University of Vermont encampment ends
ment down on the same day that the university scheduled disciplinary hearings for some student protesters, Adam white, a UvM spokesman, suggested the decision to end the protest rested with students alone.
“UvM strongly supports freedom of expression,” white said. “Though student demonstrators have not communicated their intentions to the administration, the university appreciates that students have made efforts to bring their demonstration closer to compliance with university policies.”
he declined to discuss how many students faced disciplinary hearings, and what they were charged with, saying, “federal privacy rules prevent us from commenting on specific student conduct proceedings.”
in an interview a day before the encampment ended, James o’Malley, a UvM junior from concord, said he was one of about roughly 20 students who had received notices to appear for disciplinary hearings connected to an encampment that at one point consisted of some 90 tents and 150 protesters.
o’Malley, 21, said those who received notices were accused of a variety of charges of violating university rules, including not producing their iDs when asked by campus police, trespassing, and inappropriate use of university grounds.
“it’s very arbitrary,” o’Malley said, noting that only a fraction of students who took part in the protest received disciplinary notices. “it seems very vindictive.”
still, he said that when school officials talked to protesters at the encampment throughout the protest, the officials made it clear they did not want it to end with police breaking up the camp. neither did the protesters, he said.
o’Malley considered the encampment a success, as the protest attracted support from organized labor, university staff and faculty, and elected officials who called on the university to grant amnesty to protesters charged with violating university rules.
while university officials would not comment on their strategy in dealing with the encampment, such widespread political support for the protesters would likely figure into it.
There is a large, established Palestinian support network in the burlington area, and Palestinian flags were common here long before the UvM encampment sprang up.
wafic faour, a PalestinianAmerican activist and organizer in vermont, visited the encampment to encourage the students and remind them that they, like students before them who protested on issues like civil rights and the vietnam war, are “on the right side of history.”
vermont’s lieutenant governor, David Zuckerman, and 20 state lawmakers signed a letter last week urging UvM “not to engage in any police actions or disciplinary measures with peaceful protesters calling for action.” five members of the burlington city council, all members of the Progressive Party, also issued a letter last week, saying they supported the student protest. The letter urged the university “to consider their ‘demands/requests’ seriously.”
while student protesters claimed victory, and university officials breathed a sigh of relief that the encampment ended without scenes of disorder, many Jewish students on campus disputed that the protest was peaceful and respectful, saying it fostered antagonism toward them.
halle sisenwine, 22, a senior from newton, said some of her friends had purposely not worn jewelry or clothing that would have identified themselves as Jewish.
sisenwine said she tried to engage with some student protesters, and at one point was shoved violently by a woman who came from the encampment and confronted her.
“The people i talked to refused to listen to someone with a different opinion,” she said, adding that when she told Palestinian supporters that an israeli friend, Yannai kaminka, was killed by hamas during the oct. 7 attack on israel, “they said he deserved it because he was in the iDf,” the israel Defense forces.
sisenwine said UvM officials should have taken down the encampment as soon as it appeared, as officials at Dartmouth college in new hampshire did.
“This camp was not as peaceful as they say it was,” she said.
Jewish students said the university’s hands-off approach to the encampment, and concessions made on the commencement speaker and financial disclosures, is part of an appeasement strategy that leaves them feeling vulnerable and not supported.
Tensions on campus predate the oct. 7 attack by hamas, and israel’s subsequent attack on Gaza.
last year, a federal investigation found that UvM did not take acts of antisemitism on campus seriously enough.
Pro-Palestinian students, meanwhile, complained that, weeks after the oct. 7 hamas attack, UvM president suresh Garimella canceled a campus lecture by Mohammed el-kurd, a Palestinian poet and activist. The shooting near campus of three Palestinian college students who were visiting burlington for Thanksgiving heightened tensions.
striking a balance between ensuring that pro-Palestinian students feel heard, and ensuring that Jewish students feel safe, has been difficult.
last week, Garimella issued a statement saying, “There is no room at UvM for antisemitism, islamophobia or any discrimination based on race, national origin or ancestry.”
UvM officials are now hoping commencement goes off smoothly next week, without more protests.