Janet Briggs

February 7, 2025, 1:10 p.m.: According to Senior Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Scott Hood, Smith Union remains closed, but student protesters are holding open the doors to the building to allow people and supplies to pass through. Community members are bringing provisions to students in the encampment.

February 7, 2025, 12:02 p.m.: Protesters broke past security at the South entrance of Smith Union to join the encampment. The doors to Smith Union are currently being held open by students, and security officers are standing in a line to block entrance. About 20 students entered.

Associate Vice President of Safety and Security Randy Nichols told students not to enter as doors were opened. Cheers and chants can be heard from inside Smith Union.

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College security has blocked access to Smith Union Friday morning as protesters affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) remain in the encampment they established Thursday evening.

College security personnel are posted at the entrances to the building. Orient staff were denied entry.

Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Jim Hoppe sent an email to students and employees at 8:18 a.m. to provide an update on the encampment.

“While we support students’ right to express their views, it is essential to note that college policy prohibits activities that disrupt the normal operations of the College,” Hoppe wrote. “Smith Union is a shared space, meant to be accessible to all members of our campus community, and no group or individual can restrict access to it.”

He stated that students who did not break down tents and vacate the space could face potential disciplinary action. According to a post on SJP’s Instagram, student protesters are receiving notice from the Office of the Dean of Students about scheduled disciplinary meetings for this morning.

Benny Adler ’25, who was in the encampment from last night until early this morning, claims that security officers, including Associate Vice President of Safety and Security Randy Nichols, returned to the encampment this morning to collect identification from students who slept in Smith Union overnight. Security first took protesters’ information at 1:00 a.m. this morning after warning students they would face consequences if they didn’t vacate the space by then.

“I was sleeping behind the cafe … [and] I basically heard that Randy [Nichols] went around and woke people up in their tents and got names of everyone who stayed overnight,” he said. “Smith Union was blockaded basically from the outside, so anyone who left wasn’t allowed back in.”

SJP organizers inside the building have yet to respond to the Orient’s requests for comment at this time.

At around 8:30 a.m., about 15 student protesters gathered outside Smith Union’s south entrance to demonstrate. They led a chant to “free Palestine” and were apparently trying to communicate with students and officers inside the building.

“To our beautiful bears who are encamping inside the Union, we send you our love, we will not leave you,” students chanted. “This institution does not scare us. To the security, you do not scare us.”

At 10:00 a.m., upwards of 70 students and other community members flooded the path to Smith’s south entrance, holding “honor the referendum” signs and chanting. Students who remained in the encampment overnight came to the windows to wave at protesters outside.

“Open Smith, open Smith,” students chanted.

Turned toward Moulton Union, where several College administrators are housed, students shouted: “Dear Bowdoin, your colors are showing.”

Present at the protest was Abby Muller, who self-identified as a legal observer and member of the Coalition for Palestine. She came to campus after getting notice of today’s protest effort.

“As a legal observer, I’m actually just an impartial observer, so if anything happens that ends up resulting in a court case, I can be a witness,” she said.

At 11:00 a.m., Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), a group representing around 40 members of the Bowdoin community, sent a statement to the Orient in support of the student demonstration in Smith Union.

“We firmly believe that this campaign represents the core values of Bowdoin College, namely its commitment to the common good,” the group wrote, referencing the student’s calls for the College to implement the action items stated in the “Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum.”

“We are deeply concerned with this administration’s mischaracterization of the student demonstration as disruptive or creating a ‘hostile environment.’ It is also concerning that students were threatened with disciplinary action without adequate notice. Several students reported to us that they had less than 10 mins to get to the Dean’s office,” the statement continued.

FSJP also highlighted their desire for the College to engage in “genuine, good faith dialogue” with students involved in the protest moving forward.

Nate Hintze emailed students at 9:56 a.m. that Student Activities will be assisting students at Moulton Union today, and the Mail Center will be open and accessible through the hallway in Sargent Gym.

This is a developing story.

Miles Berry contributed to this report.