THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA • FOUNDED 1885
PHILADELPHIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2024
VOL. CXL
NO. 17
FROM
CITY HALL Mayor Cherelle Parker
TO
COLLEGE HALL Interim President Larry Jameson
DESIGN BY SOPHIA LIU
‘The pressure for action is intensifying’: Phila. mayor opposed Penn’s pleas to address encampment Documents obtained by the DP reveal a city initially resistant to days of pressure from the University to address pro-Palestinian demonstrations last spring BEN BINDAY News Editor
This is the first part of a planned multi-part series about Penn’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Check back at thedp.com for more inside information about the discussions behind the encampment’s 16-day duration. On May 2, Penn’s provost was striking a hopeful tone with pro-Palestinian organizers, offering concessions if they took down their encampment on College Green. But behind the scenes, Penn’s president was escalating the situation to the mayor of Philadelphia, pleading with City officials to help him “secure our campus” from criminal activity and prepare for arrests, according to private communications obtained exclusively by The Daily Pennsylvanian. The trove of previously unseen emails and documents — which the DP acquired through a series of open records requests under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know law — reveal a University that was gearing up to disband the encampment with assistance from the Philadelphia Police Department as early as eight days before it was ultimately removed at dawn on May 10. The city instead rebuffed
Interim Penn President Larry Jameson’s allegations of violence at the heart of campus, with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker urging Penn to push for a peaceful resolution to the encampment. The revelation of the city’s disagreements with Penn about how to handle the demonstration — and Jameson’s sense of defeat at the status of negotiations — show how the University was working on the fly to approach a wave of unrest against the war in Gaza that swept college campuses nationwide. The DP examined the communications to understand how, within a three-week stretch in April and May, Penn went from banning its largest pro-Palestinian student group to arresting 33 protesters on College Green — and how the University might approach similar protests more stringently in the fall. A request for aid As the semester approached its end, the University escalated its crackdown on campus’ largest pro-Palestinian student organization — only to be met with an even greater wave of resistance that eventually forced Penn to
lobby City officials for help over several days, emails show. On April 19, Penn revoked the student group registration of Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine. A week later, on April 25, a protest organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition made its way to Penn’s campus and met with a faculty walkout before the group set up an encampment shortly after 4 p.m. The next day, Jameson sent two emails to the Penn community. The first said that Penn was “closely monitoring the encampment” and pledged “follow-up action as appropriate.” In the second email, Jameson urged the encampment to disband immediately, citing “blatant violations of University policy” and listing instances of See ENCAMPMENT, page 2
See more: HOW PENN IS PREPARING FOR FALL PROTESTS, page 4
Liz Magill’s post-Penn presidency shapes up
Class of 2028 gets a big welcome at Convocation
A source close to the former president told the DP that Magill will not be teaching and that her new appointments are temporary, unpaid and research-focused
Interim President Larry Jameson warned of first years’ solemn responsibility address pro-Palestinian demonstrations last spring
VIVI SANKAR Staff Reporter
EMILY SCOLNICK AND NICOLE MURAVSKY Senior Reporter and Staff Reporter
Nine months after resigning, former Penn President Liz Magill is taking on research positions at Harvard University and the London School of Economics. Magill is a fall 2024 visiting senior fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and will be a visiting professor at the London School of Economics through 2027, according to her updated CV. A source close to the former Penn president told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Magill will not be teaching, and both opportunities are temporary, unpaid, and research focused. Requests for comment were left with Magill and a University spokesperson. While she is not teaching any classes at Penn this semester, Magill is still a tenured professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, a position she has held since 2022. See MAGILL, page 2
Interim Penn President Larry Jameson, in his first Convocation address since being appointed, spoke to first years about their “solemn responsibility” as newly minted members of the University community. Administrators sparingly acknowledged the year of demonstrations and turmoil that has faced Penn’s campus, but several stressed the need to embrace differing viewpoints and avoid polarization. Welcoming the Class of 2028, Jameson acknowledged that the University and the world were facing “divisive days” and urged students to embrace the pillars of “In Principle and Practice” — a University-wide strategic framework launched under Jameson’s predecessor, Liz Magill, which is now fueling several initiatives to promote climate, the arts, and public policy. JESSE ZHANG | DP FILE PHOTO
)#(B)/,B. ' SEND STORY IDEAS TO NEWSTIP@THEDP.COM
See CONVOCATION, page 2
ETHAN YOUNG | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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