Swarthmore College, a small, private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, has suspended six students after they participated in the establishment of a pro-Palestinian encampment on Trotter Lawn. The college officials responded by issuing increasingly dire threats to clear the encampment. Consequently, in a flurry of action, they announced interim suspensions between May 1 and May 3. Valerie Smith, the president of Swarthmore College, stated that the Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) ignored multiple requests to vacate the area.
The encampment focused on the most urgent issues facing the Palestinian people. SJP leveraged social media in an unprecedented way to galvanize support from activists outside of the college campus. Smith pointed out that students were given a lot of notice. They were warned that if they did not obey orders to exit, action would be taken.
If they still do not disperse and refuse to comply with the college’s policies and the law, Smith remarked, To meet this historic moment, we’ll need to radically increase our response. We are working diligently behind the scenes to understand every potential course of action to peacefully resolve the encampment.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, President Smith mentioned that the protesters resorted to college-owned property vandalism, which only made matters worse. Of those six suspended students, four were people of color and three were first-generation, low-income students. This has led to important discussions about the treatment of marginalized communities in the context of protests.
Following the suspensions, SJP strongly condemned the college’s response. They alleged that the students were subjected to punitive suspensions without any due process and had to vacate campus on short notice.
“This is part of a disturbing trend of Swarthmore exploiting the vulnerabilities of student protesters on the basis of racialized discrimination,” SJP declared in a statement posted on Instagram on May 2. They reiterated their dedication to fighting on behalf of Palestinian rights in the face of hostility and attempts to silence them.
Members of SJP conveyed their dedication to the cause, asserting that “these repudiations are inconsequential when we remember what we are here for: the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people who have been martyred and displaced yet continue to resist in the face of genocidal violence.”
Swarthmore College’s administration has not provided specific details about the future disciplinary measures against the suspended students or how they intend to address the broader implications of this situation. The college community is still deeply split on where to draw the line between free expression and respect for institutional policy.