Tensions were high on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus on Monday, as pro-Palestinian student demonstrators resisted the university's 2:30 p.m. deadline to clear campus camps.
A brief shoving fight broke out between police and protesters, but the numbers swelled when hundreds of high school students showed up to offer support.
Protesters blocked a busy road in front of the Cambridge campus during rush hour on Monday, shutting it down for hours and snarling traffic, as well as pro-Palestinian protesters and a growing number of pro-Israel protesters. A metal fence erected last week to separate the factions was torn down. counter-protesters.
As the evening wore on, police presence increased, including state troopers equipped with tactical gear and zip ties, which are often used in place of handcuffs during mass arrests. By 7 p.m., about 200 students filled the lawn, arms folded and phone numbers written on their arms in case they were arrested.
The increased activity comes after the university's president, Sally Kornbluth, issued a letter on Monday warning students that they would be immediately suspended if they did not leave the camp voluntarily.
Harvard University administrators sent a similar message Monday, saying the right to free speech is “essential” but “not unlimited.”
“We must act now to bring the situation that has disrupted our campus for more than two weeks to a conclusion,” Dr. Kornbluth said at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It comes out of growing concern.”
Concerned parents of MIT students sent a letter to administrators on Friday, protesting the stress, trauma and “toxic realities” their children faced during the protests that began April 21.
Campus police began restricting access to the encampment Monday afternoon, allowing students to leave but not allowing them to re-enter. Some voluntarily resigned and distanced themselves. Others who remained said the university would only hurt itself by taking aggressive action to end the protests.
“I'm not thinking about the police right now. I'm thinking about how bad this is for MIT,” said Hana Flores, 24, a biology doctoral student.
At one point, Flores shared a moment with her husband, holding his hand through the fence as he urged her to stay safe and promised to tell her mother what was going on.
Dr. Kornbluth was one of three university presidents who came under heavy criticism last year for testifying at a Congressional hearing on campus anti-Semitism and hate speech discipline. Two remaining leaders, Claudine Gay of Harvard University and Elizabeth McGill of the University of Pennsylvania, also resigned in the aftermath, and hundreds of MIT alumni called for stronger action to combat anti-Semitism. I signed a letter asking for it.
About 200 high school students from more than a dozen schools in cities including Boston, Cambridge and Somerville also protested at MIT on Monday afternoon. Two 16-year-olds from Somerville High School, Olive Red and Leila Abarca, co-founder of Massachusetts High School for Palestine, were among them. Redd spent time at both the Columbia University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology campgrounds, which he said he felt were very peaceful.
Campus protest organizers said they worked with local high school students to plan the visit. The young students were at a distance from the camp. Some people sat on the streets and wrote messages such as “Liberate Palestine'' and “Defund and divest'' on the sidewalks in colored chalk.
“I think it would be such a shame to see this peaceful, beautiful community shut down,” Redd said. “That's why we're here, because even though we're young, we know that our voices matter.”
Similar to actions taken by students on some other campuses, students encamped early Monday morning after a small group of protesters temporarily set up tents and banners inside MIT Building 7. was chased out onto the front steps of the building across the street.
Pro-Israel counter-protesters were also present during the day. Some shouted, “Murderer!” The students responded with their own chants toward the encampment, all the while a state trooper stood between the two groups.
Baltasar Diniz, 24, a first-year computer science doctoral student, said he believes counter-protesters have a right to express their opinions, but that “we're asking MIT not to build weapons of mass destruction. , I don't understand how that would be received.'' as an attack on Israeli students. ”
He criticized MIT's threat of disciplinary action and said the school was not negotiating in good faith with the protesters.
“Suppression of free speech on campus has a negative impact on the entire community,” Dinis said. “It is abhorrent that institutions cannot do even the bare minimum to combat genocide.”