Johns Hopkins encampment ends after protesters, university come to agreement
Some dead grass and a promise remain following a 13-day protest at the Johns Hopkins University.
The school and protesters occupying a pro-Palestinian encampment on the Homewood campus since April 29 have reached an agreement to take down the temporary shelters immediately.
In exchange for the encampment being dismantled and not restarted, Hopkins will conduct a “timely review of protestors’ key question of divestment,” according to the Baltimore university in a Sunday news release.
“There are no more tents here. We’ve packed up the encampment,” a speaker from the protest organizers the Hopkins Justice Collective said at a rally, attended by about 50 people, held early Sunday evening to mark the end of the encampment. “This agreement that we reached by no means is considered a victory, but it was a first step.”
The Hopkins Justice Collective said in its own Sunday news release that Hopkins committed to accelerating its Public Interest Investment Advisory Committee process, a preexisting process within the university for divestment, by five months. The board of trustees will meet to discuss the PIIAC proposal for divestment in March or June 2025.
“This encampment has now ended, but the legacy, the lessons, of this moment have yet to be determined. That is very much in the hands of our community,” university president Ron Daniels said in a statement Sunday.
The concession from the school marks an improvement from the start of negotiations. On the first night of the protest, Hopkins administrators offered a meeting with Daniels in exchange for stopping the protest.
The university also agreed to end student conduct proceedings related to the encampment, provided there aren’t further campus disruptions and excluding any proceedings related to violence, property damage, intimidation or threats, Hopkins’ release says. However, those who have been identified could have their participation used against them in future disciplinary hearings for future violations of the student conduct code, according to HJC’s release.
Protesters who aren’t affiliated with the university must vacate campus, Hopkins said.
On Sunday afternoon, demonstrators were on campus packing up the encampment on the campus lawn known as “The Beach.”
“Hopkins is deeply committed to free expression, but it has to be done safely and in a manner that respects university rules and norms,” Hopkins President Ron Daniels said in the Sunday release. “It is my fervent hope that at Hopkins, we can together continue our focus on the important work of a university — to engage in dialogue and learning with one another regarding challenging and complex issues such as these.”
The agreement follows failed negotiations between protesters and the university earlier this month. Demonstrators were given two hours to accept what HJC said was a “weak” offer to their demands of divestment from Israel or they risked facing disciplinary action from the university.
During the six hours of negotiations, administrators proposed considering divesting and cutting the 18-month process that it would take.
Protesters continued to occupy the encampment and were presented with a letter to sign the following day by administrators. The letter pledged not to disrupt the university’s upcoming commencement, leave the encampment and not return. In exchange, the university would not discipline student protesters in the encampment.
Negotiations ended, and the demands for the university to divest, disclose all financial ties to Israel, along with its lobbying efforts to increase militarized spending and an account of the use of military technology developed at Hopkins, were not met. The encampment continued.
The encampment began April 28, when students pitched tents on The Beach. Early on, protesters said they would not leave unless Hopkins divested its endowment in companies that support Israel such as BlackRock, Elbit Systems, Northrop Grumman, Palantir, General Dynamic, Lockheed Martin and Google. Hopkins demonstrations remained peaceful and did not cause any major disruptions to university operations.
The movement is in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Hamas, designated a terror organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union, killed nearly 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages in the attack. Since then, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians on the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry.
Hopkins is one of many schools across the country to have held pro-Palestinian demonstrations during the final weeks of the academic year, ranging from single protests to weekslong encampments. The activism has resulted in hundreds of college protesters being arrested. Due to demonstrations causing disruptions, Columbia University rescheduled its commencement.
Towson University has also been urged by students to divest from Israel, with the school’s student government association passing a resolution Tuesday urging divestment. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Movement’s goal is to end international support for Israel and to pressure it to comply with international law, according to the movement’s website.
“The difference between us and Hopkins is that we acknowledge that through our tax dollars and institutions, we’re all complicit in these horrible crimes. We are all standing here because we reckon with that,” a speaker said at Sunday’s closing rally. “Our message is really simple. It’s that Palestinians are people.”
Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis contributed to this article.
