities Services trucks carried these items away in cardboard boxes that were then placed in dumpsters around campus.
UCPD gave protestors just minutes from an initial command to vacate the quad before beginning the raid. Later, once protesters and members of the press—including Maroon staff—had been pushed out of the quad, officers handed protesters slips of paper detailing consequences for remaining on the quad.
UCPD made no arrests during the raid or during the following rally, during which protesters gathered outside the entrance to the quad on South Ellis Avenue and chanted. A video of the raid, posted by SJP on X, shows a UCPD officer throwing a protester to the ground on one of the stone pathways on the Quad.
President Paul Alivisatos sent an email to the University community around 6:55 a.m. explaining his decision to end the encampment. Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen and Associate Vice President for Safety & Security Eric Heath followed with a second similar email. Alivisatos’s email also said that “where appropriate[,] disciplinary action will proceed.”
Although the quad was reopened to students and faculty as of 7:56 a.m., there were disruptions to general campus activity. Some buildings, including the Social Science Research Building, were locked in the morning during class times, forcing professors to cancel classes or move them online.
Facilities Services posted a sign on the flagpole in the middle of the quad announcing that they planned to raise the American flag on Wednesday for the first time since Thursday, May 2.
Later in the day, Alivisatos published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal titled “Why I Ended the University of Chicago Protest Encampment.” In the piece, Alivisatos detailed his reasoning for clearing the encampment. He said demands that UCUP raised in negotiations with the University could not be fulfilled because of the University’s commitment to “institutional neutrality.”
“When I concluded that the essential goals that animated those demands were incompatible with deep principles of the university, I decided to end the encampment with intervention,” the piece reads. “There is no way I would ever compromise on institutional neutrality.”
The Maroon will continue to report on the encampment and its ramifications but will no longer continue live updates.
May 7, 12:22 p.m.
University Facilities Services has begun removing duct tape adhered to the flagpole. Protesters used the tape on Thursday afternoon to prevent a Palestinian flag from being lowered. UCPD took the flag down Friday morning, and Facilities Services cut the halyard shortly after.
– Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon, News Reporter
May 7, 11:58 a.m.
A video has been released by UChicago Students for Justice in Palestine showing a UCPD officer throwing a protester onto one of the stone pathways on the Quad.
In an email about the clearing of the encampment, Dean of Students Michelle Rasmussen and Associate Vice President for Safety & Security Eric Heath stated that encampment had been cleared “without incident”.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 10:15 a.m.
– Austin Zeglis, Senior News Reporter; Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
May 7, 9:44 a.m.
“The encampment is not just tents. We’re still here, and this is not the end of it. We are the encampment, and we have plans to do something again. We’re coming back stronger,” a UCUP organizer said in a statement to the Maroon.
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
May 7, 9:37 a.m.
The quad and South Ellis Avenue are empty of protesters.
— Kayla Rubenstein, Co-Editor-in-Chief; Nikhil Jaiswal, Co-Editor-in-Chief Emeritus
May 7, 9:09 a.m.
The crowd in front of Levi Hall has slightly decreased, though there are still at least 100 protesters present.
A truck with large screens condemning antisemitic speech appears to be making laps around campus. The back of the truck reads “Bring this Chicago hostage home!”
Some protesters have begun looking through the dumpsters around campus, which are filled with discarded encampment materials.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 8:33 a.m.
Bernardine Dohrn, a former leader of Weather Underground, arrived at the encampment with Bill Ayers, a former militant organizer who co-founded far-left militant group Weather Underground in 1969, at 5:30 a.m., after receiving a call from a student encampment participant.
Dohrn, who has spent several days during the week at the encampment, thinks that “universities should be a place of argument and dispute and conversation and education. And the idea of bringing the police in here is absolutely against everything that the school should stand for.”
As an alumna of the College and UChicago Law, “I’m furious about it. And I’m totally with the students,” she said.
Ayers told the Maroon that a “smart college administrator should first of all, defend the idea of the University. And secondly, congratulate the students for bringing this issue up in the way that they have peacefully, lovingly.”
For him, defending the idea of the university means acknowledging the University is a place of free inquiry and free discussion. “There are no things that are out of bounds to discuss. And rather than shut this down, we should be having professors offering conversations in every classroom, including in the public space, like the public square,” Ayers said.
“We should be having this conversation, just as we had conversations about South Africa, just as we had conversations about Vietnam. This is the moral issue of this moment, and we should seize it rather than suppressing it,” he said.
– Elena Eisenstadt, News Reporter
May 7, 8:25 a.m.
Protesters are now speaking in front of Levi Hall.
“We have been brutalized by the University of Chicago police force,” one protester said. Speakers also told gathered protesters to boo the Israeli Institute and began chants, including “Free, free Palestine.”
Around 8:05 a.m. this morning, two individuals tore down an American and an Israeli flag hanging from lampposts in the center of the quad and ran away.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 8:08 a.m.
The University has issued a cAlert telling community members that “the Main Quad and adjacent buildings are now open.”
Many participants of the encampment have now filed back into the quad through the entrance on South Ellis Avenue where the crowd control barrier is no longer in place. Protesters are continuing to chant and wave Palestinian flags. UCPD officers with riot gear continue to patrol and watch the group.
The arch entrance on East 57th Street, Cobb Gate, remains closed.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 8 a.m.
Some entrances of the main quad are now open. The main entrance through the arch on East 57th Street remains closed.
The Maroon observed UCUP attempting to block off South Ellis Street with bikes.
Dismantled tents, barricades, and other encampment materials have been placed into cardboard boxes and disposed of in dumpsters around campus.
The protesters are now forming a line in front of Levi Hall with their arms linked. UCPD officers in riot gear are approaching them.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 7:40 a.m.
At 7:28 a.m., a man drove by the protest while yelling “Nazis!” at the crowd. Several members of the protest shouted back in response, to which the man opened his car door and continued shouting while remaining seated in his vehicle. After a few seconds, he drove off.
The Maroon estimates that the crowd watching the protest has increased significantly to roughly 200 people, including onlookers and camera crews.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 7:30 a.m.
Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen and Associate Vice President for Safety & Security Eric Heath sent an email titled “The University’s Intervention Concerning the Encampment” to members of the University community this morning.
“The encampment violated the University’s commitment to free expression by monopolizing the center of campus— entirely obstructing physical access to a large part of the Quad, disrupting classes in nearby buildings, and contributing to an increasingly unsafe environment of confrontation, particularly the events of last Friday,” the email reads.
“All of the protesters left without incident and there have been no arrests,” Rasmussen and Heath wrote.
The email also addresses the timing of the police raid, which occurred at 4:40 a.m. “The overnight action, done when fewer protesters were in the encampment, was a collaborative effort carefully planned to minimize the need for arrests and reduce the impact on others in our campus and in nearby neighborhoods.”
Dean of Students in the College Philip Venticinque also forwarded University President Paul Alivisatos’s earlier communication to families of undergraduate students.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 7:19 a.m.
South Ellis Avenue has been reopened to cars after being blocked by UCPD and Allied Security cars earlier this morning.
Forklifts carrying hay bales are heading down East 57th Street away from the quad.
UCPD has brought 10 reinforcements and more crowd control barriers to the rally, which is taking place on East 58th Street across from the University bookstore and adjacent to the main quad. There are now a total of around 30 officers maintaining the barrier.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 7:17 a.m.
A new post on UCUP’s Instagram account calls on supporters to join the group of protesters outside the quad and “flood UChicago for Gaza now,” as well as to call and email President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker “to demand the cops stand down now.” Like another UCUP post earlier this morning, the new post provides scripts for these calls and emails.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 7:02 a.m.
The University has issued a cAlert telling community members that “the Main Quad is closed and adjacent buildings are locked until the Quad cleanup is complete.”
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:55 a.m.
President Paul Alivisatos has sent an email titled “Ending the Encampment” to members of the University community.
“Protest is a strongly protected form of speech in the UChicago culture, and the demonstrators had multiple opportunities to express their views,” the email reads. “But many aspects of the protests also interfered with the free expression, learning, and work of others. Safety concerns have mounted over the last few days, and the risks were increasing too rapidly for the status quo to hold. This morning, the University intervened to end the encampment.”
The email also reads, “The protesters were given an opportunity to disassemble their structures and depart the encampment, and there have been no arrests.”
The Maroon observed that protesters were given little advance warning to disassemble and exit the encampment prior to the police entering it. One protester said encampment participants were given a ten-minute warning, but only two minutes to actually leave.
Slips of paper informing students of a final notice to leave the encampment were given to protesters at the rally outside the quad but were not handed out in advance of the raid.
Alivisatos’s email also said that “where appropriate disciplinary action will proceed.”
According to the email, the protesters and University administrators “could not come to a resolution” during negotiations because “ultimately a number of the intractable and inflexible aspects of their demands were fundamentally incompatible with the University’s principled dedication to institutional neutrality.”
“The University remains a place where dissenting voices have many avenues to express themselves, but we cannot enable an environment where the expression of some dominates and disrupts the healthy functioning of the community for the rest,” the email concluded.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:46 a.m.
After more UCPD officers arrived at the crowd control barrier, they began pushing the barrier toward protesters. Some members of the crowd have run into the street, while others are physically resisting the officers’ advance.
Protesters are chanting “Shame on you,” and “The whole world is watching.”
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:38 a.m.
Multiple UChicago Facilities Services pickup trucks have crossed East 57th Street in front of the main quad. Some of the vehicles were carrying numerous cardboard boxes and what appeared to be dismantled tents and barricades.
– Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:32 a.m.
A video posted on UCUP’s Instagram account shows UCPD officers tearing down barricades and signs at the encampment. An officer can be heard ordering protesters, “move back.” The post’s caption encourages people to join the rally outside the quad “to show them we will not be pushed aside.”
A UCUP organizer confirmed to the Maroon that all protesters were now outside of the quad, and that police had not made any arrests so far. The organizer said they were unsure if anybody had sustained injuries but said that police officers had pushed protesters.
At least 100 protesters are gathered outside of the barricaded entrance to the quad on South Ellis Avenue. Protesters are pushing against barriers and moving forward against the officers.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:27 a.m.
Maroon reporters observed legal observers being turned away from the quad after the police officers had begun pushing protesters out.
“[The police officers] ambushed us… destroying the encampment,” a UCUP organizer said. “They said we had ten minutes to leave. They gave us two minutes.”
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:19 a.m.
Bill Ayers, a former militant organizer who co-founded far-left militant group Weather Underground in 1969, is present at the encampment with Bernardine Dohrn, a former leader of Weather Underground. Ayers spoke at the encampment during its first day.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:15 a.m.
Of the officers, at least two have covered their badge numbers with black tape. Their name tags are still visible.
Editor’s note, May 7, 12:18 p.m.: The original version of this update stated that at least two officers covered their badges with black tape. Officers were wearing a mourning stripe for a fallen Chicago Police Department Officer. Their badge numbers were not concealed by the mourning stripe and, like initially reported, their name tags were still visible.
— Maroon Staff
(Eric Fang)
May 7, 6:10 a.m.
Police are now handing out slips of paper with instructions on departing the encampment to protesters gathered near the entrance to the quad on South Ellis Avenue. The slips are entitled “Final Notice to Students Participating in Encampment on Main Quad.”
The papers were not handed to protesters in advance of the raid.
“The Deans on Call and University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) have informed you multiple times that your tents and other items are unauthorized. This is your final warning to leave the encampment.
If you fail to immediately leave, you will be arrested by law enforcement for criminal trespass under the Illinois Criminal Code.
Additionally, failure to immediately leave will result in disciplinary action as outlined in the Student Manual. You will also be immediately placed on emergency interim leave of absence from the University. A student who has been placed on emergency interim leave of absence must promptly vacate University housing, leave campus, cannot participate in student and academic program activities, or use any University facilities, and may not return until the student has been authorized to return from the leave and reenroll.”
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 6:05 a.m.
Trucks are carrying materials protesters had used to barricade the encampment away from the quad.
A video taken by a Maroon reporter shows that at around 5:20 a.m., roughly 30 police officers in riot gear formed a line with plastic shields around the exit from the quad to South Ellis Avenue on the west side of the quad. The officers then pulled yellow barricades in front of them and motioned for protesters, who had been pushed outside of the quad, to stay behind the barricades. Protesters continued chanting at the officers.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:48 a.m.
In an interview with the Maroon, Professor Eman Abdelhadi described her reaction to the police raid on the encampment.
“I am shocked by the cruelty of raiding the camp at 4:30 in the morning right after students had fallen asleep,” Abdelhadi said. “The police were watching the camp all night; they knew that people had just left; they knew that people had just gone to sleep, and that’s when they chose to come in and pull the tents from under people who are sleeping. It’s really disgusting.”
“I hope that the University knows that students aren’t going anywhere. This is just the beginning,” Abdelhadi added.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:47 a.m.
A video reviewed by the Maroon taken by an onlooker as the police entered the encampment showed many large flashes coming from within the encampment as police entered. Police quickly began tearing down tents, where encampment members had largely gone for the night. As police yelled at protesters inside the encampment to move out of the area, protesters can be heard yelling, “More than 40,000 dead, you’re arresting kids instead.”
Another video taken by encampment members and posted on X shows similar.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:31 a.m.
Police have set up a barricade between the line of officers in riot gear and protesters. The number of people arriving at the quad entrance continues to grow.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:23 a.m.
Per a video posted on X, the warning given by UCPD prior to entering the encampment was in part:
“You are hereby notified that you are committing criminal trespass by remaining on this private property without permission. You are ordered to disperse immediately. Anyone who fails to comply will be criminally charged. Students who fail to comply with this order are subject to University discipline and immediately placed on leave of absence.”
There were only a few minutes between the start of the warnings and when UCPD began entering the encampment.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:18 a.m.
Protesters gathered near the South Ellis Avenue entrance to the quad have begun slowly walking towards the line of police in riot gear. The group continues chants of “Where does our tuition go? Killing children, hell no” and “Paul, Paul, fuck you.”
The officers are equipped with zip ties.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:15 a.m.
In a Telegram message, UCUP said that it was encouraging people to demonstrate outside the quad. The number of people gathered near the bookstore has grown in size.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:14 a.m.
Another organizer said that the police essentially formed a funnel to force demonstrators out of the quad.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:12 a.m.
On the east side of the quad, a line of pickup trucks and construction equipment has entered the quad.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:09 a.m.
The raid came as most of the encampment had returned to their tents for the night. Two UCPD cars drove onto the quad and used their lamps to light up the encampment. Over a loudspeaker, UCUP ordered the demonstrators to leave the quad. Then, shortly after their announcements, several dozen officers in riot gear surrounded the encampment to prepare to enter.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor
May 7, 5:06 a.m.
The UCUP organizer said that they were not sure whether people were arrested. They believe that the goal was to push people out of the quad.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 5:03 a.m.
A UCUP organizer described the raid in an interview with the Maroon.
“They pushed me. One person was on the ground. They’ve been pushing people out,” the organizer said.
“They did not give us a clear plan for leaving. They came in maybe two minutes after the warning. It’s clear that they waited until after the rally was over. We were at our most vulnerable,” the organizer added. “I believe we got everybody safely out of [their tents].”
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 4:59 a.m.
Police in riot gear are blocking access to the quad as many people arrive at the quad hoping to enter.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 4:57 a.m.
Staff from the Maroon are reporting from outside of Regenstein Library. Protesters can no longer be heard.
— Eva McCord, Co-Editor-in-Chief
May 7, 4:55 a.m.
UCPD have ordered press to leave the quad. It appears that most of the protesters have been removed from the quad. It is unclear whether arrests have been made.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 4:49 a.m.
People could be heard screaming from the encampment as police continued sweeping the quad.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 4:48 a.m.
In addition to UCPD, the Cook County Sheriffs Office was observed on scene.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 4:46 a.m.
Tents were overturned and barriers were largely demolished. Protesters continued their chanting.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 4:45 a.m.
Police have entered the encampment and are clearing out tents. There are several dozen police officers on the quad.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor
May 7, 4:45 a.m.
Protesters could be heard chanting as officers told them to move back in unison. Bright flashes could be seen coming from the quad.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor
May 7, 4:25 a.m.
UCPD OFFICERS HAVE ARRIVED ON THE MAIN QUAD AND TOLD PROTESTERS TO LEAVE OR FACE ARREST.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 4:25 a.m.
There is minimal activity at the encampment, with most demonstrators appearing to have returned to their tents.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor; Emma Janssen, Deputy News Editor
May 7, 3:50 a.m.
Encampment organizers announced that they were ending their rally and told people they could go home. Organizers asked people who had gathered near the encampment to “check [their] phones at 5:30 [a.m.] for any updates.”
After the announcement, many of the individuals that had gathered in recent hours left the quad.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 3:13 a.m.
The number of Allied Security officers on the quad has returned to the usual number. As of 3:13 a.m., a rumored 3 a.m. police action has not materialized.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 2:49 a.m.
After briefly singing “We are the Champions,” protesters have begun chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “The people united will never be defeated.”
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 2:27 a.m.
As the encampment anticipates a potential police action, organizers are preparing for their arrival. An organizer said that faculty would be on the front line.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 2:18 a.m.
Over a dozen Allied Security officers are clustered together by the South University Avenue entrance of the quad. More security officers are arriving.
— Maroon Staff
May 7, 1:35 a.m.
UCUP issued a statement on their Instagram asking people to go “all out to defend our comrades” because of “credible reports” that police will act to remove the encampment tonight.
The Maroon observed groups of people leaving the encampment carrying various belongings.
— Peter Maheras, News Editor
May 7, 12:36 a.m.
A protester spoke over a megaphone asking encampment participants who do not want to be involved in police activity to leave and offered to escort people home. “We also ask that you do outreach and mobilize your network,” they said.
– Elena Eisenstadt, News Reporter
May 7, 12:21 a.m.
A faculty member from Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) at UChicago has reported to the Maroon that they are no longer able to access buildings around the quad which they would normally be able to enter.
— Finn Hartnett, News Reporter
May 7, 12:18 a.m.
UCUP released a statement on Telegram calling for protesters to mobilize to the encampment tonight. “We have received credible information that police WILL be carrying out a raid against the UChicago encampment in the coming hours,” the message read.
The statement comes after multiple reporters and a State Senator posted about the possibility of a 3 a.m. raid.
The number of people at the encampment has slowly grown since UCUP released its statement.
— Maroon Staff