Pro-Palestinian encampment set up in Harvard Yard, following protests at other Boston-area campuses

Eric Fleiss, the leader of the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, called on Harvard to clear out the encampment and discipline or arrest “these illegal protestors who are violating all acceptable university rules concerning free speech,” he wrote Wednesday in a forum on What’s App.

The latest wave of US college campus protests against the Israeli-Hamas war, which have taken the form of tent encampments, were sparked by an encampment at Columbia University, where police arrested more than 100 people last week. Elsewhere across the country, police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California, and House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Columbia University’s president to resign amid protests there.

The Harvard encampment, which organizers called a “liberated zone,” was orchestrated by a student group called the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Coalition. There were 19 tents total, according to Lea Kayali, an organizer and Harvard law student.

“We have established this liberated zone to call for an end to Harvard’s moral and material complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” the coalition said in a statement read aloud at Wednesday’s rally. “As students, educators, and graduate workers, we have a duty to fight against this genocide.”

Among the Palestine Solidarity Committee’s demands are that Harvard disclose any institutional and financial investments in Israel, similar to the demands of student organizers at MIT, Emerson, and Tufts. In Gaza, more than 34,000 people have been killed as a result of Israel’s bombardment and invasion, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, in retaliatory operations following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, which left more than 1,200 people dead and another 250 others kidnapped.

Harvard student protesters are also calling for the university to drop all disciplinary charges against students who have been penalized for campus demonstrations.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and are prioritizing the safety and security of the campus community,” Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said in a statement.

Some students saw Harvard’s decisions to shut down the yard and suspend the PSC as a way to minimize disruption on campus. But students involved with the encampment say they don’t plan on minimizing action.

“I’ve been waking up to images of bloodshed every single day for these past six, seven months, following an entire lifetime of watching Palestinian death be treated as the status quo,” said Tala Alfoqaha, a Harvard law student who is Palestinian and has family members she said were killed in the region. “And I think right now that status quo is being interrogated. And I think many people are coming to that realization right now, that we can’t continue on as normal.”

Alfoqaha said the Harvard encampment is in solidarity with those at Columbia University, MIT, and other colleges in the Boston area and nationwide.

Students leaving the yard after participating in the rally said spirits among student protesters seemed high as tents were being set up.

There was a moment of tension when demonstrators heard sirens, during which they joined together to form a human barricade around the newly-erected encampment, the students said. But the sirens passed by.

Tents for the Harvard Yard encampment were in direct violation of signs posted outside the yard, which said, “Structures, including tents and tables, are not permitted in the yard without prior permission.”

Meanwhile, outsiders looked in through the gates surrounding the yard.

“If they head out here, I’ll join them,” said Marty Blatt, 73, a retired Northeastern University professor who came to join the rally but was stopped outside the gates, where security guards are asking people to show Harvard IDs in order to enter.

“I knew that the yard was closed,” Blatt said. “I thought … that we would form out here and we’d all be on the outside looking in.”

While students rallied in the yard, a giant inflatable of a watermelon — a symbol of the pro-Palestinian movement — was visible from outside the gates.

Students who spoke with the Globe said they were not surprised by the decision, citing backlash the group received and concerns expressed over safety on campuses given the events at Columbia and other universities.

Some said they were disappointed with the suspension, seeing it as a repression of free speech, while others were more sympathetic to the balance between expression and safety facing campuses in the current climate.

“Speech that is controversial has a role on college campuses,” said Cosmo Albrecht, 27, a Harvard law student. “The university does have a duty, at the same time, to keep student life running.”

Earlier Tuesday, most gates providing access to the yard had signs that read, in bold red lettering, “Harvard Yard will be closed today,” and redirecting people to the five open gates, which were guarded by a security officer checking for Harvard IDs. Some students said it seemed there was more of a security and police presence than in past instances when the yard has been closed, such as for the inauguration of former university president Claudine Gay.

Students, both graduate and undergraduate, said they didn’t receive official communication from the university about the closure or the reasoning behind it. Still, many figured the closure was in response to pro-Palestinian encampments on other campuses and ensuing arrests at Columbia University, Yale University, and New York University, and similar demonstrations at MIT.

Harvard did not respond to questions about whether students were informed about the closure. The university issued a statement saying: “We shifted to [Harvard University ID] access only to stay ahead of potential issues with non-Harvard recognized groups.”

The Harvard Crimson reported that “an email sent to students and staff who work in the Yard stated that the closures are being done ‘out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our community as a priority.’”

Jide Anekwe, a first-year student, said she is disappointed with the college’s closure of the yard, as well as its suspension of the Palestine Solidarity Committee.

“If the university wants to stop protests, maybe they should listen to the protesters or at least try to have that dialogue,” Anekwe said as she walked outside the yard’s gates on Massachusetts Avenue.

Anekwe said she thinks Harvard’s response to the violence in Gaza, and the related unrest on campus, has been “lackluster.” While she said she doesn’t expect the university to take “any radical stances,” she feels the administration hasn’t considered the perspective of students, especially students of color.

“I really don’t expect much from the institution,” Anekwe said. “I’m really just here to get my degree and go.”

Anekwe said that most students she has talked to say they’re relieved for a less-crowded yard.

“At the end of the day, life still goes on,” Anekwe said. “People are just happy that they don’t have to walk past crowds of tourists to get to class on time.”

Madeline Khaw can be reached at maddie.khaw@globe.com. Follow her @maddiekhaw.