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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — More than 300 Harvard faculty members signed a letter urging university leadership to negotiate with student protestors on campus.
The student group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine have been encamped in Harvard Yard since April 24, demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel and calling for an end to the conflict in Gaza.
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In a letter sent Tuesday afternoon to interim President Alan Garber and interim Provost John F. Manning, 326 professors called on the administration to engage in "constructive dialogue with peaceful protestors."
"We, the undersigned faculty, agree with President Garber’s statement that disagreements are most effectively addressed through candid, constructive dialogue," the letter reads. "We are concerned that the university has yet to meet with the students to hear their concerns. Instead, the administration has issued escalating threats of punitive disciplinary action, the severity of which the university has not seen in decades. We urge the administration to meet and engage in meaningful dialogue with peacefully protesting students."
The letter came one day after Garber sent a university-wide message threatening punishments for students taking part in the encampment.
"Those who participate in or perpetuate its continuation will be referred for involuntary leave from their Schools," Garber wrote. "The encampment favors the voices of a few over the rights of many who have experienced disruption in how they learn and work at a critical time of the semester. I call on those participating in the encampment to end the occupation of Harvard Yard."
Garber warned that students who are suspended may not take final exams, may not live in Harvard buildings, and must leave campus until they are reinstated.
"That the administration, in the same breath that they threaten students, would call for 'reasoned dialogue' when they have refused to even have a conversation with these same students, is the height of hypocrisy," Professor Ryan Enos said in a statement.
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