CAMBRIDGE — Pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Harvard marched to the university president’s home Sunday afternoon to call on the administration to reverse some disciplinary actions they say the university took against students involved in the since-disbanded encampment on Harvard Yard.
Hundreds of protesters marched from the Johnston Gate of Harvard Yard, which remained closed to the public Sunday, to the residence of interim university president Alan Garber a few blocks away, before ending the march on Cambridge Common. Several students wore their graduation caps and gowns, along with keffiyeh scarves that have become symbols of support for the Palestinian nationalist movement.
Since the encampment ended Tuesday, Harvard has placed 32 students on probation, required five to withdraw, and prevented at least 14 from graduating, according to Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, the student coalition that planned the 20-day encampment.
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Some of the student protesters told the Globe that they are on probation and would not be allowed to walk at commencement, which is scheduled for Thursday. Others said they are facing disciplinary proceedings that could end in suspension.
The group’s leaders said during speeches that the disciplinary actions surprised the activists and did not align with their understanding of the promises they say university administrators made with the coalition to voluntarily end the encampment last week.
“Harvard students now face the prospect of suspension, eviction, and deportation,” said Sal Suri, a graduate student who is an organizer with the Harvard Graduate Students Union. “Harvard considers our actions worthy of severe disciplinary action. It has treated the moral courage of its students and student workers with contempt.”
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Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton told the Globe in a Saturday evening statement that Garber’s communications to encampment organizers did not speak to the outcomes of the disciplinary processes, but instead promised to encourage the university’s disciplinary bodies to expedite the process while following existing precedents.
The encampment on Harvard Yard was one of many that emerged on campuses nationwide last month in response to the ongoing war in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
At the Sunday protest, students said they were angry about what they perceive to be the university’s administration going back on its word. They said it was an example of how the university treats protests supporting Palestinians differently than other forms of expression.
“Every disciplined student, every suspended student, has more clarity, more moral courage, and more bravery than every corrupt Harvard administrator at this institution combined,” said Tala Alfoqaha, a third-year law school student, outside Garber’s home.
Outside the home, protesters chalked the pavement with messages including, “Disclose and divest,” “You have blood on your hands,” and “Let Gaza live.”
Several speakers told the crowd the students facing disciplinary actions are on the right side of history.
“They may vilify you in this moment,” said Kojo Acheampong, a Harvard second-year student, “but history will absolve us all.”
There was a minimal Cambridge Police Department presence at the rally, which began just after 2 p.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Officers directed traffic around the march route but engaged little with the protesters. A handful of Harvard University police officers guarded Garber’s home from the driveway, watching as the crowd demonstrated on the sidewalk and in the streets.
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Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Erin Douglas can be reached at erin.douglas@globe.com. Follow her @erinmdouglas23.