#Emerson College

[soon-palestine]

[manichewitz]

some photos i took from emerson college’s encampment for palestine. most of these were taken only a few hours before the boston PD attacked hundreds of protestors and brutally arrested 118 students, most of whom were poc, jewish, and/or queer.

anyone who spent any amount of time in the encampment will tell you just how much it brought us all together—there was always food, music, arts and crafts, and hundreds of messages of support written in chalk.

after the BPD was done brutalising us for peacefully protesting, they power washed down the walls of the encampment—all of these messages are gone. theyre trying to erase what happened, but they’ll never truly be able to. everyone saw, and everyone will remember.

[agentfascinateur]

From Gaza to the Student Protest Movement, with love:

Thank you 💜

[wlwinry]

108 students at my college were arrested and brutalized by police while peacefully protesting against the genocide in palestine. theyre claiming that no students were injured, but there is footage of students being thrown to the ground, punched, slammed with riot shields, etc. and several had to be taken to the hospital. there are police officers with the blood of my fellow students on their hands. there are photographs of them with blood literally on their hands.

108 students of a student body of 4k. the administration has been silent. the news is reporting no student injuries despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. there was blood on the stones of the alley where the encampment was set up, scrubbed away by our college's administration and president.

i don't often make posts like this, but if anyone has a dollar to spare, the venmo for the bail fund is @/SheriHK. i've sent what i can, but there's a lot of injured and imprisoned students.

edit for clarification: my school is tagged below and has been since i made the post. links to recent articles regarding the arrests can be found here and here. the money is going to emerson college's sjp organization.

second edit for clarification: i put this in a reblog, too, but all students have been released at the moment and jail support is no longer needed. thank you to everyone who reblogged, shared, or donated.

[girlactionfigure]

shmads.y

Maybe now’s the time for y’all to revamp the World History & Global Politics Departments.

[killervelveteenrabbit]

Oren Root, a longtime New York City lawyer and Columbia University graduate who was at the school when anti-Vietnam War protests rocked it in 1968, said Shafik's summoning of police was "an extraordinary miscalculation."

"President Shafik and her advisers clearly didn't learn from history," said Root, who was a top editor at The Spectator, the Columbia student newspaper, in 1968 and 1969. “Calling in the cops was clearly a mistake. Things have not gotten any calmer.”

[dihalect]

tonight at 7pm local time, students at emerson college, MIT, and tufts university began encampments demanding that their administrations cut ties with the zionist entity, drop charges against student protestors, and support an immediate ceasefire and decolonization of palestine

for updates, check the instagram accounts: sjpemerson, fsjpemerson, mit_caa, sjptufts, and palestinianyouthmovement.

[dailyoceanoconnellrosenberg]

Day 118: Emerson College Ocean commanding respect

[serene-quill]

Emerson College took its sweet time, but it looks like they're finally getting around to issuing statements (and alumni like me have been lighting them up non-stop) about the violent arrests of Pro-Palestine protestors on the campus.

The tl;dr summary: The city of Boston and BPD made the decision against the college's wishes. Emerson is bailing out students and making sure they have summer housing when dorms close if they can't convince the DA not to press charges.

In fairness, Emerson sits around one end of the Boston Commons, and our campus is absolutely city property as well as campus property. I hope everything they convey to the alumni proves true.

Read the full statement to Emerson Alumni:

Dear Emersonians:

As we begin a new week, I wanted to share some reflections on the past few days and where we are today as a campus community.

 

In my relatively short time at Emerson, I have come to deeply value our community's strong and passionate views, even when they are sometimes hard to hear. I respect and support how our students, faculty, and staff embody those values in their actions. It takes immense bravery to speak out and act in support of a cause. As an institution, the College may not take positions on global conflicts, but our overarching goal is for Emerson to be unyielding in our support for our students' education and their ability to find and express their voices.

Last week, 118 protesters were arrested in Boylston Place Alley, where an encampment was established, like at many other campuses across the nation, to draw attention to the tragic loss of life of Palestinians in Gaza. As a community, whatever our position on the conflict, we should respect their right to raise their collective voices while also acknowledging the disruptions created by their encampment occupying a public right-of-way.

Because we are committed to our students' right to protest, Emerson made every possible effort to avoid confrontation between the police and the protesters at the encampment. Prior to the law enforcement action, the College advocated with the City and Boston Police Department for several days to delay the removal of the encampment. When it became clear the City intended to clear the tents from the alley, we actively encouraged the protestors to remove them to prevent arrest. We also strongly and directly advocated for the police to peacefully remove tents without making arrests.   

We know that the events of that night were, and are, emotionally overwhelming for our entire community, especially for the students present at the protest and the staff and faculty who were on site to provide support. Emerson has continued to be supportive in multiple ways – sending staff to all the precincts and posting bail for arrested students, canceling and modifying classes so our community could process what had occurred, and providing additional care and support for our community to heal. 

The College will not bring any campus disciplinary charges against the protestors and will encourage the district attorney not to pursue charges related to encampment violations. We will also provide housing support to students required to stay in town for court appearances following the closing of their dorms. 

But these are only initial steps toward healing and growth.     

As leaders of Emerson College, we are responsible for creating a safe environment for our entire community. This responsibility includes physical and emotional safety and assuring that our public and private spaces are free from harassment or intimidation, including Antisemitism and Islamophobia. Emersonians from all backgrounds and beliefs must always feel welcome and safe at our College, and we must all share the responsibility of enforcing this core value without exception or excuse. 

The College has done its best to keep all community members safe every day during these challenging times, but we recognize that we must do more. Our leadership team is committed to redoubling our efforts, engaging and respecting all voices across our community, and actively listening and learning how to move forward together.  

Though we are nearing the end of the academic year, our commitments to free expression, safety, and an inclusive community will remain top priorities for our leadership team far beyond this semester. We ask you to join us now and in the future to learn from the events of recent days and weeks to help us build the safe, passionate, and unified community that we all desire and deserve. 

Respectfully,

Jay Bernhardt

President

[tieflingkisser]

Emerson College says enrollment down significantly after "negative" reaction to student protests; layoffs planned

BOSTON - Emerson College in Boston said in a message to staff that student protests are one of the reasons why freshman enrollment this fall is "significantly below" projections. Now the school is planning budget cuts and may reduce faculty positions as a result of the decline.

[...]

Emerson was one of several Boston-area colleges that saw pro-Palestinian protests inspired by student protesters at Columbia University. Protesters set up tents in a public alley next to Boylston Street in April. They said they wouldn't leave until Emerson called for a ceasefire in Gaza and divested from companies and institutions doing business with Israel. On April 25, Boston police in riot gear broke up the protests, arresting 108 at the camp. Four officers were injured during the arrests. Police said protesters were violating city ordinances by camping out in the alley, which is not solely owned by Emerson.

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

[manichewitz]

Photos I took at Emerson students’ encampment in Walid Daqqa alley, April 2024.

Seeing the encampment on film feels so strange to me because it looks so historical, and not like it happened only last month. The encampment might have gotten busted by the police, but it’s still a part of me and everyone who was there, and none of us are giving up now.

I live for the day when Palestine is free and I can look back at these photos as part of a long history of struggle that ultimately ended in freedom. Solidarity, from Boston to Palestine 🇵🇸

[excited-insomniac]

Anyone currently at Emerson/involved with student life know if this is how things are actually being handled? Sounds like placatory bullshit but I'm not there

[dremilioastutoworld]

US Universities for Gaza! Free Professor Caroline Frohlin!  New Song by É. Roscha!

[agentfascinateur]

To protesting students:

SEIZE YOUR CENTURY

Push back against dark times ✊🏼

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

#freespeech #righttoprotest #endgenocide

[jania65-blog]

my view