Pro-Palestinian student groups and UC Riverside officials agreed May 3 to end their five-day protest encampment under specific conditions.
Students at the University of California Riverside campus started their encampment on April 29, pressing the university to disclose investments and funding tied to Israel and to divest from entities complicit in what they called “the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide [of Palestinians].” The two sides started negotiations May 1.
“Since Wednesday, several UC Riverside campus leaders have been meeting with the leaders of the student encampment on campus,” said UC Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox in a statement. “It has been my goal to resolve this matter peacefully and I am encouraged by this outcome—which was generated through constructive dialogue.”
Terms of the agreement were also revealed Friday.
Key points include the public release of investment information, the formation of a task force to explore separating the campus’s endowment from the UC system’s oversight, and adjustments to study abroad programs to comply with anti-discriminatory policies.
The chancellor’s office also announced that the School of Business has discontinued several of its study abroad programs, including one to Isarael.
“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination; however, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues,” Mr. Wilcox said.
Following the agreement, the UC Riverside chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a prominent organizer of the demonstration, also issued a statement.
“This is not the end for Palestinian advocacy at UCR,” the group wrote on Instagram Friday. “This is not the end of UCR’s complicity, and we will continue to hold our admin accountable. This is just a step closer toward a liberated Palestine.”
The Riverside campus was the first in the UC system to reach a peaceful agreement with the demonstrators. Other campuses that saw protests include Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego, and Berkeley. Across the state, at least 25 universities have experienced protests over the past few weeks.
While some protests, such as those in Riverside, remained relatively peaceful, police have been summoned to those that became violent.
Most recently, over 200 individuals were arrested May 2 as law enforcement disbanded a large encampment at UCLA. Before that, dozens of protesters had been arrested at Cal Poly Humboldt, the University of Southern California, and Pomona College.
Protests demanding an end to the Gaza conflict and divestment from Israel have erupted at over 50 universities and colleges across more than 30 states. As of May 3, over 2,200 people have been arrested on campuses nationwide.
