Harvard reaches deal to end pro-Palestinian encampment

The pro-Palestinian encampment at Harvard University announced Tuesday it would end after reaching an agreement with the nation’s oldest university.  

Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP) said in a post on the social platform X the school agreed to begin the process of reinstating students who had been suspended and offered meetings with Harvard Management Company about potential divestment from Israel. The school also will have conversations regarding the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies.  

“We are under no illusions: we do not believe these meetings are divestment wins. These side-deals are intended to pacify us away from full disclosure & divestment. Rest assured, they will not,” HOOP said. 

During the three-week encampment, Harvard closed its gates to the public, suspended 20 students and had more than 60 people referred for disciplinary charges, according to the group. 

“At Harvard, our Schools have responsibility for our involuntary leave and disciplinary processes. With the disruption to the educational environment caused by the encampment now abated, I will ask that the Schools promptly initiate applicable reinstatement proceedings for all individuals who have been placed on involuntary leaves of absence,” said interim President Alan Garber. 

“I will also ask disciplinary boards within each School to evaluate expeditiously, according to their existing practices and precedents, the cases of those who participated in the encampment,” he added. 

Multiple U.S. colleges have moved to end weeks of protest on their campuses as commencement season arrives. Harvard is one of a few institutions that have cut deals with their demonstrators, a list that also includes Northwestern University and Brown University.

—Updated at 3:07 p.m.