Penn suspends four students involved in recent on-campus activism, local pro-Palestinian groups say

This story is a work in progress and will be continually updated.

According to an Instagram post by the Freedom School for Palestine, Penn has suspended four students involved in pro-Palestinian activities on campus, including the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

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The post said students received semester or year-long suspensions in letters announcing their updated disciplinary status on June 27. The suspensions mark the university’s most significant disciplinary response to the camp to date.

A university spokeswoman and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Safety responded to requests for comment.

“Penn administrators worked with Penn Police to identify students from body-worn camera footage and targeted students who had previously engaged in activism on campus,” reads the Instagram post, which was shared jointly by the Freedom School for Palestine, Philly Palestine Coalition, Drexel Palestine Coalition, Temple Students for Justice in Palestine, Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, and Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine.

The document further states that those suspended “do not have access to Penn health care or on-campus employment that would provide them with a source of income.”

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The post ends with a “call to action,” asking community members to send letters to Vice Chancellor John Jackson Jr. and Vice Chancellor for University Life Karu Kozuma calling for all charges to be dropped, adding that both administrators have the “unilateral authority” to drop the cases.

The Daily Pennsylvanian previously reported that Penn placed six student organizers associated with the camp on mandatory leave in May.

A university spokesperson told DP at the time that the associate vice provost for university life had issued mandatory leaves of absence in accordance with university policy, pending the results of disciplinary investigations conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Social Standards and Accountability.

It is unclear whether these four students are among the group of six punished in May.

“Suspension means termination of student status and separation from the University by a specified date,” according to Pennbook. “Suspension means loss of all rights and privileges that normally accompany student status.”

The Instagram post accused the University of targeting students who had “previously engaged in activism on campus” and said that Penn administrators and Penn police “worked together” to identify the accused students through body-worn camera footage.

“Penn feels it can get away with stifling free expression and bullying students during the summer when no one is on campus, but we will not allow our friends to suffer in silence,” the post reads.

Penn police officers in riot gear, with assistance from Philadelphia police, disbanded the camp and arrested 33 people on May 10. The camp lasted 16 days. On May 17, pro-Palestinian activists tried to occupy Fisher-Bennett Hall at 34th and Walnut Streets, leading to the arrests of 19 people — seven of them Penn students — by Penn and Philadelphia police officers.