UPDATE: Case Western Reserve University president Eric Kaler sent an email late Thursday afternoon saying the university’s encampment is no longer approved. Campus buildings near the protest site will be closed beginning at 6 p.m.
“The university will not engage with protesters about their demands until the protesters leave the KSL Oval and the CWRU community members have completed the conduct process,” he wrote.
On day four of their campus protest, Case Western Reserve’s pro-Palestinian demonstrators say they are still waiting to hear from University President Eric Kaler.
Kaler has become the target of more pointed messaging at their encampment after students said talks with Case Western Reserve’s interim vice president of student affairs, Peter Whiting, broke down earlier this week.
“We don’t want to be here forever,” said Jad Kamhawi Oglesby, vice president of Case Western Reserve’s Students for Justice of Palestine. “We want change to be made. We want progress to be made, and we want our administrators to be receptive of their students.”
For weeks, Case Western Reserve student protestors have presented the administration with a list of demands that includes divesting any financial interests in Israel.
A university spokesperson told Signal Cleveland Thursday they were not aware of any negotiations or plans for Kaler to meet with students.
Encampment remains peaceful on day 4
As of midday Thursday, about 20 or so tents remained in the encampment located on the grassy oval in front of Kelvin Smith Library. More signs had been added to barricades surrounding the encampment. Colorful messages in chalk are on the sidewalk.
Some of the messages attacked Kaler directly. The presence of campus police appeared smaller than in earlier days, including Monday when police dragged people out of their tents and temporarily detained them and restrained their hands.
Protestors planned to carry out a full day of programming on Thursday. It includes group meditation, yoga, and a discussion about redlining. There are study breaks, too. It’s finals week. The university’s commencement activities are set for next week.
Non students – who have been inside the encampment since Tuesday – were also welcomed to participate in the activities. Earlier this week, student protestors told Signal Cleveland that the support of community protestors is “crucial” to keeping the encampment going.
Another rally is set for 8 p.m. Thursday.
Student protestors, administrators cutting deals across the country
Across the country, a handful of schools with encampments have seen student protestors and administrations come together to make a deal. That list includes Northwestern University and Brown University.
Such moves can mark a win-win for both parties, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
“It’s absolutely a win for students to live to fight another day. It keeps the issue in the spotlight,” Demetri L. Morgan, an associate professor of higher education at Loyola University Chicago, told the Chronicle this week. “But I think when you sort of study and know how institutions move and operate, I would be breathing a sigh of relief if I was an administrator, because now the terms are back on their terms.”
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