Swarthmore hands out trespassing notices to pro-Palestinian encampment members and threatens arrests

Swarthmore College president Valerie Smith has condemned a pro-Palestinian encampment on the school’s campus in a letter to the college community, encouraging the group to reconsider its approach.

“I urge these protesters to pursue a less divisive approach to expressing their views — one that aligns with not just the College’s policies, but with the mutual respect, compassion, and care that all in our community deserve,” Smith wrote in the Thursday letter.

According to Smith’s letter, the college’s Department of Public Safety had issued trespassing notices to members of the encampment and the Swarthmore chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine group earlier the same day, threatening the possibility of citations or arrests.

“I unequivocally condemn their actions,” Smith wrote in the letter. .

Students began setting up tents and signs in an enclosure on Trotter Lawn on Wednesday afternoon in protest of the ongoing war in Gaza, Swarthmore’s investment in entities profiting from it, and of what they said is the college’s weak protections for students vulnerable to the Trump administration’s deportation campaign.

Swarthmore’s encampment members have named their space the “Hossam Shabat Liberation Zone,” in honor of a 23-year-old journalist who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in March. They specifically demanded that Swarthmore divest from Cisco, which powers some IT systems on campus and holds contracts with the Israeli government.

» READ MORE: Swarthmore students renewed their pro-Palestinian protests with a fresh encampment and specific demands

In Smith’s letter, she said that the protesters used Swarthmore property to construct the encampment and vandalized it with incendiary graffiti. On Thursday morning before 8 a.m., Swarthmore staff members forcibly took back items from the encampment that they identified as Swarthmore property.

Smith said that law enforcement officials, including the FBI, have urged the college to end the encampment as soon as possible.

Encampment members did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Smith said she was concerned that the encampment was made up of not just Swarthmore students, but also with people unaffiliated with Swarthmore. While the Swarthmore SJP chapter called for support from allies outside of the college on social media, it is unclear how many people currently staying at the encampment are from outside the Swarthmore community.

Swarthmore began issuing interim suspensions to “several” students who they were able to identify and who refused to leave the encampment, Smith said, blocking their ability to access campus resources or attend Swarthmore events. It is unclear how many students have received interim suspensions.

“Should they continue to fail to disperse and violate the College’s policies and the law, we will have no choice but to escalate our response as we consider all actions to bring the encampment to an end,” Smith said.

This encampment was erected nearly a year after Swarthmore students voluntarily took down a similar encampment, the last standing pro-Palestinian college protest encampment left in Philly. It is unclear how long the members of the current encampment intend to stay on Trotter Lawn.