Stanford University students protesting the war in Gaza agreed to end their overnight camp-in on Friday after 120 days of on-campus demonstration.
The agreement comes as university officials said they would not take legal or administrative actions against students who have participated in the protest, which began last Oct. 20, as long as they leave by the deadline.
“The University has agreed to refrain from initiating law enforcement action and Office of Community standards Proceedings until after that time, in order to support an orderly end to overnight camping in White Plaza,” Stanford said in a statement.
“We understand and appreciate the passionately held beliefs of students who are engaged in advocacy of White Plaza,” Stanford said in the statement. “Stanford continues to firmly support the peaceful expression of divergent views by members of our community, and we will continue working to provide for the physical safety and well-being of all members of our community.”
The group has been demanding that Stanford boycott – and divest – from companies and other entities supporting Israel’s military action in Gaza. They are also urging the university to issue a statement condemning Israel and calling for a ceasefire, and to ensure the safety of Palestinian and Arab students on campus.
The agreement came after the university attempted to clear protestors from the site last Thursday.
Upon learning of the university’s plans to shut down the camp-in, around 500 to 600 activists came in support of the demonstrators, with about 100 of them sleeping on campus overnight.
On any given day during the sit-in, dozens to a hundred activists stayed overnight.
While Stanford has not agreed to student demands, they did agree to come to the negotiating table.
But according to one student, the university broke its promise not to take law enforcement action.
Stanford student activist Draper Dayton said early Wednesday morning, the Department of Public Safety, Stanford’s police office, attempted to collect names and identities of student protestors.
In a statement to this news organization, university spokesperson Dee Mostofi said the university has “not breached the agreement in any way.”
As far as student identification, Mostofi said a security patrol was routine.
“A security contractor has continued providing routine security in the White Plaza area on a 24/7 basis to support the safety of everyone in the area, as has been occurring for several months,” Mostofi added.
“This agreement was not exactly what we wanted,” Dayton said, “We had to commit without guarantees of progress of demands. However, we felt that for the safety of the dozens and dozens of members who would be exposed to harm, it was the right thing to do.”
According to Dayton, the group is not a formal organization and is not linked to any other groups.
Despite the university’s promise not to take police action and pursue administrative and legal action against the students, many were still on edge.
Activists maintain they were subjected to surveillance and threats over the past several months. The spot where the tents are set up on White Plaza is surrounded by other canopies, occupied by food stalls and other student organizations.
On Friday afternoon, a few dozen students were in the “Sit-in to Stop Genocide” tent. Although there was disappointment with the agreement to end the sit-in, the mood was generally calm among the remaining protestors.
Graduate student Kavya Varkey added that, while ending the sit-in was not ideal, it provided the student activists with the only “pathway to negotiations” at the time.
Students met with Stanford’s administration twice earlier this week but were unable to reach an agreement.
Student activists at UC Berkeley and UCLA held similar protests late last year demanding their administrations take a stronger stance against Israel’s military strikes in Gaza.
At least 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began, according to a Reuters report citing data from the health ministry in Gaza. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union, has controlled Gaza since 2007. In October, Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and taking hundreds of hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
For Varkey and Dayton, who say they have both lost sleep and weight since the beginning of the protest, packing up doesn’t mean the end.
“It will continue in another form,” Varkey said. And Dayton added that the next iteration of the protest will have a “more angry tone.”
