“When you fight, and are on the right side of history and fight for the liberation of people you’re oppressed,” said Koji Aceanopon ’26, a Harvard student and spokesperson at the Harvard Pro-Palestine encampment. “The police are simply a mechanism to do that repression,” he told the Register Forum.
The encampment protesting Harvard University’s investment into Israel occupied Harvard Yard from April 24th to May 14th. Notable organizers include Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) and Harvard Afro. At the time of the Register Forum’s visit, there were approximately 50 tents situated on the grass quadrants of the yard, according to organizers. As of May 19th protesters reached an agreement with the Harvard administration, ending the encampment.
The unrest is a result of violence in Palestine, where the situation has reached catastrophic proportions. The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has resulted in a staggering death toll. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, nearly 35,000 civilians are dead, including women and children. Beyond the loss of life, Palestinians are facing widespread destruction of infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools, and humanitarian services.
Signs and banners displaying messages of peace and freedom were displayed around the yard, taped to trees and tents. A light blue sign sat propped up against a tree, sharing an excerpt of a poem written by Dr. Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian author killed in an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) airstrike. It read, “If I must die, you must live, to tell my story.”
Towards the front of the encampment was a large tent, sheltering folding tables with food, beverages, and other camping supplies. Many protesters were still in their tents at around 9:00 in the morning, however, some gathered in chairs on the grass, sipping coffee and chatting.
Security surrounding the yard was tight. Either Harvard University Police officers or Securitas guards were stationed outside every gate, requesting a valid Harvard ID upon entrance. Those who could not produce a valid ID were denied access to the Yard and its facilities.
Aceanopon, a spokesperson for the encampment, explained why the students decided to occupy Harvard Yard: “We’ve been organizing for the past seven months, around the genocide of the Palestinians happening right now,” he told the Register Forum. “Atrocities happen every day. This is an escalation of that.”
The current unrest has triggered a series of responses from the Harvard administration. Following a university-wide email from interim President Alan M. Garber, participants in the encampment were threatened with involuntary leaves of absence. In response, more than 300 Harvard faculty members wrote a letter urging Garber to engage in negotiations with the protesters. Notably, four members of Garber’s presidential task force on anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias co-signed the letter. “We are concerned that the university has yet to meet with the students to hear their concerns. Instead, the administration has issued escalating threats of punitive disciplinary action, the severity of which the university has not seen in decades,” faculty wrote.
Garber’s email on May 6th marked the first explicit indication of his administration’s willingness to discipline encampment participants. However, it was issued following attempts at formal negotiations with protesters. Since the encampments’ end, 5 students have been suspended, and 20 put on probation, losing course credit, according to The Harvard Crimson.
“We come to these universities to learn and make friends and further our academic careers,” Harvard student and HOOP organizer Violet Barron ‘26 tells the Register Forum. “But we also come with the baseline understanding that we will be protected, protected by our administrations. And I think that this has shattered that belief that universities or administrations are operating in students’ best interest.”
She goes on, saying, “We are very.. aware of the risk that we’re undertaking…[I]n the face of genocide, everything else falls away,” she said. “[A]ny sort of administrative slap on the wrist doesn’t feel like anything compared to what’s happening [in Gaza].”
Similar protests in solidarity with Palestine have erupted on college campuses nationwide. Columbia University found itself at the center of it all four weeks ago as President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik addressed the House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the institution’s response to allegations of campus anti-semitism. In the aftermath of Shafik’s testimony, a letter released by the university called upon the New York Police Department to remove students encamped on the South Lawn, citing violations of university policies on trespassing.
Meanwhile, MIT students and faculty began their own encampment on April 21st, occupying Kresge Lawn. Since the Register Forum’s visit, the MIT encampment has been dismantled by police, with discolored patches of grass being the only physical trace of the student demonstration.
The tables scattered around the central area provided not only a space for communal dining, but also hosted food and drinks, and served as makeshift workstations, where students huddled over laptops.
The encampment at MIT was organized by various student organizations, including the Coalition Against Apartheid, Jews for Ceasefire, the Arab Student Organization, and the Asian American Initiative.
Students at MIT have a very specific reason for their demonstration: “For us here in particular, we are looking at the ties we have with the Ministry of Defense of Israel. MIT is a very research-heavy and technical institution,” Safiyyah Ogundipe ‘25, an MIT student and protester, told the Register Forum. “In addition to the endowment and investment that a lot of colleges have, we also have these explicit ties where the Israeli Ministry of Defense helps select its sponsor projects that happen on our campus,” she said.
According to the Scientists Against Genocide Encampment at MIT, the university has received over 11 million dollars in authorized research funding from the IDF. This research is allegedly being used in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In terms of MIT’s ties with Israel, the students’ demands are clear. “We do not want our labor to be used for genocide. We do not want our labor to be used for the benefit of the Israeli occupation forces, and we are camping out here until the administration meets our demands,” Ogundipe told the Register Forum.
MIT administration has initiated suspensions targeting students involved in the encampment. While the exact number and criteria for determining suspensions remain undisclosed, the consequences vary depending on the type of suspension. MIT president Sall Kornbluth had previously warned of impending suspensions in response to the encampment’s use of campus property.
Administrators have also cited instances of antisemitism as reason to end student-led protests and the encampment. “There are many students who have no experience with the protests who hear everything second hand from people who are opportunistically characterizing this as endangering Jews for the purpose of shutting down protest activity,” Gabriella Martini, an MIT student, a member of Jews for Ceasefire and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning for Palestinian Liberation, told the Register Forum. “There is a difference between political ideas and actual fear,”
Martini described her perspective as a Jewish student on campus. “I have experienced no antisemitism. I have been deeply involved in this movement since October and I have been nothing but welcomed as a person and as a Jewish person,” Martini told the Register Forum.
As the conflict in Israel-Palestine continues, students across American universities are steadfast in their show of solidarity with the Palestinian people. Despite administrations across the country continuing to issue suspensions, expulsions, and arrests, many students are willing to continue fighting. As Aceanopon put to the Register Forum, “History will absolve us.”