There has been a pro-Palestinian encampment on MIT's campus for the past two weeks. This afternoon, MIT's President Sally Kornbluth posted a statement announcing that the camp will have to come to a close. She gave protesters until 2:30 pm today to vacate the camp. Kornbluth cited several reasons including the safety of protesters, the unfairness of allowing them to dominate the public space and evidence that outside forces were pushing for escalation.

The war in the Middle East continues to cause anguish and conflict here at MIT. Some have expressed their views through the encampment on the Kresge lawn. My team and I, as well as many faculty members, have engaged in extensive conversation with these students and have not interfered as they have continued their protest. However, given developments over the past several days, I must now take action to bring closure to a situation that has disrupted our campus for more than two weeks.

My sense of urgency comes from an increasing concern for the safety of our community. I know many of you feel strongly that the encampment should be allowed to continue indefinitely – that the protest is simply a peaceful exercise of the right to free expression, and that normal rules around campus conduct shouldn’t apply in the face of such tragic loss of life in Gaza.

But I am responsible for this community. Without our 24-hour staffing, students sleeping outside overnight in tents would be vulnerable. And no matter how peaceful the students’ behavior may be, unilaterally taking over a central portion of our campus for one side of a hotly disputed issue and precluding use by other members of our community is not right. This situation is inherently highly unstable.

What’s more, the threat of outside interference and potential violence is not theoretical, it is real: We have all seen circumstances around encampments at some peer institutions degenerate into chaos. As recently as this weekend, we were presented with firm evidence of outside interference on US campuses, including widely disseminated literature that advocates escalation, with very clear instructions and suggested means, including vandalism...

In short, this prolonged use of MIT property as a venue for protest, without permission, especially on an issue with such sharp disagreement, is no longer safely sustainable. I note that the faculty-led Committee on Academic Freedom and Campus Expression (CAFCE) recently concluded that these actions, a form of civil disobedience, carry consequences.

We have directed students to leave the encampment peacefully by 2:30 p.m. today. 

Kornbluth also referred to a letter which would be given to students outlining the next steps. Here is a copy of that letter. Simply put, if you leave by 2:30 pm then the letter constitutes a warning. If you don't leave by 2:30 pm you will be placed on immediate academic suspension. And for those who already had been sanctioned for involvement with the protest, those students are to be kicked off campus and cannot continue to stay in their dorms.

The letter MIT sent today to encampment participants. Anyone who didn’t leave by 2:30 will receive an interim academic or full suspension: pic.twitter.com/cEc7PvoL6I

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) May 6, 2024

Initially, this plan seemed to be working. All but a handful of students left the encampment.

RIGHT NOW: MIT president Sally Kornbluth gave a 2:30PM deadline for students to leave the anti-Israel encampment or face suspension.

As of now, four students are linking arms and refusing to leave. The rest are congregating at the entrance of the encampment. pic.twitter.com/sIuF34wvGC

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) May 6, 2024

But that didn't last. Groups of local high school students walked out of class today to join the protest.

BREAKING: There is a massive protest starting at MIT. Even local high school students are walking out of class and heading towards the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. pic.twitter.com/YlmHdAM7og

— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 6, 2024

This is just a guess on my part, but I wonder if the involvement of high school students was organized as a way to make it harder for the administration to have the protesters arrested. Some combination of MIT students and high schoolers then decided to leap over and eventually pull down the barricades around the camp (see above) and re-occupy the space. There were chanting "This wall has to fall!" 

BREAKING: MIT Students are getting back into the encampment by hopping over the fence. In some areas, the fence has been completely torn down. pic.twitter.com/JsdsIt1Qot

— Stu (@thestustustudio) May 6, 2024

Probably not what the school wanted on the evening news, much less the national news.

#BREAKING: Protesters on the MIT campus have pushed through barriers setup around the pro-Palestinian encampment, forming a human shield around it. https://t.co/1th3Bgqfjo pic.twitter.com/gVF7dnfqbW

— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) May 6, 2024

Breaking: MIT students have broken through the fencing and back into the encampment. @wbz pic.twitter.com/mb4o7xQpeH

— Brandon Truitt (@BrandonTruittTV) May 6, 2024

They were given a chance to get out of this with no consequences. They chose not to do that.

MIT students have knocked down the fences and are encircling the anti-Israel encampment that the administration ordered them to leave at threat of suspended. pic.twitter.com/ioMZgvT70n

— Kassy Akiva (@KassyDillon) May 6, 2024

The protesters are now chanting in support of the intifada and also "no Zionists on Boston streets."

“No justice, no peace. No Zionists on Boston streets” + “We are the Intifada. Globalize the intifada. Long Live the Intifada”

At @MIT today there is no justice nor peace for Jews. https://t.co/5JnHjgoXbr pic.twitter.com/BvRBSWGYbP

— Talia Khan (@TaliaKhan_MIT) May 6, 2024

The obvious question now is how President Kornbluth will response. She set a deadline and students not only ignored it they made a mess of the campus in the process. Presumably most of the high school students will not be able to stay out at the camp until midnight. So will Kornbluth wait for them to clear out and then call in the police or will she cave in and let them stay.

Finally, worth noting some of the chants that were circulating at MIT yesterday. This is pretty unhinged. There's no doubt what these people mean with this version of from the river to the sea. And while I think free speech protects a lot of things, chanting "Death to Zionists" when there may be Jews who support Israel nearby is getting right up to the line.

Here is a partial video with translations. pic.twitter.com/qmaVFiEnbf

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 6, 2024

I'll update this post if the police show up.