Isa Cruz

Talia Traskos-Hart

Isa Cruz

Isa Cruz

Emma Kilbride

Update February 10, 12:15 a.m.: Late on Sunday evening, a crowd gathered in front of the south entrance of Smith Union after receiving notice from protesters inside that the College would potentially act to remove the encampment. Protesters expected this removal after reportedly rejecting an ultimatum from the administration to clear out of Smith Union by 10 p.m. or face harsher consequences.

Around 11:15 p.m., students in the SJP encampment addressed the crowd from the second-floor window of Smith, saying that they received word from the administration that they will face immediate suspension if they do not leave the building by 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 10. According to the same announcement, administrators also informed students that they must leave Smith by 5 p.m. the same day, with SJP organizers noting the potential for forcible removal or arrests. Many students remain in the encampment for a fourth consecutive night.

Update February 8, 5:00 p.m.: The crowd of protesters outside Smith Union grew after protesting students circulated an email advertising a “mock disciplinary hearing” for College administrators, scheduled for 4:50 p.m. The action was an apparent response to the disciplinary notices several students within the encampment received from the College earlier in the day.

Student protesters shouted from the Smith Union windows, laying out their critiques of the College in a “courtroom” format.

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Saturday morning, protesters gathered outside of Smith Union’s south entrance in support of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) encampment, which is now entering its third day. The College is moving forward with disciplinary actions against some student protesters as College security continues to monitor the encampment and discourage its continuation.

An SJP-organized rally began outside of what student protesters have renamed Shaban al-Dalou Union at 11 a.m., drawing a crowd that included Bates students, Bowdoin alumni, members of Maine Coalition for Palestine, members of Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights and others.

The crowd listened to speakers, chanted and sang in support of Palestine and participated in a dance circle. At one point during the rally, encampment members addressed the audience with a bullhorn from the windows of Smith Union’s second floor. Speakers from inside the building noted the powerful support they have received from the campus and Maine community.

“There was a moment where I felt in that room that 30 something of us turned into 100, 1,000, 100,000,” Olivia Kenney ’25, a lead organizer for SJP, said from the window. “It’s really hard to describe the beauty of being in here. I haven’t left this building since I came in here at 6 p.m. on Thursday.”

Ray Luc Levassur, a long-time anti-war activist, attended the rally with a sign that read “VIETNAM VET AGAINST GENOCIDE.” The homemade sign, which Levassur made in 2006 to protest the Iraq War, originally read “VIETNAM VET AGAINST THE WAR” before he revised it to fit pro-Palestine protests.

“It takes actions like this to stop a genocide, however small they are. I’ve seen the difference in people’s attitudes change over the course of organizing,” Levassur said. “People are much more open to just what’s happening, how horrendous it is and how it’s got to stop.… You don’t have to be a flaming radical or a revolutionary or anything else. You just have to be a human being.”

Levassur was drafted to combat in Vietnam at 19-years-old and noted that many of the Bowdoin students are organizing or becoming politicized at this same age.

“I wish I had had this courage when I was younger. I wouldn’t have ever gone to Vietnam to begin with,” he said.

In the late morning on Saturday, as supporters remained gathered outside, some students in the encampment received an email that they had been placed on “disciplinary probation.”

“Your behavior was a violation of the standards of this community,” the letter from James Riley, associate dean for community standards, read. “Specifically, you are responsible for the following Social Code violations: Failure to comply with the reasonable request of a College official. / Disruption of the orderly processes of the College, including obstruction of College activities in Smith Union.”

Students on disciplinary probation were warned that they may face suspension or dismissal upon additional violations of the Social Code, though such actions would entail a formal disciplinary process. In informal disciplinary meetings with their class deans, some students reported facing verbal threats of suspension or dismissal. These threats have yet to be put in writing.

Other students who had been inside the encampment were placed “on notice,” which does not entail a change of status under the Code of Community Standards but would escalate another Social Code violation to more formal disciplinary processes.

Associate Vice President of Safety and Security Randy Nichols emailed members of the College Saturday morning to notify them of Smith Union’s continued closure.

“The Smith Union remains closed today as the College works to end the encampment in Morrell Lounge and prevent access to the space by those who are not members of the Bowdoin community,” Nichols wrote.

“Those currently inside the building have been and continue to be able to leave at any time, and campus safety and security officers are on hand to make sure that anyone attempting to enter the space understands that the building is closed,” he added.

He clarified that heat and other utilities inside the building are still on.

Smith Union services that are normally operational on Saturdays, including the C-Store and the Café, remain closed for the second day in a row due to the encampment.

One student organizer from Bates College, who preferred to stay anonymous, was glad to attend the rally and noted their inspiration at the work being done by Bowdoin SJP.

“Bowdoin and Bates and Colby—these other liberal arts schools around the area—their whole vision is creating a university in which students are able to have critical thinking, to work together and organize and create things that are going to make the world a better place. And this is exactly what that is,” the student said. “It’s so sad to see the administration being completely against it.… I think all of us want to see these schools do what they promised, which is make the world a better place.”

Miles Berry, Kristen Kinzler, Catalina Escobedo and Emma Kilbride contributed to this report.