Police dismantle barricades at Penn encampment as protesters chant disapproval; police crackdown at Columbia, UCLA, Univ. of Wisconsin

The House passed legislation Wednesday that would establish a broader definition of antisemitism for the Department of Education to enforce anti-discrimination laws, the latest response from lawmakers to a nationwide student protest movement over the Israel-Hamas war.

The proposal, which passed 320-91 with some bipartisan support, would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal anti-discrimination law that bars discrimination based on shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics or national origin. It now goes to the Senate for a vote.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick attributed ongoing protests college across the nation to lacking leadership in higher education during a visit to the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania Wednesday.

"The authorities need to act decisively and with clarity and moral courage, and break up these cities and discipline the kids that are violating the rules of the campus," McCormick said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said demonstrators at universities across the country have the right to “peacefully protest,” but that right doesn’t extend to unlawful acts.

“Forcibly taking over a building is not peaceful,” Jean-Pierre told reporters Wednesday, pointing to what happened at Columbia University, where protesters occupied the school’s Hamilton Hall building and had to be removed by police.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and District Attorney Larry Krasner stopped by the Penn encampment Wednesday afternoon to speak with protesters.

Gauthier, whose staff previously visited, stopped by to support students.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier and District Attorney Larry Krasner stopped by the encampment around 2 p.m. to meet with encampment organizers and legal observers who debriefed them on an earlier incident where a man sprayed pesticide on some tents.

Gauthier complained earlier this week said she has been trying to talk to Penn interim President J. Larry Jameson about the encampment, but he won’t take her call.

Tuesday night’s negotiations with interim President J. Larry Jameson resulted in “a stalemate,” Philly Palestine Coalition member and encampment spokesperson Nneka Azuka told The Inquirer Wednesday morning.

Jameson told organizers that university administrators “would not negotiate unless the encampment was taken down,” Nneka said. “But the encampment is the only leverage we have.”

Officers with Penn’s Department of Public Safety confirmed that a man wearing a green polo and black pants who sprayed tents in the College Green encampment with liquid from a pesticide can was not affiliated with the university.

Officers are testing the substance and asked encampment members to avoid the area where the liquid was sprayed, which include several tents at the front of the space.

Eight Philadelphia Police Department and University of Pennsylvania officers — led by Michael Morrin, the deputy chief of investigations with Penn Police — began dismantling the barricades set up by the university to enclose the encampment around 12 p.m.

Encampment leaders attempted to start a “F— the police" chant as officers began, before starting a louder “Free Palestine” chant led by Philly Palestine Coalition members Nneka Azuka and Samantha Rise.

“Due to the distress caused by the violence that took place on Royce Quad late last night and early this morning, all classes are cancelled today. Please avoid the Royce Quad area,” the school said in a social media post.

The clashes at UCLA took place around a tent encampment built by pro-Palestinian protesters. Counter protesters tried to pull down a line of parade barricades, plywood and wooden pallets at the edge of the camp.

Student organizers with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at the University of Pennsylvania said they will not negotiate further with interim President J. Larry Jameson unless a series of new demands are met, UPenn Against the Occupation posted to Instagram Wednesday morning.

Those demands include affirming that they will not send police inside the encampment; end calls to disband the encampment; clarify the Committee on Open Expression’s role and potential open expression guideline violations before checking for student IDs a second time; and to withdraw the disciplinary hearing notices sent to three student organizers Monday evening.

Police removed an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus Wednesday.

Campus police spokesperson Marc Lovicott said at least a dozen people have been arrested at the school as police removed tents erected by protesters.

Protesters were removed and tents in the former encampment had been removed.

No tents could be seen through fences from outside the campus and a photo from the college’s student newspaper showed the encampment area empty of tents.

The University of Pennsylvania is violating its own guidelines for open expression by attempting to discipline students for participating in the pro-Palestinian encampment, which entered day seven Wednesday, a Penn faculty group said.

“It was wholly inappropriate for the Committee on Open Expression to distribute threats on behalf of the administration,” the Penn chapter of the American Association of University Professors wrote in a statement, referring to flyers that were passed out, saying students must furnish their Penn IDs when asked.

It’s a quiet morning on day seven of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on College Green at the University of Pennsylvania. Dozens of tents are still pitched next to the statue of Benjamin Franklin.

Friday night, University President J. Larry Jameson issued an order for the protesters to vacate the grounds “immediately.” It’s unclear if — and when — that will happen.

University of Pennsylvania officials said Tuesday that they were pursuing possible disciplinary action against pro-Palestinian protesters who have defied repeated orders to end their encampment, which showed every indication of extending to a seventh day on Wednesday.

“We have clearly communicated to the protesters in the encampment that they are in violation of the university’s policies,” Penn said in a statement, adding that any offenders, including faculty or staff, would be subject to “disciplinary processes.”

Police burst into a building at Columbia University Tuesday night that pro-Palestinian protesters took over and broke up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school while inspiring others.

New York City officers entered Columbia’s campus after the university requested help, according to a statement released by a spokesperson. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall where a stream of officers used a ladder to climb through a second-floor window. Protesters seized the hall at the Ivy League school about 20 hours earlier.

 Dueling groups of protesters clashed Wednesday at the University of California, Los Angeles, grappling in fistfights and shoving, kicking and using sticks to beat one another.

After a couple of hours of scuffles between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators at UCLA, police wearing helmets and face shields formed lines and slowly separated the groups. That appeared to quell the violence.