Activists call out Harvard for suppressing free expression after school suspends students from library for breaking protest rules
Harvard University banned 12 students who participated in a pro-Palestinian “study-in” protest from an on-campus library for two weeks.
In an email Wednesday, the school told the students their “access to Widener Library will be suspended from today until October 16” for breaking university-wide rules, according to The Harvard Crimson.
“Demonstrations and protests are not permitted in libraries,” the email reads.
“Demonstrators entering the library on September 21 were given a handout stating this rule. In addition, library employees informed you that you were in violation of this rule as you were seated in the Loker Reading Room with a laptop bearing one of the demonstration’s flyers,” it reads.
The email also told the protesters they can continue to borrow books and “request pick-up at other library locations.”
According to The Crimson:
The ban comes after roughly 30 pro-Palestine student activists staged an “emergency study-in” at Widener on Sept. 21, to protest the Israeli military’s airstrikes in Lebanon. During the demonstration, which lasted an hour, students donned keffiyehs — traditional Palestinian scarves — and studied with posters taped to their computers.
The demonstration was silent, and other students in the Widener reading room continued to study alongside the pro-Palestine protesters. During the study-in, library staff jotted down the names and Harvard University ID numbers of several student protesters and passed out sheets of paper stating that libraries are not permissible spaces for student protests.
Following the suspension, Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee stated it “won’t ever be deterred” in an Instagram post Wednesday.
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“Betraying the historic value of libraries to social change, library admin worked with Harvard admin to do what they’ve done all year: CRIMINALIZE ALL ADVOCACY FOR PALESTINIAN LIBERATION,” PSC wrote.
“How are silent study-ins, posters against bombs dropping, and wearing keffiyehs an imposition?” they wrote.
Vice President for the Harvard Library Martha Whitehead addressed the incident in a letter to library staff, stating, “such an assembly changes a reading room from a place for individual reflection to a forum for public statements and a challenge to some users.”
“It undermines our commitment to provide an inclusive space to all users,” she stated.
In September, Harvard reversed PSC’s five-month suspension as a registered student organization. The school had suspended the group in May for “failing to register a protest and violating guidelines on the responsible use of space,” according to National Review.
MORE: Pro-Palestinian students set up ‘liberation zone’ encampment in Harvard Yard
IMAGE: harvardundergradpsc/Instagram
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