{ "id": "2024-05-10-penn-college-green-encampment-sweep", "slug": "penn-college-green-encampment-sweep-2024-05-10", "institution": { "name": "University of Pennsylvania", "shortName": "Penn", "state": "PA", "type": "private-r1", "alertSystemName": "UPennAlert", "enrollment": 24960 }, "incident": { "date": "2024-05-10", "type": "civil-unrest", "cleryCategory": "advisory", "headline": "Civil unrest, May 10, 2024", "summary": "At approximately 6:00 AM EDT on Friday May 10, 2024, [Penn Police and approximately 100 Philadelphia Police officers](https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/05/penn-gaza-solidarity-encampment-recap) entered the [Gaza Solidarity Encampment on College Green](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_University_of_Pennsylvania_pro-Palestine_campus_encampment) and arrested 33 people, including nine Penn students. The encampment had stood for 16 days since April 25, 2024. Interim President Larry Jameson had told the campus on [May 5 that the encampment was making Penn 'less safe'](https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/05/penn-encampment-jameson-message); after negotiations failed, Penn implemented the pre-dawn sweep template that Northeastern had pioneered. Access to College Green was restricted to PennCard holders for days afterward.", "outcome": "33 people arrested in the pre-dawn sweep, nine of whom were Penn students; the rest were non-affiliates or affiliated with other institutions. Charges included trespassing and conspiracy. Penn subsequently announced a campus-wide ban on encampments and overnight structures. The Daily Pennsylvanian's [one-year retrospective in May 2025](https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/05/penn-year-after-encampment-penn-response-2025) documented the substantial hardening of Penn's protest policies in the year after the sweep.", "resolution": "confirmed-threat", "casualties": { "killed": 0, "injured": 0 }, "responseTimeMinutes": null }, "alerts": [ { "sequence": 1, "type": "initial", "timestampApprox": "Morning of Monday May 6, 2024 (~7 a.m. EDT campus-wide email per Daily Pennsylvanian; official presidential site dated May 6, 2024). This is the less-safe predicate message for the May 10 sweep case.", "channel": "email", "verbatimText": "University campuses across the country and around the world are facing protests of increasing intensity. We are all seeing these protests unfold differently – with university leadership responding differently and their communities reacting differently. Every day I hear from people with clear ideas about what we should do at Penn. They express support, surprise, or betrayal for the University’s actions or inactions, depending on their perspective. As we manage the situation at Penn and its many impacts on our campus, my north star continues to be the safety of our community and the furtherance of our teaching, research, and service missions.\n\nThe encampment should end. It is in violation of our policies, it is disrupting campus operations and events, and it is causing fear for many in our large, diverse community, especially among our Jewish students. But any response to the encampment must balance possible escalation of the current situation with the need to protect the safety and rights of everyone. At Penn, this risk is more significant than at some other institutions because we have an open campus in a large city.\n\nI have now met twice with several of the Penn student and faculty protestors to hear their views and try to find a productive path forward. We continue to propose additional meetings – this path remains open. We have asked the protestors in the encampment to disband multiple times and offered accommodation to continue their demonstration in ways that do not conflict with safety and policy. On each occasion, the protestors have refused. They have made additional demands that reflect an unwillingness to negotiate on reasonable terms to a conclusion. I believe there are alternative paths and am willing to pursue all reasonable options to avoid escalation and further disruption to our community.\n\nUniversities must give broad latitude to the open expression of ideas but must do so in ways that keep campuses physically safe and free from disruption. At Penn, we embrace civil discourse and rigorous debate. The terrorism and hostage-taking by Hamas must be addressed, and so too, the urgent and critical humanitarian crisis and loss of life in Gaza. But passion for a cause does not entitle anyone to act beyond the rules that govern and protect us. Protests that threaten or harass, that disrupt the access of others to spaces and facilities, or that make us unsafe inevitably lose support and undermine their cause.\n\nNow is the moment for de-escalation. We are in active conversation with local public officials and law enforcement, who recommend that we continue to focus on de-escalation and dialogue before taking steps that could inflame tensions. However, we are concerned that many of the protestors occupying the encampment on College Green are seeking such a confrontation. We have heard reports of circulating documents with instructions for escalating a protest, including through building occupations and violence.\n\nEvery day the encampment exists, the campus is less safe. Some have aimed to characterize this as a peaceful protest. It is not. Two cherished Penn landmarks, the Benjamin Franklin statue and the Button, have been defaced and vandalized. There have been disturbing reports of harassing and threatening speech. On Wednesday night, protestors threatened and attempted to provoke Penn Public Safety police officers. On Friday, we were made aware of an alarming video that showed a Penn student being barred entry to the encampment and threatened. Penn Public Safety has opened an investigation and is in touch with the student to provide support. Protestors within the encampment have also described being spit on, harassed, and threatened. Penn Public Safety continues to be onsite 24/7 to ensure safety and provide support. All of these actions are unacceptable.\n\nProtesters wear masks and refuse to produce identification, as required by our policies and stated on each Penn ID, making it difficult to distinguish those individuals who are part of the Penn community from those who are not and are trespassing. The tents create an additional risk because they provide no line of sight to those entrusted with campus safety. Penn Public Safety resources are required 24/7 to monitor the safety of the encampment, diverting them from other campus spaces and events.\n\nTo this point, we have taken a measured approach to avoid escalation and to uphold our fundamental belief in and commitment to open expression. We must, however, also enforce rules that are designed to support safety and our missions. Those in violation of our policies are making choices. We are continuing to implement student conduct procedures, which may result in the inability for some of our students to graduate or continue their education at Penn in subsequent years. The roles, responsibilities, and activities of Penn faculty and staff members in the encampment are also under review.\n\nWe will maintain an enhanced security presence to support physical safety and will adjust our response as conditions warrant. We will continue to provide safety and wellness resources, which can be found here, to all members of the Penn community. I am distressed and disappointed by the actions of the protestors, which violate our rules and goals. I know this is a terribly difficult time for our community, but my confidence in our institution, our people, our traditions, and our spirit of discovery and service is unbowed.\n\nJ. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD\n\nInterim President", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://president.upenn.edu/announcements/encampment-update", "sourceDescription": "Penn Office of the President — Encampment Update (May 6, 2024)", "annotations": [ "Full official May 6 presidential community email recovered from president.upenn.edu/announcements/encampment-update; replaces earlier Daily Pennsylvanian partial paraphrase that had been filed as a reconstruction." ], "characterCount": 5506 }, { "sequence": 2, "type": "initial", "timestamp": "2024-05-10T07:00:00-04:00", "timestampApprox": "Early morning of Friday May 10, 2024, approximately one hour after Penn Police and Philadelphia Police moved in at 6:00 AM EDT", "channel": "email", "verbatimText": "To the Penn Community:\n\nWe have worked with serious intention for nearly two weeks to engage the protestors on College Green, who were notified on April 26th – the second day of the encampment – that they were in violation of Penn’s policies. This outreach has been met by unreasonable demands and a dangerous escalation of the encampment.\n\nOur community has been under threat and our campus disrupted for too long. Passion for a cause cannot supersede the safety and operations of our University. Early this morning, we took action, with support from local law enforcement, to remove the encampment. We would like to express our gratitude to the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Police Department for their support. This is an unfortunate but necessary step to prevent violence, restore operations, and return our campus to our community.\n\nUnder these extraordinary circumstances, and to provide for the safety of our community, access to the College Green area of campus will be restricted until further notice. Those wishing to enter the area will be required to show a valid PennCard. Those without proper identification will be asked to leave and, if necessary, will be escorted off campus, or considered trespassing.\n\nThe protestors refused repeatedly to disband the encampment, to produce identification, to stop threatening, loud, and discriminatory speech and behavior, and to comply with instructions from Penn administrators and Public Safety. Instead, they called for others to join them in escalating their disruptions and expanding their encampment, necessitating that we take action to protect the safety and rights of everyone in our community. We could not allow further disruption of our academic mission. We could not allow students to be prevented from accessing study spaces and resources, attending final exams, or participating in Commencement ceremonies, which for many did not happen during the pandemic.\n\nUniversity leaders met with representatives of the encampment on multiple occasions, for extended periods of time. We hoped that reasonable conversations could address both the concerns of protestors and the needs of the University. We made clear that their proposals were not possible, including their demands that participating students and faculty receive amnesty without proceeding through our due process for conduct and for divestment from entities engaged with Israel. Penn remains unequivocally opposed to divestment, and it is unlawful for institutions receiving funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.\n\nWe also made clear that the encampment needed to disband and offered ways in which the protestors could continue their demonstration in compliance with our policies. We proposed, and still hope to deploy, Penn’s academic resources to support rebuilding and scholarly programs in Gaza, Israel, and other areas of the Middle East. Despite diligent efforts to find a path forward, the gap between the positions of many in the encampment and the University proved too wide to bridge in this volatile environment, while the risks to our community and our missions continued to increase.\n\nThis decision is viewpoint neutral and affirmed by our policies. There are times when our abiding commitment to open expression requires balancing free speech with our responsibility to safety, security, and continuing the operations of the University. This is one of those times and why we have acted. Open expression and peaceful protest are welcome on our campus, but vandalism, trespassing, disruption, and threatening language and actions are not.\n\nJ. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD\n\nInterim President\n\nJohn L. Jackson, Jr.\n\nProvost\n\nCraig R. Carnaroli\n\nSenior Executive Vice President", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://president.upenn.edu/announcements/ending-the-encampment", "sourceDescription": "Penn Office of the President — A Message on Ending the Encampment", "annotations": [ "Corrected 2026-07-19 against live official page: restored Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. co-signature and original curly apostrophes / signature spacing omitted from prior transcription.", "Issued approximately one hour after the 6:00 AM EDT police entry — Penn waited until the operation was essentially complete before publishing the message" ], "characterCount": 3725 }, { "sequence": 3, "type": "follow-up", "timestamp": "2024-05-10T16:00:00-04:00", "timestampApprox": "Late afternoon of Friday May 10, 2024, after arrestees had been processed and media coverage had crystallized", "channel": "email", "verbatimText": "", "isVerbatimConfirmed": false, "sourceUrl": "https://whyy.org/articles/university-of-pennsylvania-bans-encampments/", "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from WHYY's reporting on Penn's May 10, 2024 follow-up communication and encampment ban", "annotations": [] } ], "context": "The May 10, 2024 [University of Pennsylvania pre-dawn sweep of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on College Green](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_University_of_Pennsylvania_pro-Palestine_campus_encampment) ended a 16-day occupation that had begun on [April 25, 2024](https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/04/penn-encampment-protest-college-green-palestine). The encampment had three demands: that Penn disclose its financial holdings, divest from corporations linked to Israel's military, and grant amnesty for pro-Palestinian protesters. Interim President Larry Jameson (who had replaced Liz Magill after her congressional testimony controversy) initially took a measured posture, but on [May 5, 2024 declared the encampment was making Penn 'less safe'](https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/05/penn-encampment-jameson-message). After negotiations failed, [Penn Police and approximately 100 Philadelphia Police officers entered the encampment at approximately 6:00 AM EDT on May 10](https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-police-move-in-to-disband-pro-palestinian-encampment-on-penns-campus/3854917/), arresting 33 people including nine Penn students. The pre-dawn sweep template (pioneered at Northeastern on April 27 and replicated at Columbia, MIT, and UMass Amherst) was now Penn's chosen procedure. Access to College Green was restricted to [PennCard holders for days afterward](https://president.upenn.edu/announcements/ending-the-encampment), echoing Harvard's HUID-only restriction of Harvard Yard. The aftermath produced a [formal Penn policy banning encampments and overnight structures on University property](https://whyy.org/articles/university-of-pennsylvania-bans-encampments/) — Penn's first such policy in modern memory. The Daily Pennsylvanian's [one-year retrospective in May 2025](https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/05/penn-year-after-encampment-penn-response-2025) characterized the May 10 sweep as the inflection point for Penn's tightened protest policies. The case is significant for this archive because it documents (a) the longest-running Ivy League spring 2024 encampment (16 days), (b) the use of the now-standardized pre-dawn sweep template with substantial Philadelphia Police support, and (c) the institutional policy hardening that the sweep predicate produced.", "keyFindings": [ "16 days from encampment establishment to pre-dawn sweep, the longest-running Ivy League spring 2024 encampment documented in this archive", "Approximately 100 Philadelphia Police officers joined Penn Police for the 6:00 AM EDT sweep, the largest municipal-police involvement of any spring 2024 Ivy League encampment clearance", "33 arrested, only nine of whom were Penn students — Penn used the same 'only-a-minority-were-affiliates' framing that Northeastern had pioneered on April 27", "Interim President Jameson's 'less safe' email of May 5 was the formal predicate for the sweep, providing four days of advance warning, the longest such window of any spring 2024 Ivy League clearance", "The May 10 sweep produced Penn's first formal policy banning encampments and overnight structures on University property, a substantial institutional hardening", "College Green was restricted to PennCard holders after the sweep, echoing Harvard's HUID-only Yard restriction but for a shorter duration" ], "sources": [ { "title": "A Message on Ending the Encampment (Penn Office of the President)", "url": "https://president.upenn.edu/announcements/ending-the-encampment", "type": "official-press-release" }, { "title": "Encampment Update (Penn Office of the President)", "url": "https://president.upenn.edu/announcements/encampment-update", "type": "official-press-release" }, { "title": "Encampment is making Penn 'less safe' and organizers are unwilling to negotiate, Jameson says (The Daily Pennsylvanian)", "url": "https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/05/penn-encampment-jameson-message", "type": "student-newspaper" }, { "title": "Penn's Gaza Solidarity Encampment, from beginning to end (The Daily Pennsylvanian)", "url": "https://www.thedp.com/article/2024/05/penn-gaza-solidarity-encampment-recap", "type": "student-newspaper" }, { "title": "Police arrest 33 pro-Palestinian protesters, disband encampment at Penn (NBC Philadelphia)", "url": "https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/philadelphia-police-move-in-to-disband-pro-palestinian-encampment-on-penns-campus/3854917/", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "University of Pennsylvania bans on-campus encampments (WHYY)", "url": "https://whyy.org/articles/university-of-pennsylvania-bans-encampments/", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Penn's responses to pro-Palestinian protests since last year's encampment (The Daily Pennsylvanian)", "url": "https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/05/penn-year-after-encampment-penn-response-2025", "type": "student-newspaper" }, { "title": "2024 University of Pennsylvania pro-Palestine campus encampment (Wikipedia)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_University_of_Pennsylvania_pro-Palestine_campus_encampment", "type": "official-archive" } ], "confidence": "high", "tags": [ "civil-unrest", "gaza-encampment", "college-green", "pre-dawn-sweep", "philadelphia-police", "penn", "upenn", "ivy-league", "pennsylvania", "private-r1", "policy-hardening" ], "dateAdded": "2026-05-14", "lastUpdated": "2026-07-19", "addedBy": "ingestion" }