click to enlarge - File: Colin Flanders ©️ Seven Days
- The encampment last week
Updated at 6 p.m.
The pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Vermont has been disbanded, 10 days after the anti-war demonstration began.
By late Wednesday morning, the encampment, which once included more than 90 tents, had shrunk to just a handful. Students had started packing up in the early hours, according to the university's student newspaper,
the Vermont Cynic.
The school had begun disciplinary proceedings against students involved in the encampment, saying the tents violated school policies. Demonstrators began receiving disciplinary notices last Friday, they said on social media.
It was unclear how many students were facing potential punishment. A university spokesperson declined to answer questions about the proceedings, citing "federal privacy rules." Student conduct hearings were expected to begin on Wednesday
, demonstrators told the Cynic.
Before breaking camp, the protesters got some of what they wanted. UVM president Suresh Garimella on Friday said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield would no longer give a commencement speech later this month. The university also disclosed information about its endowment investments. But the school has not agreed to divest from companies connected to Israel, cut ties with the country’s academic institutions or grant protesters immunity from punishment — three of the encampment's demands.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, the UVM Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the groups organizing the demonstration, said the encampment helped its movement grow in “size, organization, discipline, and intelligence.” Demonstrators ultimately made the “strategic decision” to move on, the organizers said, because it appeared the university was dragging its feet in hopes that the protest would lose steam once the academic year ended
.
“While the encampment served as an immensely useful tactical escalation, the time has now come for us to pivot our energy,” the post reads. The group called on students to “stay prepared” heading into the summer. “The tide has turned and there is no going back.”
Asked for comment about the end of the encampment, the university said in a statement that the protesters "have not communicated their intentions to the administration." Despite that, the statement said, "the university appreciates that students have made efforts to bring their demonstration closer to compliance with university policies."