Shortly before noon on Wednesday, April 24, pro-Palestinian students and protesters ran into Harvard Yard carrying tents, signs, and food, quickly setting up an encampment in front of University Hall. Forming an organization called the “Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine Coalition,” also known as HOOP, members vow to occupy Harvard Yard until Harvard divests from occupied Palestine, discloses any such investments, and drops “all disciplinary and legal charges against individuals for their student activism and advocacy,” explained HOOP organizer Asmara Asraasafi ’24 in a video interview with Boston PSL. Protestors have since named the encampment space the “Liberated Zone.”
The encampment has now entered its sixth day as dozens of Harvard student organizers spent another night in tents in front of University Hall, with at least 40 tents set up. This comes as pro-Palestinan protests have engulfed college campuses nationwide, sparked by the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University on April 18 that led to over a hundred arrests. Schools such as Yale, USC, and Brown have seen similar encampments.
The Independent interviewed participating students at the encampment on April 24 to hear about their plans for the encampment and motivations for being there. The encampment follows Harvard’s suspension of the Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) for not abiding by school policies, ordering them to cease all activities and operations immediately or face expulsion.
Kojo Acheampong ’26 a sophomore at Harvard and a member of HOOP, explained how University students all across the nation have been organizing for the past several months against the conflict in Palestine. “This is in solidarity with Palestinians,” Acheampong said. “This is in solidarity with what’s happening at Columbia, with what’s happening at MIT, Emerson—all across the nation we’re seeing students really take up the call to call for an end to the genocide.”
When asked if they were concerned about police or university backlash, Acheampong said that HOOP understands that they “can organize” and that “the people have the power, right.” He continued, explaining that they “understand that [they’re] fighting for a just cause and that the people are behind it.” Ahceampong noted the power in numbers, detailing that there were “mad people here” and that Harvard can “try to stop [their] movement—they can’t, and they know they can’t.”
Mahmoud Al-Thabata ’27, an organizer in the HOOP coalition, echoed Acheampong’s sentiments, explaining how HOOP has already “had protests, die-ins, rallies all to divest and just disclose divestments from genocide and occupation of Palestine right now.” He continued explaining how HOOP “felt like it was a time to escalate and the need to do so throughout a peaceful encampment that we have over here.” “Our main goal is that we’re going to stay out here until Harvard promises to reach our goals, which is disclosure and divestment,” Al-Thabata concluded.
One large sign at the encampment reads “Jews For Ceasefire.” The Independent spoke with Violet Barron ’26, one of the co-founders of Jews for Palestine, who explained that “this is what it looks like to show solidarity” as a Jewish student. “This is about human rights. And that looks like all rights and freedom of equality for everyone who lives in that Israel-Palestine region, and that’s what we’re advocating for,” she stated.
The protest began with an emergency rally on April 24 against the PSC suspension, followed by a march around the Yard. As it began to rain in the afternoon, protesters could be heard chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Honoring the quiet hours of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m, the encampment continued through the night, when tents were flooded by the Yard’s sprinklers around 4 a.m.
HOOP later released in a joint Instagram statement with the PSC: “We have established this Liberated Zone to call for an end to Harvard’s moral and material complicity in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”
Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton released a statement to The Crimson as the University’s first formal response to the encampment that evening. He stated that “we are closely monitoring the situation and prioritizing the safety and security of the campus community.” The Yard has been strictly closed since April 22 to non-HUID holders, monitored by HUPD and Securitas.
But some protestors at Harvard have made clear they are willing to be arrested or face disciplinary action from the Administrative Board. As reported by The Crimson, protestors are separated into different levels of risk, according to an organizer: the “green team” expects the least risk, the “yellow team” is in charge of coordination and logistics, the “pink team” expects to face disciplinary action, and the “red team” is willing to be arrested.
On April 25, the protesters remained adamant to their demands, chanting “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.” Dean of Students Thomas Dunne wrote in an email to undergraduate students in the afternoon that the encampment violated University rules and broadly threatened disciplinary action to any actions that obstruct University function. That evening, HOOP released community guidelines with an Instagram post, outlining their commitment to “nonviolent direct action.”
Dunne sent another email on April 27 repeating that the encampment violated policies and threatened disciplinary action. That afternoon, protesters raised Palestinian flags at University Hall. Later in the evening, College administrators passed out paper slips that threatened “increasingly severe sanctions” and suggested students may have their degrees withheld while they face disciplinary proceedings. As of Monday, April 29, over 30 student protesters received emails, which, according to The Crimson, requested that students appear before the Administrative Board on April 30 over Zoom.
Harvard College administrators, including Dunne and the Associate Dean of Students Lauren E. Brant, ventured to the encampment on the morning of April 26 to document the ID numbers of students who remained at the site. Amid chants of “shame!,” Dunne removed a keffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress, on the John Harvard statue using a pole that the protestors placed along with an also removed Palestinian flag. Administrators now visit the site daily to conduct routine ID checks.
The days are punctuated by daily events schedules. HOOP hosts teach-ins, news updates, film screenings, prayer services, dance and art celebrations, and a variety of workshops and other events. On Friday, April 26, HOOP organized a Jummah prayer in the Harvard Liberated zone for Harvard Muslim community members to “honor all sacred spaces destroyed by settler colonial expansion and violence.”
Police involvement has been minimal, with usually only a few HUPD officers visible at the edges of the Yard guarding the encampment. Police, along with University staff, took down three Palestinian flags that the protesters raised above the John Harvard statue on April 27. Harvard University Police Department Chief Victor A. Clay, in an interview with The Crimson, said he would only make arrests if protesters violated state or federal laws—not simply at the request of top administrators.
As the Harvard encampment persists and arrests continue throughout the nation, it remains unclear what action the University will take and how long the encampment will remain, following the continued documentation of Harvard IDs and Dunne’s email on Saturday. After visiting the encampment on Friday afternoon and speaking with organizers, U.S. Rep. Ayanna S. Pressley (D-Mass) stated that pro-Palestinan student protestors should not face disciplinary action. “I’m doing everything I can to ensure that there aren’t consequences, and doing everything that I can to ensure that people feel safe—safe in their activism, which is a tenet to our democracy and a constitutional right.”
Rania Jones ’27 (rjones@college.harvard.edu) and Meena Behringer ’27 (meenabehringer@college.harvard.edu) write News for the Independent.