U of M's interim president meets with pro-Palestinian protest leaders
Organizers of pro-Palestinian protests said they would continue at the University of Minnesota Wednesday evening, despite Interim U President Jeff Ettinger's attempts to broker a deal with the group earlier in the day.
Shortly before 5 p.m. a coalition of student groups who have been organizing protests on the Twin Cities campus posted on social media asking "all friendly forces" to join them on the U's Northrop Mall, where an encampment was entering its third day.
This is the second straight week of protests on the campus and others nationwide, and the second encampment at the U. University police arrested nine people last week after it said their tents violated a U policy prohibiting encampments, but protesters set up again earlier this week.
In an email after the meeting, Ettinger and four other U administrators thanked protest leaders for "the productive and respectful conversation today." They said U regents had agreed to give protesters a chance to address the board during its meeting next week.
"As discussed in the meeting, we have a shared understanding that the encampment will be disassembled and removed by 5 p.m. today, and that there will be no organized disruptions at final exams and commencements," the U administrators said. "We appreciate your willingness to engage with us and reflect the perspectives of your organizations, but also seek opportunities to move forward."
They wrote that they committed to having another meeting in late May or early June.
But in a social media post Wednesday afternoon, protest organizers wrote that they "have no intention of clearing our encampment by 5 pm today, let alone any time soon."
By 6 p.m., the encampment had grown to about 30 tents, and there were no signs of a police presence. People gathered at the protest site were kicking soccer balls, sitting on tarps or grabbing plates of pasta from a designated food area.
Donia Abu Ammo, with Students for Justice in Palestine, said: "They told us to clear the encampment by 5 p.m., and we have been negotiating with them since then."
Off to the side, a group of supportive faculty members watched. Among them was Eric Van Wyk, a computer science professor who leads the University Senate's Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee and believes that the camp should be allowed to remain.
"It's hardly a disruption, and students should be given the space to speak their minds," Van Wyk said.
The student groups are calling on the school to, among other things, divest from companies with ties to Israel, ban some recruiters from campus and release a statement in support of Palestinian students.
About a dozen buildings along the U's Northrop Mall remained closed Wednesday, while others on the East Bank campus were accessible only to people with a university ID. Some faculty sent Ettinger a letter urging him to reconsider the closures, saying they feared they would have a chilling effect on free speech and upend the final days of the spring semester.
The U is hosting several graduation ceremonies this week and next, and has not announced any changes to those events.
Ettinger is also working to schedule a meeting with Jewish student organizations on campus.
