Harvard Pro-Palestine Protests May Be Approaching a Whimpery End

Pro-Palestine protesters at Harvard did not get the satisfaction they hoped for on Monday night.

The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) coalition had set a deadline on Instagram, demanding that the university begin negotiations with the group by five o’clock on May 6.

And to show that they were serious, the protesters set up an outdoor conference room across from University Hall. The “Take a Seat” sign and flowers were nice, breezy touches.

The above photo was snapped at 10 a.m., as a student manned the Charlie Brown-esque booth. But by 10:15, hopes of a confab were dashed when Harvard Interim President Alan Garber sent an email to Harvard students, faculty, and staff calling “on those participating in the encampment to end the occupation.”

The tone of President Garber’s long email was exasperated parent. It included a self-described “simple message” set in bold so it couldn’t be skimmed over: “The continuation of the encampment presents a significant risk to the educational environment of the University. Those who participate in or perpetuate its continuation will be referred for involuntary leave from their Schools.”

HOOP responded on Instagram. “As Rafah is under attack, Harvard President Alan Garber sends a community-wide email notifying the threat of suspension for students protesting the genocide.”

Having their deadline ignored must be disappointing to the protesters. It does not appear that HOOP will get the big Hollywood denouement that their Columbia counterparts achieved, complete with storming a university building and confronting cops in riot-gear.

Nor will they get the conciliatory ending that their Brown counterparts received when that university agreed to consider its investment in Israeli companies with ties to the military in exchange for protesters removing tents from campus.

But right now, the Harvard president is offering no deals and the campus police are keeping their cool (with the help of some iced Dunkin’.)

At five, when the deadline had officially passed, the protesters held a press conference. Spokesperson and Harvard Law School student Lea H. Kayali did not directly respond to the President’s email. Instead, she offered a counter threat: “The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine coalition is proud of the discipline with which its student protesters have conducted themselves in the face of daily intimidation and abuse. But here at Harvard, the administration has left the student movement with few options to seek the change they advocate for.”

The press conference also did not address President Garber’s stated concern that when Harvard staff requested to see student IDs, “supporters of the encampment have at times yelled at them, tried to encircle them, and otherwise interfered with their work.”

The protesters called for a rally that evening, summoning the “Boston Community” to join the protest through Harvard’s Johnston gate. The rally started small with about 50 students then swelled to perhaps 80. They marched through the Yard, banging on drums and shouting the same old chants.

“This is where liberation happens!” loses some punch when the Yard used to be open to all and now every student has to have an ID scanned before entering.

For twelve days, the protesters have been chanting, “Disclose, divest/We will not stop, we will not rest.” But the time to rest may be approaching. Finals are in full swing and as one junior English major said to me, “I heard a lot of the protesters have already booked their plane tickets.”

As the days have worn on, Harvard’s encampment has lost vibrancy. The sugary snacks stacked in the “Liberated Zone” have been consumed. A rain storm on Sunday night did not help. I asked one observer when he thought the protest peaked. He considered it a moment then said, “When they all ran in.” That was on April 24 and the excitement of setting up a Liberation Camp has turned into the drudgery of camping without nearby sanitary facilities.

On the other side of University Hall, the newly expanded zone consists of four small tents–three for sleeping and one filled with books with a sign that says, “Memorial library.”

Supplies appear to be limited to water and buckets of Tidy Cats Instant Action Scented Clumping Clay Cat Litter. There did not appear to be any cats in the area so draw your own conclusions.

As freshmen depart, the population of the Yard will contract. Groundskeepers will soon outnumber protesters. The Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine movement was stymied from the start by the choice to pitch tents in basically a gated community. Organizers set up nearly 50 tents but it remains unclear how many were actually occupied. More rain is predicted for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Perhaps the protestors have another card to play that will force the administration to negotiate. Or perhaps they realize they’ve hit a wall. By Tuesday morning, the outdoor conference room facing University Hall had been dismantled. And if there are any English majors among the protesters, they might already be reciting T.S. Eliot’s “We Are the Hollow Men” which offers a haunting chant of its own:

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.