Interim Penn President Larry Jameson announced steps for increased community support in response to heightened tensions on university campuses nationwide in an email to the Penn community on Monday evening.
Jameson’s message expressed support for students, faculty, and staff amid escalating controversy surrounding administrative handling of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country, including at Columbia and Yale universities. In the email, Jameson encouraged community members to make use of University resources and to maintain a safe space on Penn’s campus.
“Like you, I am witnessing the turbulence and strife taking place on several university campuses across the country,” Jameson wrote. “That this unrest is happening at the start of Passover undoubtedly creates further stress.”
Jameson, along with Penn Provost John Jackson Jr., will host a community listening session on Thursday as a space for “students, faculty, and staff to share their thoughts on the impacts of the conflict in the Middle East on our campus,” according to the email.
Jameson added that the chairs of the University Task Force on Antisemitism and the Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community have been asked to extend the deadline for comments on their work in an effort to ensure community members can provide ample “feedback that will inform the final reports and recommendations of these important groups.”
Wellness at Penn and Penn’s Division of Public Safety will also increase their services in the coming weeks, according to the email.
Jameson’s message comes after the University removed Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine as a registered student group on April 19, following a monthlong investigation by the Center for Community Standards and Accountability.
“This group has failed to comply with policies that govern student organizations at Penn, despite repeated efforts to engage with the group and to provide opportunities to resolve noncompliance,” a University spokesperson wrote to The Daily Pennsylvanian at the time.
PAO wrote in a statement on Instagram that the group was forced to remove all identification and affiliation with Penn. The group’s de-registration marked the first instance of the University publicly disciplining a student organization as part of its response to tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
“Our foremost purpose is education, creating and sharing knowledge to make the world better through our scholarship and service,” Jameson wrote in the email on Monday. “We are and must continue taking action that brings us together to meet the challenges of this time and to remain true to our educational purpose. We must also ensure that our campus stays safe, inclusive, and welcoming for everyone, regardless of background or ideology.”
Protests have escalated at several other Ivy League institutions in the past week, with arrests taking place on several campuses.
Days after her testimony in front of the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce, former Wharton professor and Columbia University President Minouche Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to arrest more than 100 Columbia and Barnard College students who were participating in a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.
Columbia held all classes virtually on Monday to “deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps,” according to an announcement from Shafik.
At Yale University, 47 protestors were arrested by the Yale Police Department after they participated in a protest on the New Haven, Conn. campus. In an email to the Yale community on Monday afternoon, Yale President Peter Salovey addressed the ongoing protests.
“We will not tolerate such behavior nor any open violation of Yale policies that interrupts academic and campus operations,” Salovey wrote. “So, we acted consistently with the warnings we had given over several days and escorted the protesters from the plaza.”
Harvard University has closed Harvard Yard to those who do not hold campus IDs. According to The Harvard Crimson, signs posted at the gates to the Yard warn that structures such as tents “are not permitted in the Yard.”
“Students violating these policies are subject to disciplinary action," the sign read.
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