By Hannah Epstein & Nomah Elliot
It is 10:30 PM at Founders Great Hall at Haverford College. Air mattresses line the floor. A projector and screen sit next to a table overflowing with various foods, which has a sign saying “Help Urself 2 Snacks” stuck onto it. Students are playing cards, doing homework and chatting amongst themselves. Some appear to be tense, others more relaxed. A few more students walk into the building carrying pillows and have blankets swung over their shoulders. There is a lively atmosphere; the people here feel as though their presence has power and they are determined to stay put, even as student organizers announce that John McKnight, Haverford’s Dean of Students, threatens disciplinary action on those who do not leave before midnight.
On December 12, 2023, students from Bryn Mawr and Haverford continued their sit-in at Founders Hall, where President Wendy Raymond’s office resides. The sit-in has been ongoing since December 6, organized by Haverford Students For Peace.
Students For Peace Forms
Haverford Students for Peace (SFP) was created in the wake of the shooting of Palestinian Haverford student, Kinnan Abdalhamid, and two of his friends, Tahseen Ali Ahmad and Hisham Awartani, in Vermont. SFP is not an official Haverford club as it was created mid-semester. SFP states on their Instagram page that they are “advocating for the safety of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities at Haverford College”.
On November 29, 2023, SFP shared a document outlining their grievances and demands of the Haverford administration. The letter was directed to President Wendy Raymond, Dean John McKnight and other members of the Haverford College administration. In it, the students stated that “the mental and emotional toll that the hate crime and ongoing violence in Palestine has had on Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students has been overlooked and underestimated.”
The letter then went on to list out five demands made to the administration: academic leniency, culturally competent counselors, support for faculty and student activism, accountability and restorative action and transparency from the board of managers. SFP requested that the administration offer a full response by December 1, citing the Quaker and pacifist legacy of the college: “Quakers have a long history of anti-war action. It is inappropriate for Haverford to use its position as a historically Quaker institution as an excuse for remaining silent or trying to take a ‘both sides’ approach on apartheid,” it stated.
Since the release of the document, tensions have grown between the student organizers and the administration. One student organizer of SFP said that while the administration had responded to some of the grievances, two key demands were not addressed: “They responded to some of our demands, but they ignored two demands which we feel are the most important… calling for a ceasefire and… Dean McKnight being accountable for the harm he inflicted [referencing an email sent out by another student to the entire Haverford student body, which called the Students for Justice in Palestine platform fundamentally antisemitic].”
Shuts Down the Strike
At 5:15 PM on December 12, 2023, the organizers of the sit-in were called to an emergency meeting with President Raymond and Dean McKnight. According to a representative of SFP, Dean McKnight informed them that all protesters who were still gathered in Founders Hall past 12 AM would be subject to disciplinary action in way of a dean’s panel.
The organizer said that the grounds on which they would be disciplined were not made clear, going on to state that similar threats were made against the student protesters in 2020.
The organizer also said that while they appreciated everyone being present, they were understanding of those who decided to leave after 12 AM, noting that international students and undocumented students were at particular risk. “We [SFP organizers] are very committed to making sure students with F1 Visas are protected,” one representative of the club stated.
Those with F1 student visas are at risk of deportation if they face suspension or expulsion from their higher education institution.
Many students said they were willing to stay despite the risk of disciplinary action.
“Because I myself am in a privileged position as a white Jewish student I feel okay putting myself in this position of possibly having disciplinary action taken against me,” one student, who chose to remain anonymous, told the Bi-Co.
Another student, who also requested anonymity, told the Bi-Co that the threat of disciplinary action went “against the very spirit of Haverford.” The student then went on to state that “if we [the students] can’t speak against the student government and administration, then what is the point? I went to Haverford for this. And the fact that disciplinary charges have been threatened is so baffling to me, as an international student… I would do so much more if I wasn’t on a student visa.”
Students were not the only ones present at the sit-in. Dr. Maud Burnett McInerney, a professor of English at Haverford College, was offering support to the organizers of the protesters by sitting in on their meetings and standing beside the leaders of SFP as they made announcements to the room. McInerney is a member of Haverford’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine.
In a brief interview with the Bi-Co, McInerny said she rejects “the assumption that being against the Israeli government amounts to anti-semitism, and… support[s] the human rights of people in Palestine.” McInerney also expressed anger at the administration’s 12 AM deadline, saying that she “wouldn’t be here otherwise” had it not been for the administration’s threats. McInerney told the Bi-Co that she felt “very strongly that if we [Haverford College] want to lay any claim at all to Quaker traditions, we have to support a call for a ceasefire now.”
Even after the threat was issued, students continued to pile into Founders Great Hall. At 10:45 PM, over 75 students were participating in the sit-in.
At 10:46 PM, SFP organizers informed the students participating in the sit-in that at 9:47 PM Dean McKnight had informed the protesters that the deadline for exiting the building would be extended until 9 AM the following morning. According to SFP, Dean McKnight stated that anyone still present in Founders Hall at 9:00 AM would be brought to a Deans Disciplinary Panel.
The organizers thanked everyone who showed their support and urged the students who chose not to stay the night to return to Founders Hall the following morning at 8:30 AM. They also assured all students that Dean McKnight informed them that no student would be forcibly removed or face suspension or expulsion. The organizers went on to note that international students could safely participate in the protests.
Two organizers who requested to remain anonymous spoke to the Bi-Co, expressing their frustration with the administration’s lack of action: “We have been meeting with them… we are trying to engage in dialogue and we didn’t feel that any of the conversations with them were productive. They were just pushing us back.”
Another organizer told the Bi-Co that “there was no one demand that [the administration] said yes, we completely understand [to].”
The organizers also informed the Bi-Co of a moment in which Dean McKnight expressed anger after pillows wrapped in sheets, representing dead bodies, were placed in front of President Wendy’s office.
Following a request for comment, Jesse Lytle sent the Bi-Co the following message from President Raymond and Dean McKnight at 9:08 AM, which had already been sent to the Haverford College Community:
Friends: We have long supported Haverford community members’ rights to expressive freedom and peaceful protest. Equally, we work to foster an environment in which every student, faculty, and staff member is able to learn, work, and live productively, unimpeded by fear or harassment. This week’s sit-in in Founders Hall by students is a recent example of peaceful protest. Throughout, we have supported the organizing students’ right to peaceful protest, and students, staff, and faculty have simultaneously engaged in dialogue to identify areas of common ground centered on Haverford’s educational mission. However, actions by the protesting students over the weekend and yesterday escalated the situation, materially impeding the abilities of fellow students to pursue their studies and the abilities of staff and faculty to conduct their work. Because of this, we convened a lengthy discussion last night with student writers and sent a subsequent email summarizing our discussion. In both the meeting and the email, we informed student organizers that they must discontinue actions that impede student learning and the functions of the College, which include the sit-in inside Founders Hall. Should organizing students decide not to proceed with this de-escalation, we will ask them to take accountability through restorative – not punitive – action toward rebuilding trust. We expressed to the organizers last night our continuing interest in working together in a number of concrete ways – and ways yet to be imagined – all in the spirit of advancing peace and education, and students indicated their interest in that. This collaborative endeavor across our learning community will be based on restoring mutual trust consistent with Haverford’s educational mission. Let’s work together. In community, Wendy Raymond, president John McKnight, dean of the College.
The Final Morning of the Sit-In
On the morning of December 13, the protesters regrouped at a rally at Founder’s Hall. From 8:30 AM to 10 AM, about 200 Tri-Co community members, according to SFP, gathered on the porch and in the foyer of the building. Over the next hour and a half, the protesters chanted, sang, and multiple organizers read speeches and poetry. One organizer also recounted the events in Gaza which happened parallel to the weeklong sit-in.
Although the sit-in participants were told that anyone still in Founder’s Hall at 9 AM on December 13 would face disciplinary action, no such action occurred as of about 9:30 AM.
Dean McKnight and other members of college leadership were standing and watching the rally from a distance.
