Pro-Palestinian encampment reaches into third week at DePaul University
CHICAGO — There was another attempt on Monday morning for pro-Palestinian encampment organizers to meet with administrators and a mediator at DePaul University.
But the meeting didn’t happen and the encampment remains for now.
“The administration wanted us out by noon on Sunday,” Parveen Mundi, an encampment organizer, said. “The big question was Saturday night until Sunday morning, are we going to get cleared out? Either way, didn’t happen. I woke up in my tent.”
Now the question is: How long will they stay?
Organizers of the encampment anticipate it may not be much longer as a campus event is set to take place in the spot on Friday.
“As we get closer to the date of the DePaul fest, one of the biggest fundraisers of the year, which is held on the quad, DePaul has shifted the rhetoric from, ‘How can we accommodate you guys and meet your demands?’ to ‘How do we get you guys out of here as quickly as possible?'”
It has been 14 days since students set up the encampment in the Quad on campus.
It’s the last one remaining in Chicago after the encampments at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University were shut down.
On Saturday, the university’s president and provost said in a joint statement the school was extremely disappointed negotiations were at an impasse.
Members of the coalition board that put together the encampment argue otherwise and requested another negotiation meeting with a third-party mediator and administration at 11 a.m. on Monday.
“Our team showed up and administration did not come,” Simran Bains said. “That was after they declared negotiations were at a stalemate, despite the fact we are very adamant about keeping the lines of communication open.”
A spokesperson for the university said university leaders shared a proposed agreement with encampment organizers on Saturday morning.
They said students came to a meeting that afternoon without any suggested revisions, which led to leaders declaring an impasse, concerned they are not on a path to understanding.
“The university has not elaborated on would they allow an intervention to happen on this campus with the police when that may happen and would they have the good grace to give our vulnerable community members notice to disperse,” Mundi said.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
