BRYN MAWR— A week has passed since Bryn Mawr College students took over Merion Green, establishing the “People’s College for the Liberation of Palestine.”
On Friday, Bryn Mawr College President Kim Cassidy sent an email condemning protesters for preventing the traditional May Pole from being set up for May Day. While she confirmed that the encampment would not be forcibly moved from Merion Green, she did confirm that student organizers would be facing disciplinary action. As of today, 49 tents remain on Merion Green, an increase from the 35 that were there the morning of the email.
In a rare moment of candidness with the paper, Executive Director of Bi-Co Campus Safety Lillian Burroughs told the Bi-Co News that Campus Safety “[is] hoping students move on their own volition.” When asked if there has been consistent communication between administration and Campus Safety regarding the encampment, Burroughs jokingly said “that’s the million dollar question.”
At 3:00 p.m., protesters participated in a “die in” in front of Taylor Hall. Organizers took turns reading out the names of the Palestinians who have been killed during the Israeli government’s raids in Gaza. As they read the names, participants laid down, each holding a red flower, symbolizing the mass death in the region during the last 6 months. Campus safety officials watched from afar.
Later in the day, students organized an anti-Zionist Shabbat dinner at the center of the encampment. A Bryn Mawr student, who asked to be kept anonymous for fear of administrative discipline, told the Bi-Co News that it was important for them to hold the ceremony “because there’s been a conflation between Zionism and Judaism, which is not the case. My Judaism informs my anti-Zionism, because my Jewishness tells me about justice.”
Shabbat participants recited the Mourner’s Kaddish in memory of the Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces. In a speech during the Shabbat services, an alum of Bryn Mawr College said to look at the ceremony as a “celebration of the world as it could be.”
