Pro-Palestinian encampment at Rutgers-Newark dismantled

School officials say a small group of protesters who had been camped out on school property for more than a month were asked to move out of the encampment.

Rose Shannon

Jun 9, 2024, 5:11 PM

Updated 199 days ago

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A pro-Palestinian encampment at the Rutgers-Newark campus was dismantled Sunday morning.
School officials say a small group of protesters who had been camped out on school property for more than a month were asked to move out of the encampment.
There were no arrests.
School officials say they spoke to protesters regarding their concerns in meetings. They released a statement that said in part:
"We met every one of their requests regarding the conditions and terms of negotiations, provided them every reasonable opportunity to be heard, and provided earnest, substantive, and productive responses to a large majority of their concerns."
Officials say although the protesters remained peaceful, the group violated several university policies over the last two weeks, including fire safety policies and ongoing defacement of property.
In addition, officials said protesters made several public statements this week "indicating that they do not plan to honor the path forward for evaluating divestment requests, as codified for all of Rutgers in commitments made by the university" back in May.
According to the statement, the school made commitments in person and in writing to address concerns and that the commitments made by the university applies to all campus locations.
Newark Mayor Ras Barak and Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé also provided a joint statement on Sunday about the dismantling of the encampment at Rutgers University-Newark. The statement can be read by following this link.