Sunday’s protest is the latest in a series of demonstrations that have been going on for about three weeks on campus.
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There was another protest in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sunday after it was reported Saturday that some Harvard students who were involved in the pro-Palestinian encampment are now facing consequences from the school just days after they agreed to end their protest.
Both the Harvard Crimson and the Boston Globe revealed Saturday that five undergraduate students were forced to withdraw from Harvard College and more than 20 students were placed on probation for their alleged involvement with the encampment at Harvard Yard. Additionally, at least 12 seniors are being prevented from graduating.
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, which was the last in the Boston area to disband its encampment, shared a petition on social media on Saturday asking for signatures from undergraduate students to call on school leaders to let the impacted students graduate at Harvard's commencement on Thursday.
The Globe obtained a news release from the student coalition that reads, "We entered into our agreement with the Harvard administration with the understanding that Harvard would follow precedent in these disciplinary board procedures... Interim President [Alan] Garber’s email to our liaisons clearly states that he will allow students to graduate,. The decisions from [Friday] renege on that agreement.”
According to the group, these punitive actions show “Harvard’s extraordinary commitment to the Palestine exception in matters of free speech, protest, and, now, discipline.”
Harvard government professor Steve Levitsky told the Globe that the punishments are “highly disproportionate” compared with Harvard’s precedents for handling student demonstrations.
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“We should not be meting out this sort of punishment to students who have been students in good standing at Harvard throughout their time here and have completed all the requirements for graduation. This was a peaceful protest," said Levitsky, who also told the Globe that it appears the disciplinary board for undergraduate students issued harsher consequences than peer boards at the university’s other schools.
Protesters against the war voluntarily took down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.
Sunday, there was a temporary shutdown in Cambridge's Harvard Square as protesters again called on the university to cut its financial ties to Isarel.
"We need to actually divest from companies that profit off of the genocide of Palestinians," Harvard senior Hanan Wuhush said.
The protest started right by the entrance to Harvard Yard and spilled into the street at one point. The group was chanting and marching, temporarily blocking Peabody Street. There were fliers zip tied to the gates of Harvard Yard. Demonstrators have been calling for an end to what they call Israel's genocide in Gaza.
Many of the protesters were also very upset Sunday about the disciplinary action that the school's newspaper reported on Saturday -- five students suspended, more than 20 facing probation and at least 12 seniors who won't be allowed to graduate at Harvard's commencement ceremony on Thursday.
“Students have been suspended. They will not be allowed to graduate, walk across the stage. They will not confer their degrees which means that they won't get their degree or diploma until I don’t know if it's four semesters or five semesters, what the regulation is or whatever the university is spewing,” Wuhush said.
"These students are standing in solidarity with the students in Gaza. And with that they are being suspended, they are being threatened," she added. "It's not about just okay not getting a degree. It's more than that. It's why these students are getting suspended. The question is why."
NBC10 Boston has reached out to Harvard for comment but is still waiting to hear back.
