The Encampment and IOP Occupation One Year Later

This piece is an excerpt from the third of a three-part series on the history of protest and the disciplinary system at UChicago. It covers the 2024 pro-Palestine encampment and Institute of Politics occupation. Other articles have covered 1967–1974 and 2010–2020.

One year ago this week, UChicago United for Palestine (UCUP) launched its “Popular University for Gaza” protest encampment on the main quad, erecting tents and artwork across a gradually expanding footprint. After nine days on the ground, the encampment was dismantled by the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) on May 7, 2024.

The Encampment’s First Four Days

Throughout the 2023–24 school year, pro-Palestine student groups responded to the October 7 attacks and the escalating Israel–Hamas war with protests, rallies, and sit-ins at colleges and universities across the country. At UChicago, UCUP called on the University to divest from Israel-aligned businesses and enact a program of reparations for Palestine and the South Side.

Throughout the academic year, many university presidents were brought in front of Congressional committees to justify their handling of the protests, and multiple university leaders, including Harvard University President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill, were forced to resign.

Tensions simmered as the spring wore on, with demonstrations continuing intermittently until early April, when students at Columbia University established the first “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and sparked a new wave of demonstrations following in their example.

The wave of protest encampments reached UChicago on April 29, when protesters gathered on the western end of the main quad near Swift Hall and established an encampment of their own. While UCUP’s plans had been leaked the previous week, the University community was not entirely prepared for its launch that day. As the Hyde Park Herald reported, one UCPD officer said that they “weren’t expecting this until Wednesday.”

Within hours, University President Paul Alivisatos released the first of several messages to the University community “concerning the encampment.”

In the message, Alivisatos indicated his willingness to allow the encampment to remain as a testament to UChicago’s commitment to free expression but warned that “if necessary, we will act to preserve the essential functioning of the campus against the accumulated effects of these disruptions.”

In his statement, Alivisatos also included an extended digression concerning the military roots of the word “encampment,” earning him the brief addition of “etymologist” to his Wikipedia profile.

Notable local leaders, including Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr., Weather Underground co-founder Bill Ayers, and 25th Ward alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez visited the encampment to express their support, participating in rallies and hosting teach-ins on topics related to protest history and Palestine.

After three days of the encampment, the University offered the encampment’s organizers a one-hour meeting with Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker in exchange for the removal of the encampment and cessation of further violations of University policy. In addition to a private meeting, the University offered an open forum with the president and provost to discuss “the many viewpoints related to the Israel–Hamas War and divestment.”

UCUP declined the proposal on the fourth day, refusing to dismantle the encampment unless the University committed to their demands.

A thunderstorm later in the day prompted University Facilities Services to take down the American flag from the main quad, in keeping with protocol, which protesters quickly replaced with a Palestinian flag. The day ended in a brief rally around the flagpole and a confrontation with UCPD officers trying to take the Palestinian flag back down. Security officers removed the Palestinian flag the next morning and cut the halyard, preventing any flags from being raised.

Frat Brothers March on the Encampment

On the morning of May 3, the encampment’s fifth day, University community members received a second email from Alivisatos about the encampment.

“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,” Alivisatos wrote. “Without an agreement to end the encampment, we have reached that point.”

Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, an organization composed of pro-Palestine faculty and staff members, decried the email in a statement to the Maroon. “The administration has not negotiated in good faith with our students, offering them absolutely nothing in hastily arranged meetings. In light of the brutal police repression of students, faculty and staff across the country, threatening to forcefully dismantle the encampment is a serious escalation.”

Around noon that day, the encampment hosted a rally with more than 200 participants; at the same time, opposing student group Maroons for Israel hosted a picnic on the other side of the quad. Shortly afterward, a group largely made up of fraternity members marched toward the encampment waving American flags.

Protesters and counterprotesters faced off across the center of the quad, with pro-Palestine protesters chanting, “UChicago you can’t hide, you invest in genocide,” and counterprotesters chanting, “U.S.A., U.S.A.” and playing patriotic songs.

At 1:06 p.m., the University sent out a cAlert asking community members to avoid the quad as the crowd grew to roughly 1,000 people. Twenty-five UCPD officers, some in riot gear, lined up between the two groups and prevented people from crossing to either side. Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Allied Security officers were also present on the scene.

As the demonstration died down, Arthur Long, a fourth-year in the College who led the counterprotest, told the Maroon, “I’m all for freedom of speech. And I love that UChicago protects that… But you don’t have the freedom to vandalize, you don’t have the freedom to obstruct University walkways, and you don’t have the freedom to disrupt learning, spraying ‘Death to America’ on buildings, chanting ‘Death to America.’”

The previous day, Long had posted on Sidechat calling on members of the University community to join him in putting the American flag back on the flagpole.

In a statement to the Maroon that afternoon, UCUP said they would “[remain] steadfast in holding the encampment but will not engage in escalation with police or Zionists.”

Ultimately, the encampment was forcibly disbanded by UCPD in a police raid beginning shortly after 4 a.m. on May 7.

Alumni Weekend Protesters Occupy IOP

Following a rally around the alumni beer garden on May 17, a group of “autonomous” pro-Palestine protesters, many of whom were alums, marched from a second rally on the Midway Plaisance to the Institute of Politics (IOP) building near 57th Street and South Woodlawn Avenue.

Protesters entered the building, barricading doors and spray-painting security cameras. Others gathered on the lawn outside, hanging banners and erecting tents. One demonstrator hoisted an effigy of Alivisatos onto a tree in front of the building, where it remained for several hours.

A person with knowledge of the situation told the Maroon in an interview in 2025 that protesters brought barricading tools, medical equipment, locks, smoke bombs, tactical equipment, and food into the building.

Heidi Heitkamp, director of the IOP, was inside the building during the occupation and exchanged words with the protesters before UCPD escorted her out. In an April 2025 interview, Heitkamp told the Maroon, “It was not well thought out on their part in terms of how they were going to occupy this building.”

“Eventually I just said, ‘I’m not leaving.’ And they said, ‘Well, you know, you’re going to get hurt.’ And I said, ‘Who’s going to hurt me?’”

UCPD removed protesters from the building after less than half an hour while CPD officers observed from the street. No arrests were made, and protesters remained on the property until around 9 p.m. when UCPD officers forced them out of the IOP’s backyard.

The group reconvened outside of Alivisatos’s house, where they rallied again, rehanging and beating the piñata-style effigy of Alivisatos on the front lawn.

Before the group split up, one organizer said, “We know that this is not about us; this is about Palestine.”

This piece was produced by the Maroon’s Investigations team, whose members are Celeste Alcalay, Evgenia Anastasakos, Elena Eisenstadt, Gabriel Kraemer, Zachary Leiter, Tiffany Li, and Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon.