Students Rush Harvard Yard for Pro-Palestinian Tent Encampment

BOSTON (Boston Herald/TNS) — Harvard students rushed Harvard Yard to create a “liberated zone” on the Cambridge campus Wednesday, as pro-Palestinian tent encampments have popped up at schools across the country in the last week following the arrests of Columbia University students amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Videos went viral on Wednesday after Harvard students were seen storming Harvard Yard to set up a tent encampment.

“Harvard establishes liberated zone,” the Harvard Out of Occupied Coalition posted.

“We have established this Liberated Zone to call for an end to Harvard’s moral and material complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” the group wrote.

The Harvard Out of Occupied Coalition is demanding that Harvard divest from all Israeli investments, and reinvest resources in Palestinian academic initiatives, communities and culture.

The group is also urging Harvard to drop all charges against students for “their organizing and activism, and commit to ending the weaponization of disciplinary policy.”

A spokesperson for Harvard did not immediately respond to comment on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee reported that it was suspended for the rest of the semester.

“The stated basis for the suspension was the fact that the PSC was still on probation and had been notified that further violations could result in suspension,” the ACLU of Massachusetts wrote in a letter to Harvard on Wednesday.

“The alleged violations were that, on April 19, 2024, ‘the PSC co-sponsored a demonstration with unrecognized student organizations, failed to register the demonstration with the Office of Student Engagement, and violated the Responsible Use of Space Policy outlined in the Student Organization Resource Guide,’” the ACLU added.