Brown University encampment protest enters its second day

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The encampment protest on Brown Universities Main Green is well into its second day, as students call for Brown to divest from companies they say support the Israel Defense Force in the war in Gaza.

Reactions are mixed on campus, with some students worrying about safety as other protests end in violence.

Students at Brown University have joined a growing movement of encampment protests.

They’re calling on university leadership to divest from groups they say fund Israel and drop charges against 41 of their peers.

“We’re hopeful that our pressure is working. And I think our pressure has continuously been working. This isn’t something the university can not see; we have already seen the president have to pass through our encampment a few times to interact with the rest of the university. So I think in some capacity it is working.” said Niyanta Nepal, who stayed at the encampment overnight.

Nepal says there were hundreds of people were at the encampment Wednesday night, doing traditional Palestinian dance and holding a seder for the third night of Passover.

She says they got an email from the university president saying they wouldn’t be taking action against the encampment overnight.

“We anticipate this going on as long as it needs to until they feel that they have to take further action or until they decide that our demands are worth meeting.” said Nepal.

Those demands include dropping charges against 41 students who were arrested after a previous sit-in protest, and calling for the university to divest from groups supporting Israel.

One staff member with family in Israel says she supports the activism of these students, but divestment is not a cut-and-dry issue.

“I think the concept of divestment in 2024 is oversimplified. I think it’s a little over-conflated with the effectiveness of that strategy from South Africa’s apartheid in the 80s. And applied to the Middle East and to Israel in ways that I think are not effective.” said Amy Cohen, the Department Manager at Browns Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry.

While hundreds of students join in this protest here and across the country, other students are keeping a close eye on the issue, with growing concern of things getting out of hand.

“There’s a possibility, anywhere, of it escalating from this sort of peaceful situation and I’m scared of that happening to some degree.” said Jake Sheykhet, a junior at Brown University.

“That kind of place where it slips from peaceful protest into hate speech and the implication of violence is a fine slope…this is not – in no way right now.” Sheykhet continued. 

Students have been told encampments on the green are a violation of university policy, and its leadership informed students they will face conduct hearings moving forward.

Students are watching for a meeting of the Brown University Community Council Thursday at 4 p.m., where two resolutions will be heard.

The council is set to vote on a resolution recommending the president drop the charges on students and another to allow a divestment resolution to be presented to the university corporation.