Note: This letter originally appeared as an e-mail sent to the Hopkins community on Tuesday April 30, 2024.
Dear Johns Hopkins Community,
We are writing to update you on the status of a pro-Palestinian protest initiated at the Homewood campus yesterday afternoon involving approximately 100 affiliated and non-affiliated individuals. The protesters arranged for the delivery of tents, sound equipment and other materials that would establish an encampment.
Late last night, together with Vice President for Public Safety Branville Bard and Vice Provost for Student Affairs Rachelle Hernandez, we met for several hours with the representatives of the organizers of the protest. We conveyed our concerns over the health, safety and welfare of students involved in the protest, as well as others in our community. We also emphasized the various ways in which our students can protest on our campus but without creating structures and in a manner that fully complies with our policies, guidelines, and codes of conduct, including the prohibition of any form of intimidation, harassment, or threat.
Our conversations were frank and constructive, and we are pleased to report that we reached an agreement early this morning to support the students’ continuing protest. Our students agreed to dismantle the tents and other structures they set up and to refrain from assembling on the campus overnight between 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. This will ensure our students’ safety and reduce the level of disruption to the university, particularly as we head into final exams and commencement ceremonies. We, in turn, agreed to support our students’ ability to return to a designated area on the Beach each day to continue their daytime protest activities as is permissible under university policy.
Following the conclusion of our discussions, the students dismantled the tents and left the Beach.
We are immensely relieved at this peaceful and productive resolution, and express our profound appreciation to those who helped reach this agreement.
Sincerely,
Ron Daniels
President
Ray Jayawardhana
Provost