Pro-Palestinian protesters retake MIT encampment, occupy building at Rhode Island School of Design

Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy campuses nationwide in response to Israel-Hamas war, facing arrests and disciplinary actions.

A Monday deadline for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave an encampment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology cleared many demonstrators only to have the site retaken while protesters at the Rhode Island School of Design began occupying a building in the ongoing protest movement connected to the Israel-Hamas war.

At MIT, protesters were given an afternoon deadline in which to voluntarily leave the protest site or face suspension. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday night, dozens of protesters remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a pizza dinner break.

Sam Ihns, a graduate student at MIT studying mechanical engineering and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been at the encampment for the past two weeks and that they were calling for an end to the killing in Gaza.

“Specifically, our encampment is protesting MIT’s direct research ties to the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.

Earlier in the day Erica Caple James, a professor of medical anthropology and urban studies at MIT, attended the protests as a faculty observer and an adviser to the Alliance of Concerned Faculty.

“My hope is that the day ends without harm befalling anyone, without there being physical violence and hopefully with space to open negotiations again between the administration and students, faculty and staff who are concerned about MIT’s global influence,” she said.

No arrests had been made as of Monday night, according to the MIT spokesperson.