Northwestern University officials announced Monday that it had reached an agreement with anti-Israel protesters that included funding for Palestinian scholarships and for Palestinian visiting faculty members.
The agreement comes five days after the pro-Palestinian demonstrators began building an encampment in the middle of Deering Meadow on the Evanston Campus.
WBBM-TV reported soon after the agreement was announced that tents were already being dismantled.
“This agreement was forged by the hard work of students and faculty working closely with members of the administration to help ensure that the violence and escalation we have seen elsewhere does not happen here at Northwestern,” said University President Michael Schill in a campus-wide email.
Schill said that university officials agreed to allow peaceful demonstrations to continue until June 1 but that the demonstrators must agree to observe their security regulations. The university will provide funding for two visiting at-risk Palestinian faculty members for two years and for five visiting at-risk Palestinian students for four years.
Some of the protesters were angry that the deal was struck with a small group of demonstrators that they claimed were not representative of the entire group.
Schill also said that the demonstrations could only include students, faculty, and staff in order to exclude outside participants.
“Acts of antisemitism, anti-Muslim/Arab racism, and hate will not be tolerated, and community members who can be identified participating in such acts will face disciplinary action,” he wrote in the email.
Junior Abhi Nimmagadda told WBBM that the agreement was a tremendous achievement for the anti-Israel movement.
“No other university, to my knowledge, has been able to secure wins this great,” said Nimmagadda. “I don’t believe my heart has been fuller. I’m very, very proud of everything we have been able to achieve.”
But other students were reportedly angry that the university did not agree to concrete steps to end any investments that might be tied to the state of Israel. WBBM reported that they felt “blind-sided” and accused those who made the agreement of being “sellouts.”
The university did agree to relaunch an advisory council to review the organization’s investments and answer protesters’ questions within 30 days.
The private research university serves more than 23,400 students and is located in Evanston, Illinois.
Here’s more about the protests:
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