After nearly two weeks of protests at Tufts University ended on Friday night, university personnel quickly put up fencing early Saturday morning to block off the quad where pro-Palestinian student protestors had been camping out. Only patches of dead grass marked the site of the protest encampment.
The fence barriers around the quad in front of Ballou Hall will remain up until graduation, May 19, according to an on-campus grounds person and a Tufts University police officer.
The encampment had grown to several dozen tents and a makeshift barrier assembled from tables, chairs, and other objects.
Protesters peacefully took down the camp and left the area on Friday night. Students for Justice in Palestine at Tufts, the organizers of the encampment, said in a statement Friday night that protesters had taken down the tents after negotiations with the university over students’ demands had fallen apart, but the decision was not related to the negotiations.
Pro-Palestinian protests have rocked campuses throughout the country in recent weeks in response to the ongoing war in Gaza. Israeli forces have killed more than 34,000 people, according to the local health ministry, since the war began with an attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages.
Advertisement
On other campuses, police have used riot gear, tactical vehicles, and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings. But at Tufts, students removed their tents. Protest organizers there did not respond to interview requests on Saturday to explain why they ended the encampment.
Tufts University maintained a police presence in the area on Saturday.
The university did not respond to questions on Saturday, but released a brief statement saying that “no student has been disciplined for exercising their free speech rights.”
Advertisement
The statement added that “students have been and will continue to be held responsible if they are found to have violated the university’s code of conduct.”
Globe reporter John Hilliard contributed to this report.
Kajsa Kedefors can be reached at kajsa.kedefors@globe.com.