BU disperses pro-Palestine student encampment that tried to turn building into 'base for struggle'
A pro-Palestine encampment outside Boston University’s George Sherman Union was cleared by police Monday after students set up tents and called for divestment from pro-Israel groups.
The university’s SJP chapter, already on probation for past policy violations, framed the protest as resistance against alleged 'genocide.'
An attempted pro-Palestine encampment outside Boston University’s George Sherman Union student center was dispersed by police on Sept. 15.
The demonstration, organized by multiple anti-Israel activist groups, sought to criticize the ongoing war in Gaza.
A key part of what the encampment sought to do was occupy and rename a campus building. The encampment wanted to call the building the “Anas Al-Sharif Union,” after a Palestinian journalist.
Other goals of this round of the encampment included “ICE off our campus” and “academic boycott of all complicit institutions and companies.”
Activists gathered at 5 p.m., setting up tents and displaying banners. Around the evening time, there were already reports of an increasing policing presence and alleged threats of mass arrests of encampment participants.
Later on that day, the group confirmed the encampment had been cleared.
“Our encampment has ended but this is just one battle in a greater fight for Disclosure, Divestment, and a Liberated Palestine,” they explained. “Students were threatened with mass arrest by BUPD, BPD, Brookline PD, and Mass State Troopers in just 3 hours.”
In March, Boston University placed its Students for Justice (SJP) in Palestine chapter on probation for unlawfully posting a referendum urging divestment from Israel. The group responded with defiant messages on campus doors.
The probation follows the board of trustees’ February rejection of divestment proposals, and mirrors disciplinary actions at other universities against SJP chapters for disruptive conduct.
Students who helped to organize the protest posted to Instagram on Sept. 15, asserting that their actions were part of a broader struggle against what they described as Boston University’s complicity in “genocide.”
“As long as Boston University fuels genocide and imperialism, We, the people of conscience at Boston University and beyond, will rise until our demands are impossible to ignore,” the post said, “the more we are repressed, the harder we will resist.”
“Today, we reject the name ‘George Sherman Union,’ named for a wealthy Boston robber baron,” the group continued. “Instead, we will transform this space into a base for stuggle [sic], collective education, and resistance against the institutions that fund, legitimize, and profit from genocide.”
In February, Campus Reform reported about another anti-Israel encampment that was disbanded.
At Bowdoin College, Students for Justice in Palestine set up tents in the student union prompting security action, student discipline, and warnings that protesters risked suspension for policy violations.
Campus Reform has contacted Boston University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
