Around 12 p.m. on April 30, members of Swarthmore’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and their supporters erected an encampment on Trotter Lawn dubbed the “Hossam Shabat Liberated Zone,” after a university student and journalist from Gaza killed in an airstrike. SJP released a list of demands concurrently on Instagram and in an email to the student body. The first segment of demands asks for divestment from “all companies that profit from the Zionist entity’s occupation of Historic Palestine,” beginning with the end to purchases from the internet service provider Cisco. Other components include the publication of all endowment investments and a formal recognition of “scholasticide,” the mass destruction of education, in Gaza.
While similar in structure to the demands publicized by the SJP encampment last spring, the inclusion of specific companies marks a change, as does the absence of a demand for amnesty or other protections for past and present student protesters. The second segment of demands reflects current concerns over shifting national policies. SJP called for a commitment from the college to not cooperate with federal law enforcement action under any circumstances or pressure, to publicly condemn Trump’s attack on immigrants, and to fund the legal defenses of students facing deportation.
Members of the encampment also drew attention to the naming of Trotter Hall and the lawn in front of it. In 2022, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that two Swarthmore professors were involved in the excavation of Lenape gravesites, among them professor Spencer Trotter. Trotter also published numerous works endorsing a pseudoscientific racial hierarchy. President Val Smith subsequently emailed the community announcing an investigation into the matter and the following year announced that the college had plans to “develop a process to reexamine the name of Trotter Hall.” Two years later, the name has yet to be altered.
Members of the Swarthmore Police Department and Springfield Police Department appeared at moments to survey the encampment and were seen engaged in lengthy conversations with Public Safety and Facilities members. Among those gathered were Associate Vice President for Campus Services Anthony Coschignano and Interim Director Colin Quinn.
An email from Vice President of Student Affairs Stephanie Ives was printed and distributed to protesters at around 2:15 p.m., informing those at the encampment that their occupation of Trotter Lawn violated the Code of Conduct. The letter cited the code: “Encampments on and occupation of any College facilities, spaces or grounds is prohibited.”
This particular prohibition on encampments, as well as the ability for the school to use interim suspensions as a sanction, were both added as part of controversial alterations to the Code of Conduct made before the 2024-2025 school year. Ives has personally defended many of these changes in statements that suggest a break from the school’s past philosophy towards student protest.
Ives noted that neither of the code prohibitions pertain to the content of the speech being promoted at the protest. She also raised concerns about SJP, while still on interim suspension, collaborating with non-Swarthmore-affiliated organizations.
Additionally, she raised the concern over protestors using masks to hide their identities. “This current protest strategy will not result in dialogue with the college about your demands,” she wrote. She also wrote that many students have already been identified.
The letter instructed protestors to leave the lawn before 4:00 p.m. or face interim suspension, which includes the loss of academic privileges and the loss of access to all campus services.
However, 4:00 p.m. passed, and no actions were taken to remove students from the encampment. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., another email letter from Ives was distributed. Ives restated the college’s original request to leave Trotter lawn: “You have failed to comply.”
The letter continued, “We have heard your demands and do not intend to meet them.” Ives wrote that the college is considering all options to bring the encampment to a peaceful end while working to issue interim suspensions to those who were warned and remain in the encampment, including students who are just now entering. Further findings could lead to more severe sanctions for students who have already received a sanction for prior misconduct.
Around 7:00 p.m., protestors moved the “Big Chair” on Trotter lawn to the encampment, cementing the protest on the lawn as students prepared to sleep in tents overnight.
After assisting Ives in delivering the letter, Coschignano moved several lawn chairs used by protesters outside of the bounds of the encampment.
However, at 9:00 p.m., students at the encampment indicated to The Phoenix that they had yet to receive any emails notifying them of suspension, and had not received any communication from the school relating to the encampment since the second letter from Ives.
An email from President Val Smith sent to the college community at 7:40 p.m. reiterated the college’s oft-repeated position that announced disciplinary action in no way “pertains to the content of the speech being promoted at the protest.”
Swarthmore College clarified that the entrances at the school were closed to vehicular traffic in an email to The Phoenix, but did not otherwise respond to numerous requests for comment on matters including the college’s planned response, its stated unwillingness to accept the protesters demands, and the impact of potential sanctions on students’ ability to graduate.
