Melissa Hellmann

Some students were also temporarily suspended as other colleges respond with disciplinary action to protests

On the morning of 3 May, the Swarthmore borough police department disbanded a four-day pro-Palestinian encampment on Swarthmore College’s campus and arrested nine activists. One current and one former Swarthmore College student were among the arrested, while the rest were from outside of the college community, the college’s president, Valerie Smith, said in a statement.

“With rising concerns about safety and security on campus, a continued and growing presence of individuals unaffiliated with the college, warnings from outside law enforcement agencies and no signs that protestors were willing to engage in conversation that would bring the encampment to an end,” Smith said, “I felt we had no choice but to seek outside assistance from local law enforcement.”

As some colleges, including Yale and Tulane, revive protests this spring, campuses respond with disciplinary action

Over the first two days of May, a total of six Swarthmore College students were interim suspended for the creation of a campus encampment earlier in the week. The students in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, were suspended without due process and were told to evacuate from campus, said Swarthmore’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in a 2 May statement.