42 charged after protests disrupt Harvard-Yale football game

Forty-two people were charged for their role in disrupting Saturday’s football game between Harvard and Yale for demonstrating to raise awareness of climate change and other issues.

Officials say the 42 people were charged with disorderly conduct for the protest, according to The Associated Press.

The protest took place during halftime, with students from both schools participating.

{mosads}The protest urged the schools to divest from fossil fuel companies, something that students from both Yale and Harvard have been calling for their respective administrations to do for several years. 

The AP noted that protestors also carried other signs referring to Puerto Rican debt relief and China’s treatment of its Uighur minority population.

The 42 who were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct were the ones remaining after most of the protesters left the field after about an hour.

Rachel Sadoff, a junior at Harvard, said roughly 150 students from the two schools planned to participate and about 100 more who were sitting in the stands ended up joining.

“Our goal was to spread the word,” she told the news service. “If more people speak up, our colleges will have to listen.”

A statement attributed to the Ivy League said “it is regrettable that the orchestrated protest came during a time when fellow students were participating in a collegiate career-defining contest,” according to the AP.

The statement, shared by Yale officials during the game, said the school and the Ivy League “stands firmly for the right to free expression.”

Saturday’s game was the 136th edition of the football rivalry between the two schools. Yale won by a score of 50-43 over Harvard.