HAVERFORD COLLEGE – Students of Haverford College have begun Day 1 of their encampment in support of Palestine. The students are joining dozens of other US universities and colleges to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and in opposition to the Israel-Hamas war.
In the late afternoon of Thursday, April 25, Founder’s Green on Haverford’s campus was alive with activity. The sounds of hammering echoed off of buildings as students drove stakes into the ground to hold up tents and banners reading statements such as “LIBERATED ZONE,” “GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT” and “GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT.” Other students balanced on the railings of Founder’s Hall’s porch, stringing up another banner reading “NO TRUST IN ADMIN, NO CONCERN 4 STUDENTS, NO RESPECT 4 OUR VALUES, FREE PALESTINE.”
With this action, the Haverford encampment joins a national movement inspired by the student action at Columbia University, who began their own “Liberated Zone” over a week ago. Columbia University’s administration called on the New York Police Department to order a raid on the encampment on April 18, 2024, leading to the arrest of over 100 Columbia and Barnard students. In response, national dialogue has begun on whether or not students have equal protections to freedom of speech on their campuses.
By 4:45 PM, a significant crowd had amassed on Founders, including students from both Bi-Co schools, and members of faculty and staff. Also in attendance were two members of the Haverford Board of Managers, who are currently on campus for one of their four yearly meetings. Led by an organizer with a megaphone, attendees began chanting a variety of chants including one specifically calling out Wendy Raymond, the president of Haverford College. “Wendy, Wendy you can’t hide. We charge you with genocide,” a chorus which was also used to condemn President Biden and Israeli President, Benjamin Netanyahu. Students shouted the controversial assertion, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a chant which has been cited as antisemitic by pro-Israeli speakers, but defended by pro-Palestine activists who see it as a message of peace and hope.
Multiple students took to the megaphone to speak, giving an overview of what the Haverford encampment stands for, and demands from the administration. “It is clear that Haverford College, a quaker institution of higher education, has failed to recognize the ongoing genocide in Palestine. It has failed to protect its vulnerable population, including Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students on this very campus,” one student said, who then asserted that President Raymond owes her students an apology for “falsely accusing us of anti-semitism, as these accusations create a dangerous environment for student organizers.”
The organizer mentioned, too, an event held by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship (CPGC) on April 14th, which was open to outside community members. Multiple of these community members, who stood in support of Israel, were seen harassing student protesters at the event. Since then, Bi-Co Jewish Voice for Peace has been calling for a statement from President Raymond condemning the verbal attack of Bi-Co students. “Wendy, the administration, and the CPGC need to take accountability for endangering students by inviting Zionists onto this campus who put students [in danger.]”
The encampment is being launched at the beginning of Board of Managers weekend, in order to make student voices heard by the largest number of people in the position to meet the encampment’s demands. “I know that many [people on the] board of managers stand with us but some — like also many of them don’t — and there are some neutral people who don’t know what they are doing,” Tala Qaraqe, an organizer for Haverford College’s Students For Peace organization, said. Most notably, students are continuing their demand that the college call for a ceasefire. “Wendy Raymond dishonored our student government by rejecting and refusing to stand by the ceasefire resolution,” Qaraqe said. The resolution she refers to is one that was passed by the majority of the student body at spring plenary calling for a ceasefire. Though President Raymond accepted the resolution as an adoption of values among students, she refused to align the policy with the college, writing:
“There is no such College alignment or presidential alignment with the resolution; the resolution is limited to the Students’ Association. Among the statement’s components, the statement asks parties, including the College, to stand for a specific set of values. In keeping with my prior position on behalf of the College–that I would not and will not call for a ceasefire in Haverford’s name–I do not commit Haverford or any parts of Haverford to taking any specific action or making public commentary in response to this resolution.”
Present at the rally were faculty members Maud McInerney and Lindsay Reckson, among others. McInerney has been a vocal member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, a Bi-Co organization which recently published an op-ed with Haverford’s student newspaper The Clerk.
Reckson, the Chair of the English Department at Haverford, spoke to the Bi-Co News, saying, “I think our students are really modeling for us right now what peaceful protest looks like, and what principled stand for liberation looks like and I think that we have a lot to learn from the coordination and the commitment of student movements across the country right now, and the way they’re lifting up what’s happening in Gaza.”
Staff members of the college were also present. One such attendee, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Bi-Co, “I know that there is a genocide happening, and that the administration is not saying anything about it. And I have friends who are losing family members … I’m in particular supporting the encampment and the rally … because I believe that students have the right to free speech and to [voice] what is important and that we should be listening as members of the community.”
After a set of three speeches, one from Emma Schwartz ‘24, and another from Kinnan Abdelhamid ‘25, students began to march to the Dining Center where the Board of Managers was, in the words of an organizer, “enjoying happy hour with Wendy Raymond.”
Crossing the red bridge in the Asian garden, protesters gathered near where the Board of managers had congregated before their dinner. Students crowded into the side hallway of the Dining Center and began to chant. Through the windows of the small side room where they were gathered, the Board of Managers could be seen speaking while students continued to chant outside their door. The protesters originally planned to stay until President Raymond left the meeting room, however they eventually decided to return to the green. Raymond would not be leaving until much later, after dinner. Three campus safety officers were present outside the door to the lounge where the president and board members were meeting. When asked whether this security presence was on par for the Board of Managers meeting, Dean McKnight said, “They are here to ensure the safety of everyone, primarily the students. That’s all.”
The Bi-Co News spoke to Jesse Lytle, Vice President and Chief of Staff of Haverford College, about his expectations regarding the encampment and the possible safety concerns involved. A recent email sent out by President Kim Cassidy assured the Bryn Mawr student body that any encampment activity would be upheld within certain guidelines to ensure safety, but Haverford students have yet to receive that assurance. When asked by the Bi-Co News what Haverford students should expect from the administration, Lytle said that “Safety is paramount.” He emphasized that there are things which will need to be monitored to ensure student safety, citing the provision of dorms that lock and the relative danger of an open campus to encamped students. “We want to protect free expression. We want to keep everybody safe. We’ll see what shape things take … [a] protest is a form of expressive freedom that we support in general, up until the point that it crosses lines into discrimination, harassment, or bias, and so long as the speech and expression stays on the right side of that we 100% stand with expressive freedom.”
John McKnight, Dean of Haverford College, had similar things to say: “The encampment falls within policy in terms of freedom of expression, as long as it’s not presenting any safety risk to anyone, like blocking entrances or exits or denying access to, you know, where people need to move about.” In response to questions about whether he saw the protest escalating as has happened at Columbia University and University of Southern California, he added, “Haverford is not interested in bringing police into this equation. That is something that — I can’t speak for other colleges and universities, but I’m personally horrified to see students being arrested for using their freedom of expression on campuses. So I can only imagine resorting to something like that if we felt there were an actual threat to safety on campus. And that would be to protect our community, not to surveil or intimidate our community.”
An encampment organizer and member of both SJP and SFP who wishes to remain anonymous told the Bi-Co News, “I mean, obviously, you never know what might happen. But I think especially since we have been in communication with administration, [about] several things, personally, I don’t think things will escalate to that point. And I also think it would be a very bad reflection on Haverford’s behalf if they’re not only just bringing the police on campus, but explicitly asking students to be arrested. Especially as a, you know, historically Quaker institution that is supposedly holding values of anti-militarism — that’s also part of kind of why we’re here, that we’re not seeing those values reflected in terms of how they’re responding to the genocide in Palestine. But, yeah, I’m not too concerned that there will be some sort of violent reaction.”
[Editor’s Note: This article originally stated that President Raymond had “not approved,” the Ceasefire Resolution passed at spring 2024’s plenary. The wording of that section has been altered to state more accurately that President Raymond, while accepting the resolution as an adoption of values among the student body, asserted that she “would not and will not” call for a ceasefire in Haverford’s name.]
