Protesters Won’t Say if Harvard Encampment Will Continue as Garber Threatens Major Disciplinary Action

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine — the unrecognized student group organizing the Harvard Yard encampment — did not say whether the occupation will continue, did not say how they will respond to the administration’s refusal to negotiate, and did not take questions at a press conference Monday evening.

The press conference, which came hours after interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 threatened protesters with involuntary leaves of absence if they do not end their encampment, raised more questions than answers about how long the nearly two-week occupation will last as the University’s administration escalates its initial patient approach with Commencement rapidly approaching.

The conference also came as HOOP’s deadline for Harvard to begin negotiations on the group’s demands — set for Monday at 5 p.m. — expires. In their Friday announcement of the deadline, the group did not specify what further action it might take if the University refused to come to the table, a question that remained unanswered following the press conference.

The most significant revelation during the roughly 40-minute presser came when Violet T.M. Barron ’26, a HOOP press liaison, announced that more than 60 students are facing severe disciplinary consequences over their participation in the encampment.

Just more than 30 students were previously reported to be facing disciplinary charges from the Harvard College Administrative Board.

During the rest of the press conference, held outside Johnston Gate, HOOP organizers called attention to the impending Israeli assault on Rafah, a city in Gaza where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering, and repeated their criticisms of Harvard administrators taking disciplinary action against the protesters.

Barron, a Crimson Editorial editor, said that protesters “will not stop and we will not rest” until Harvard divests from companies with ties to Israel — a chant often repeated at HOOP rallies.

Still, she declined to say whether that amounted to a commitment that the encampment will continue, instead referring The Crimson to a HOOP email where organizers of the press conference said members of the media could direct questions.

HOOP did not immediately respond to questions sent to the group’s email address about the duration of the encampment.

Harvard Law School student Lea H. Kayali also implied — but did not say outright — that the encampment could continue, painting it as part of the “student intifada” which has “engulfed the entire country.”

“The student movement will become a liability,” Kayali said. “Here at Harvard, the administration has left the student movement with few options to seek the change they advocate for.”

“Make no mistake, whatever happens next, it will be the result of the choices that Harvard has made,” she added.

University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain referred to Garber’s University-wide email Monday morning in response to a request for comment on the press conference.

During the conference, HOOP organizer Eva C. Frazier ’26 slammed “Harvard’s refusal to negotiate,” which “stands in stark comparison to other universities.”

Harvard officials, including Garber, have repeatedly rebuffed calls to boycott or divest Israeli companies and institutions.

In recent days, several universities have made concessions to pro-Palestine protesters in exchange for the dismantling of encampments on their campuses, including Northwestern, Rutgers, and Brown Universities. Still, some have faced significant backlash for their decision to do so.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce called Northwestern President Michael Schill and Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway to testify before Congress over their “shocking concessions to the unlawful antisemitic encampments on their campuses” and “despicable displays of cowardice” in a Monday announcement.

During the protest, HOOP organizer Shraddha Joshi ’24 said that pro-Palestine groups — including the now-suspended Palestine Solidarity Committee — made several unsuccessful attempts to speak with Garber and accused University leadership of ignoring referenda passed by several Harvard graduate schools demanding divestment from Israel’s war in Gaza.

As protesters delivered remarks from the press conference, Dean of Student Services Michael Burke observed the event while half-sitting on a bike in General MacArthur Square — a small patch of grass at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Peabody Street. Burke could not hear the protesters’ speeches from where he observed the press conference.

Hibah Osman, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, also spoke at the press conference, stating that “our call as faculty is to ask the administration to come to the table and speak to the students.”

The press conference — which took place outside a locked Johnston Gate — also featured a handful of pro-Israel counterprotesters who held signs with the photos of Israelis still held hostage by Hamas, including one who stood just behind the speakers at the conference.

The HOOP organizers asked the attendees at the conference, including a crowd of dozens of onlookers and several local press outlets, not to engage with the counterprotesters.

During her remarks, Frazier accused Harvard administrators of failing to support pro-Palestine students who have faced doxxing attacks, saying that the University has “in fact aided and abetted the conditions for further anti-Palestinian sentiments and harassment on this campus.”

Swain referred to an April 8 press release that called the doxxing attacks on students “reprehensible and appalling behavior” that “does not represent the values of the Harvard community.”

Frazier, however, said Harvard’s administration has not done enough to support affected students.

“Through all of this, we’ve had to be there and support each other because Harvard has chosen to submit to the whims of bad faith actors and donors, rather than engage and support its own students,” Frazier said.

—Staff writers Michelle N. Amponsah, Joyce E. Kim, Rahem D. Hamid, Miles J. Herszenhorn, Jo B. Lemann, John N. Peña, Elias J. Schisgall, and Claire Yuan contributed reporting.