UPDATED: Students say OSU to clear pro-Palestine encampment, some students vow to stay (2024)

Oregon State University officials said they were gearing up Monday night to address the pro-Palestinian demonstrators — keeping them "accountable" via the student conduct code, university policies or criminal statutes —less than a week after an encampment was established on campus.

School officials had said they had until Monday, May 20, to clear the area.

By daybreak Tuesday, May 21, however, the encampment remained.

Around 8 p.m. Monday, organizers behind the demonstration posted on social media that university administration would be mobilizing the Corvallis Police Department and Oregon State Police to clear the campers.

University officials dispute that characterization of their intentions.

Murthy’s statement declared that OSU would begin the process of “holding participants accountable under the Code of Student Conduct, other applicable University policies and criminal statutes.”

When asked how students would be kept accountablevis-à-vis "criminal statutes," Rob Odom, vice president of university relations and marketing said via email:

"(W)e have not shared those details yet, but I’ll send them over as soon as they are available. Most are spelled out in the student conduct code, university policies and criminal statutes themselves, but we’ll have more succinct information based on which measures are actually taken. OSU has an outstanding department of public safety that strives to follow an educational model, be responsive and non-escalatory whenever possible."

The evening mood at the camp was significantly changed from Monday morning. By 3 p.m., demonstrators were — organizers acknowledge — tense from the statement issued by the administration, describing it as a “vague threat.”

According to the students, a designated spokesperson said demonstrators were prepared to be arrested, and a few more showed up after calls for support. Odom said that is false.

The encampment was the lead topic of public comments at the Corvallis City Council meeting Monday night. The council chambers were packed, with some standing around the edges, as numerous people pleaded with the council to intervene against any law enforcement action.

In a statement read out during the councilor and staff reports, City Manager Mark Shepard said he and police Chief Jason Harvey have been in consultation since the encampment materialized on campus.

"Any decision regarding the existing encampment rightfully rests with Oregon State University," Shepard said.

"The city's current and ongoing approach has and will be to refrain from taking any active role in dispersing the encampment and/or individuals in the encampment," Shepard said.

"However, Corvallis police will respond on campus if the OSU Police Department identifies a threat to the safety of any individuals that they, the Oregon State police, are not able to manage on their own," Shepard said in his statement.

If, when and how the police respond will be a decision for the Police Department, Shepard said.

The safety of demonstrators is indeed a concern for OSU professorSebastianHeiduschke, who told Mid-Valley Media he worries law enforcement, whether Corvallis police officers or Oregon State troopers will tear down the encampment and potentially make arrests.

"Students have been peaceful all along," he said by phone.

Heiduschkeis a member of OSU Staff and Faculty for Palestine,which released a statement,signed now by over 60 university employees,urging administrators to “take a leadership role and practice its responsibility to defend free speech and provide a safe environment for students to exercise their right to political expression.”

The quad’s pro-Palestinian encampment was formed by a coalition of groups led by Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights, or SUPER. That group was behind previous demonstrations on campus, including atemporary sit-in earlier this month.

Odom previously said that while OSU respects student rights to free speech, the encampment violates school policy, with the college calling the demonstration a safety concern.

Students, however, have said they are not moving from their roped off section of campus until officials move on their demands, namely divestment from any company with financial ties to Israel, along with "academic amnesty" and protection against disciplinary actions. Both are common refrains from protesters on college campuses nationwide.

Students are also demanding the university issue a statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, condemning what they call a genocide in Gaza.

But in its official May 16 response to the demonstrators, OSU said while it hoped for a lasting peace and end to violence in the region, it had to consider its role as a public university.

Sophie Musa, one of the student organizers, told Mid-Valley Media earlier Monday that members of the encampment— around 60 students, she said— viewed the deadline set by OSU as a threat to their free speech.

Staff reporters Alex Powers, Kosiso Ugwuede and Cody Mann contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to add that OSU officials dispute the students' characterization of the university's statement, that it threatens imminent police action.

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