Suspensions lifted against Bowdoin College students after pro-Palestine encampment
Feb. 24—Bowdoin College has lifted suspensions against eight students who were disciplined for their involvement in a pro-Palestine encampment.
"Suspensions lifted!!" an Instagram post from the Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine read. "Thanks to all who mobilized, this is proof of our collective strength."
A spokesperson for the college did not immediately confirm Monday that the suspensions have been lifted. The student organization also did not respond to messages asking about the disciplinary results.
Olivia Kenney, a Bowdoin senior who helped organize the protest, heard over the weekend that her suspension had been lifted, leaving her on probation. The same happened to seven others who joined administrators on a video call Sunday, she said.
Kenney, 22, credited the college's decision — which she called unsurprising — to an outpouring of support from fellow students and others across the state following news of the suspensions.
"Bowdoin's reaction was very harsh," she said. "It remains unclear to me exactly which policies we violated. And it seems to me that many voices in the Bowdoin community spoke up around the issue of Bowdoin's repression of speech around Palestine."
Some of the students who were suspended live in campus housing and had to scramble to find last-minute accommodations, she said. Kenney said she moved back into her dorm Monday.
The group organized the protest earlier this month as a response to Bowdoin's lack of action on the Bowdoin Solidarity Referendum, which passed by a wide margin last spring and called on the college to take an institutional stand against the Israeli government and not make future investments in arms manufacturers.
The referendum came eight months after Israel invaded Gaza in response to a Hamas attack in October 2023 in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 civilians were taken hostage. The war in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 Israelis and 46,000 Palestinians, and is currently in a fragile ceasefire.
To protest the college's lack of action, about 50 students set up an encampment inside the student center building. The encampment remained standing for five days. College administrators issued disciplinary warnings to students several times over the course of the protest, including in suspension letters given to eight students Monday morning.
The protest ultimately ended on Feb. 10 when organizers and the administration reached an understanding and student protesters exited the encampment that evening. However, eight of those students were still suspended and about 50 were facing some sort of disciplinary process. It was not clear Monday what final discipline those other students may have been given.
Staff Writer Daniel Kool contributed to this story.
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