The Haverford Solidarity Encampment, an organization of Pro-Palestinian Haverford students camping on Founders Green, finished its second full day on Friday, April 26. The camp remains peaceful as students come and go when they please. Some are sprawled out on the grass with laptops in hand, making posters, or getting schoolwork done.
The camp’s resources have grown, and are now piled up on a table covered by a canopy structure right outside Founders Hall. The encampment coincided with a previously planned Board of Trustees dinner in Founders Hall, which took place at 6:15 PM that night.
An organizer of the event, who chose to remain anonymous for fear they may be harassed as a result of their participation in the encampment, told the Bi-Co News, “in terms of support we’ve been getting, it’s been a variety of faculty, staff, community members, [or] family that have just heard of what’s happening and are really eager to support.” The tents, they say, have been provided by student groups on campus or through personal donations. The organizer emphasized that “right now, we have kind of all that we need. And we’re also just really encouraging people that if they’re looking to support, they should really send whatever money they can to people who need it in Gaza, so a variety of GoFundMe’s and other funding efforts that we really encouraged people to focus their energy on.”
Later in the interview with the organizer, who is active in Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Students For Peace (SFP), the Bi-Co News asked whether students have been in contact with administration members since the camp’s launch, and what their response has been.
“Some of them have been supportive, in that we have a right to be here and protest peacefully in this way,” the student organizer said. “There are certain boundaries that they are saying they don’t want to see crossed, some of which, frankly, I don’t really understand.” The organizer told the Bi-Co News that a campus safety officer approached them and allegedly gave them a lecture about a large banner hammered into the ground which they claimed obstructed one of three main pathways near Founders.
The organizer continued, “the concern that was expressed to us by Campus Safety is that it would be an accessibility concern. Personally, as a physically disabled student on this campus, I have seen time and time again, the college just does not care at all about expressing accessibility concerns that I have brought up to them. And so when we’re seeing this selective cherry picking of what accessibility to make [up] some concern about and what not to, we’re really just seeing a reflection of what values we’re holding and who they view as in need of protection and who they don’t care about … I would also say that for those of us who are concerned about disability justice, part of it is being in solidarity with other social justice movements, particularly given that we’re seeing a mass disablement and debilitation in Gaza. So, frankly, I find some other concerns very disingenuous.”
At that point, organizers had not determined whether they would comply with the alleged order from Campus Safety. However, later in the afternoon, Haverford Students for Peace posted a statement to their Instagram along with a photo of the banner: “Earlier today, campus safety asked us to take down this banner. After refusing, they attempted to take our pictures. Administration later approached students to remove the sign[,] weaponizing accessibility[,] and then proceeded to threaten us with [a] Dean’s Panel. We stand firm with our encampment, and every aspect of it. We are here to stay!” it read.
An anonymous organizer recounted the event to the Bi-Co News, claiming that the campus safety officer took a photo of an organizer, and then asked her name, which she declined to give. Later that afternoon, Dr. Nikki Young, Vice President for Institutional Equity and Access, spoke to the organizers concerning the issue. One student organizer told Dr. Young that they “explained my concerns about how accessibility was being weaponized … to me it feels disingenuous to me that this is what they’re concerned about at this moment in this context when there have been plenty of other contexts that [have] received little to no action in regards to accessibility.” Dr. Nikki said she would relay the message to her colleagues.
Following conversations with administrators, organizers told the Bi-Co that were threatened with a Dean’s Disciplinary Panel if they refused to remove the sign. The instigation of a Dean’s Disciplinary Panel is one of the resolution processes outlined in the Students’ Guide, used particularly, as the Student Life homepage of Haverford College’s website outlines, “when the incident in question involves a significant community disruption, instance(s) of violence, or the threat of violence.” The banner has remained standing on Founders Green, over three hours after the post was made.
A request for comment sent to the Executive Director of Campus Safety, Lillian Burroughs was forwarded to Vice President and Chief of Staff of the College, Jesse Lytle, who stated, “Freedom of expression is a core value of our learning community, and it can bring the discomfort of disagreement. Each of us – students, faculty, and staff here at the College – must be prepared to listen to different ideas in order to learn. Participation in our learning community also brings responsibility, including making it possible for others to use our shared campus, and all of our paths and buildings. We have engaged students in dialogue asking them to make the choice to move the banner off the path so others may pass safely.”
The banner which previously hung between two pillars over the entrance to Founders Hall has now been taken down by organizers, per a separate request from Campus Safety regarding the blocking of entrances and exits. Organizers complied with the request, as it seemed logical and based in real college policy. “I think it goes to show, we’re not being a pain in the ass just to be a pain in the ass,” the anonymous organizer states. “There is motivation behind what we’re doing, and we have very clear goals.”
When asked what the protesters’ response would be should the college threaten suspension or other disciplinary action based on safety concerns, the organizer responded, “I mean, my concern would be, again, this construction of safety, whose safety we’re concerned about? We are seeing time and time again that this institution cares more about maintaining its existence than one, some of the safety of students on this campus and two, the lives of Palestinians… So, you know, especially as a historically Quaker institution, it would be incredibly concerning for me if we’re seeing that sort of rhetoric being reflected…I think it would show pretty clearly what Haverford’s intentions are, and how they view their students, how they’re treating their students, and how they’re preaching about dialogue and expressive freedom is all for show.”
As 6:15 PM approached, members of the Board of Managers began to trickle into the area, entering Founders Hall for a dinner. Students linked arms in pairs of two and lined up in front of Founders Hall, singing the first two verses of the song “We Shall Not Be Moved” on loop. A short while later, the students began to process into Founder’s Great Hall, still singing.
The Board of Managers members were in the middle of a pre-dinner cocktail hour and gathered around small high top tables. In the rest of the Hall, six seater tables had been set up and an appetizer of strawberry and greens salad was laid out. The demonstrators formed a semi circle around the tables and continued singing. After concluding a few more verses of the song, the demonstrators ceased singing and one student moved to the front to give a speech. A few members of the board of managers clapped when the singing concluded. In their speech, the student referenced a myriad of past world events saying “we should have spoken.” They also pointed out that President Raymond condemned the war in Ukraine and also brought up many of the emails that she has sent since October 7. Most board members listened aptly, though some continued with their conversations.
After the first speaker concluded their speech, Dean John McKnight approached the podium at the side of the room to ask that demonstrators not take up much more time so that the board of managers could “get back to college business”. The next speaker, who had since taken the megaphone, nodded and began to state the purpose of the demonstrator’s presence, to ask the board of managers “to use their power to pressure Wendy Raymond to call for a permanent ceasefire and to support divestment.” After, the speaker individually called out each member of the board by stating their full name and saying “we urge you to use your power,” concluding with President Raymond and Dean McKnight.
“The entire point is that it isn’t easy and it isn’t convenient.”
N.A. ’24, Organizer with haverford students for peace
Dean McKnight once again moved to the podium to speak, seemingly about to ask the demonstrators to leave. However before he could say anything, the demonstrators sat down, making it clear that they would not be vacating. As the demonstrators once again began to sing, members of administration and the Board of Managers could be seen in discussion and a little while later, the Board of Managers left Founder’s Great Hall. They reportedly moved to President Raymond’s office.
The organizers explained to the Bi-Co that the dinner was scheduled to end at 8:30 PM. In order to avoid being “waited out” as one organizer explained, the protesters stayed in the hall, now singing to a room vacant of any members of the board of managers or administration.
At about 6:55 PM, the Board of Managers exited Founders Hall and moved to the Dining Center. The demonstrators’ singing could be heard through the windows of the Great Hall.
The Bi-Co News later spoke with the second speaker, a senior at Haverford, and organizer with Students for Peace, who wished to only be referred to by their initials, N.A. They reflected on the demonstration inside Founder’s Hall. In response to Dean McKnights words at the podium they said, “We’ve been interacting with Dean McKnight frequently throughout all of this because he’s the Dean of Student Life. He’s been in a lot of meetings with us, so we kind of know his stance on this and we haven’t had particularly good experiences with him in the past where we feel heard and we feel that he’s working with us rather than making it more difficult. So, when he was telling us to wrap up, or finish what we needed to do for that minute or two minutes, it felt like it defeated the purpose of being disruptive, because the entire point is that it isn’t easy and it isn’t convenient. Like ‘oh you give us a minute or two and then we just walk out.’ It’s like, ‘oh this is inconvenient for a couple of minutes and then it goes back to regular.’ So it was a little frustrating to hear but it wasn’t gonna change the fact that we were gonna stay and say what we needed to say. We weren’t gonna leave if they told us to leave after two minutes, we were gonna stay and finish the purpose.”
In response to the Board of Managers leaving, N.A. said, “Honestly I think it was a job well done, I think the purpose was to make them feel like, you can’t just come to campus and walk past us and ignore our presence and ignore the purpose of the encampment. So to physically be there in that space and to force them to relocate after everything had already been set up and they thought they were gonna have a nice relaxing dinner, I think it was a powerful moment and I think we stopped at the right time afterwards. We achieved the purpose of altering their schedule to a significant enough degree.”
