Harvard administrators are threatening to take disciplinary action against pro-Palestinian protesters.
Over 30 Harvard University students have been put on notice that disciplinary action is imminent against pro-Palestinian protesters who have set up an encampment on Harvard Yard.
Harvard University sent an email asking students to appear before their disciplinary committee, according to Violet Barron, a sophomore.
"We're talking here through bars," Barron said, noting that students are frustrated that Harvard Yard has been locked down for over a week.
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The notice comes less than a week after hundreds were arrested at pro-Palestinian encampments on the campuses of Northeastern University and Emerson College.
"They locked the yard in order to prevent something an encampment like what we saw at Columbia or Yale happen here," Barron said. "We still made it happen."
More on pro-Palestinian student protests
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat from Massachusetts' 4th Congressional District, is calling on administrators to do more to protect Jewish students.
Auchincloss wrote a letter to Harvard, MIT, Tufts and other universities that received failing grades from the Anti-Defamation League.
"These universities need to enforce their own codes of conduct, get these kids back to class, and these university presidents need to improve their own grades," Auchincloss told NBC10 Boston.
He says he is giving the universities that received a "C" or lower until May 17 to come up with a plan to improve their grades.
"The ongoing protest encampment within Harvard Yard has continued in direct violation of university policies," Harvard University said in a statement. "Our priority remains the safety and well-being of our entire community. Harvard College has repeatedly communicated that participation in activities that do not comply with policies will result in disciplinary measures. However, we do not discuss the details of individual students' circumstances."
Meanwhile, Northeastern University is crawling with security guards and graduation gowns for the class of 2024, whose members graduated high school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's definitely been a weird time to be in college, for sure," Northeastern senior Jason Kobrin said. "My entire college career has kind of been a bit weird, because I came in the year of the pandemic, and then I was virtual for a year."
Their commencement ceremony Sunday at Fenway Park comes less than a week after mass arrests breaking up an encampment on campus.
"It's not really something that you can just forget about, especially since it literally happened this past weekend," Korbin said. "I'm trying not to let the situation kind of damper it."
