Bowdoin walks back SJP encampment protester suspensions, implements probations
Bowdoin College recently walked back the suspensions it had imposed on anti-Israel student protesters who set up a pro-Palestine encampment on the school’s campus last month.
An SJP organizer reportedly said that pro-Palestine 'mobilization' in the Bowdoin community led to the suspensions being dropped.
Bowdoin College in Maine recently walked back the suspensions it had imposed on anti-Israel student protesters who set up a pro-Palestine encampment on the school’s campus last month.
Specifically, the Bowdoin administration put eight students involved in the encampment on disciplinary probation, permitting the students to return to campus, according to The Bowdoin Orient. The students had previously been placed on a temporary suspension.
Bowdoin’s chapter of the anti-Israel student group, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), has been temporarily suspended for its involvement in organizing the encampment. The chapter is involved in a separate disciplinary process.
One student, an official with Bowdoin’s SJP group and one of the students who had been suspended, said students involved in the encampment will have to meet with college administrators.
“[I was put on] disciplinary probation, in addition to [further] conversations with my dean and restorative programming, which was articulated to me as [a form of] conflict resolution and non-violence training, or something along those lines,” the activist explained to The Bowdoin Orient.
The SJP organizer also said that pro-Palestine “mobilization” in the Bowdoin community led to the suspensions being dropped.
“I do believe that just the incredible level of mobilization within the Bowdoin community and from the whole Maine community really contributed to why Bowdoin ultimately dropped these suspensions,” she continued.
Bowdoin students have been protesting in support of the “Bowdoin Eight,” the students who were suspended following the anti-Israel encampment. For instance, Bowdoin’s SJP group posted on Feb. 18 about an attempt to pressure the administration into removing the suspensions by ending donations.
“Starting today, we ask you to join our pledge to withold donations on this OneDay and across all subsequent fundraising events until the College honors the Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum and grants amnesty for all student protestors of the Shaban al-Dalou Encampment,” the SJP group stated.
Campus Reform reported last month about the SJP encampment at Bowdoin. School security reportedly told the protesters, who had occupied a campus building, that they were “on a path to no longer be Bowdoin students.”
Bowdoin Director of Communications Doug Cook told Campus Reform that protesters “repeatedly violated” Bowdoin’s code of conduct.
“The encampment in Smith Union has ended, with all students leaving voluntarily,” Cook explained. “The demonstration repeatedly violated policies within Bowdoin’s Code of Community Standards and the participating students have entered the College’s disciplinary process.”
