13 arrested at protest outside Emerson inauguration
Multiple Emerson College students were arrested Friday during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza outside of the inauguration ceremony for the college’s new president, officials said.
In a letter to the Emerson community late Friday night, President Jay Bernhardt said the students were arrested for allegedly disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct.
The Boston Police Department confirmed 13 people were charged with disturbing the peace and were booked Friday at the department’s A-1 station in downtown. An Emerson spokesperson said 12 of the people arrested were Emerson students.
In his letter, Bernhardt said about 50 people gathered to demonstrate in front of the college’s Cutler Majestic Theatre while his investiture ceremony was underway inside. Bernhardt, a former dean at the University of Texas at Austin, has been in the top role at Emerson since last summer after he was chosen to serve as the college’s 13th president.
Emerson Students for Justice in Palestine said in a post on Instagram early Saturday that the students were “peacefully demonstrating” to “protest the College’s tuition hikes, suppression of students and faculty, and silence on the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
The group said it has been asking for a meeting with Bernhardt since last fall.
Bernhardt said the demonstration outside “escalated when a number of protesters did not comply with multiple police requests, leading to the detention of 12 Emerson students.” He said all of the students have been released from custody.
“We support the right of individuals to express dissenting views and perspectives while doing so in a manner consistent with our policies and Code of Community Standards,” Bernhardt wrote. “This ensures our community is a safe place to learn, live, and work.
“We care deeply for our students and know there are many strong and conflicting emotions. As a community, we are committed to working together toward a shared understanding.”
The protest and arrests at Emerson are the latest in a series of demonstrations that have taken place on college campuses across Massachusetts since last fall, where students have pressed administrators to condemn Israel’s bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
Since then, Israel’s forces have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and driven hundreds of thousands to the brink of starvation. Gaza’s Health Ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but has said women and children make up the majority of the dead.