This story is breaking and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Students at the College began an encampment on Sawyer Quad at 4 a.m. on Wednesday and released a statement demanding that the College improve its fiscal transparency and divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel. The encampment, organized by the College’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jews for Justice (J4J), joins a wave of protests nationwide in which protestors have constructed encampments to protest the war in Gaza and institutional investment practices and stances.
The encampment at the College, termed the “Popular University for Gaza,” will hold classes, workshops, and teach-ins, according to a joint statement by SJP and J4J. Protestors will “collectively determine what is being taught and learned,” the statement said.
At 7:32 a.m., the Record counted 19 tents arranged in a semicircle on Sawyer Quad.
The statement released by SJP and J4J reiterated demands for the College to “implement increased transparency and ethics” in its fiscal practices and “divest the college’s endowment from weapons manufacturing supplying Israel.”
“As Williams College students, we call on the College to divest from genocide, and we stand in solidarity with Palestine,” the statement read. On Feb. 14, the Record reported that College administrators said the College’s investment in weapons manufacturing “is not zero,” according to accounts from student members of J4J who met with President Maud S. Mandel and Chief Investment Officer Abigail Wattley ’05 regarding divestment from arms manufacturers. Members of J4J said that the College did not provide J4J with data at the meeting.
The statement also connected the war in Gaza to “interconnected forms of structural violence,” comparing the College’s possible investment in weapons manufacturers to its historical connections to slavery and Christian missionary organizations. “Williams College’s past and present are deeply tied to the ongoing structures of settler colonialism, anti-Blackness, and the dispossession of marginalized people,” the statement by SJP and J4J read.
In the last two weeks, a growing number of protests have included encampments at institutions of higher education across the country. Over 1,000 students have been arrested in recent days, and others have faced suspension and other disciplinary action.
On Friday, April 26, Mandel sent out an all-campus email in response to a student protest affiliated with SJP that interrupted and ended an on-campus speaker roundtable in the final session of the “The War in Gaza and the International Context” series. Some student protesters may face disciplinary action from the College.
Mandel also wrote in an April 29 all-campus email that, although encampments themselves do not violate the Williams Code of Conduct, actions that infringe on the code — including through impeding access to buildings, disruption of College activities through noise or through the “heckler’s veto,” and threatening the safety of community members through harassment, threats, or physical violence — may be subject to disciplinary action. In her email, Mandel referenced the campus protest policy, which stipulates that violation of its terms “will result in disciplinary processes.”
“Students are entitled to assemble and voice their views and concerns,” Mandel wrote in her April 29 email. “We expect any student who uses their voice to do so within the broad guardrails of the Williams Code of Conduct. ”
At 2:46 p.m. on May 1, Mandel sent an all-campus email to acknowledge the encampment and reaffirm that encampments themselves do not violate College rules, as long as they remain compliant with the Williams Code of Conduct and the campus protest policy. “In short, the student participants enjoy the same protections, and are subject to the same rules, as all students,” she wrote.
“Whatever your opinion on events in Israel and Palestine, you are equally welcome here and equally encouraged to participate in our culture of exchange,” she continued. “I hope and believe that we can demonstrate ways to protest and debate without losing sight of our shared humanity.”
Update: This article was updated at 4:52 p.m. to include Mandel’s May 1 all-campus email.
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