Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have set up a pro-Palestinian encampment on the central Trotter lawn as tensions grow between the students and the college’s administration.
The move comes a year after colleges and universities across the United States first saw the establishment of pro-Palestinian encampments, also dubbed “liberated zones” by student protesters. Called the Hossam Shabat Liberation Zone, the encampment was established on the central Trotter lawn, and went up midday on April 30 alongside a series of posts on Swarthmore SJP’s Instagram profile.
The reestablishment of Swarthmore SJP’s encampment comes following the interim suspension of the club last February following their occupation of Parrish Hall protesting the disciplinary charges posed against students relating to demonstrations in support of Palestine during the 2023-24 academic year. The decision to discipline the students came amidst President Donald Trump’s mounting pressure on institutes of higher education to contain anti-Israel speech. The charges ultimately led to the suspension of a student in March,while 24 others were charged with violations of the Swarthmore Code of Conduct. Alongside the suspension, other students in the group received probation, reprimands, and warnings.
Swarthmore SJP named their reestablished encampment after Hossam Shabat, a Palestinian college student and journalist killed by Israeli forces on March 24, 2025. In their initial Instagram post announcing the encampment, Swarthmore SJP described their decision to name the encampment after Shabat as a “radical declaration”, saying “We do not forget. We do not forgive. We will not be complicit.”
The encampment kicked off with a rally that started at 4 p.m. on April 30. The rally was advertised with an Instagram Reel that included a video of the ongoing rally with the caption: “THE MORE YOU TRY TO SILENCE US THE LOUDER WE WILL BE.”
According to Swarthmore SJP’s Instagram, the encampment was quickly issued a memo addressed to “Protesters on Trotter Lawn” from Stephanie Ives, Vice President for Student Affairs at Swarthmore. Swarthmore SJP posted a photo of the memo to their account, which had been significantly altered with black marker. The main text of the memo had been written over with the words “OK BRO” in large text, and a few sentences were underlined. The word “racist” was written with an arrow pointing to Ives’s name at the top of the memo, and the words “Obsessed much?” was written on the left side. Swarthmore SJP posted a photo of a different copy of the memo a few hours later, with that one written over with the words “Stfu and divest.”
Swarthmore SJP also released a list of demands on their Instagram page, which were “Full divestment of all companies that proof from the Zionist entity’s occupation of Historic Palestine” and “Material protections for [Swarthmore’s] most valuable community members.” That post also included a breakdown of each demand with the first titled “Disclose, Divest” asking Swarthmore to end collaboration with Cisco, a company that Swarthmore SJP alleges “supports the security infrastructure of the Zionist settler-colonial state”, disclose endowment investments, and publicly condemn the attacks on Gaza.
The second, titled “Defend” demanded that Swarthmore refuse to cooperate with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the DHS (Department of Homeland Security), and “all other Federal agencies under any circumstance.” The post also asked that Swarthmore “Condemn President Trump’s repeated abuses of executive power attacking immigrant communities and abducting pro-Palestinian student activists,” referring presumably to the ongoing arrests and deportations of international college student activists for Palestine, and that Swarthmore subsidize legal aid for immigrant members of the school community.
In another post, Swarthmore SJP encouraged other colleges to reinstate their encampments, asking them to “rejoin us in this fight as the Zionist regime continues to escalate its genocidal mission.” They also called upon outside support, asking them to join Swarthmore SJP in their self-described “strike against the university.”
According to an email sent out earlier today to Swarthmore students, two protesters were placed on interim suspension. The email also noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is aware of the encampment and has urged the administration to “bring the encampment to an end as quickly as possible.”
