Campus leaders say they found vandalism ‘celebrating violence and promoting hate’
Police arrested nine pro-Palestinian protesters at Swarthmore College and charged them with trespassing over the weekend after they allegedly ignored repeated warnings to leave.
Leaders of the private, Pennsylvania institution also reported vandalism during the protesters’ encampment on the college lawn, which began Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine, a suspended student organization that led the protest, accused police of brutality in a post Sunday on Instagram.
“Under the administration’s orders, Delaware County police … destroyed the encampment and brutalized members of the encampment, violently dragging them out, and kneeling on them,” the group wrote in the Instagram post.
A video accompanying the post showed one protester calling police “pigs.” In another clip, protesters chanted, “Swarthmore, Swarthmore, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?” and “We will not stop, we will not rest, disclose, divest.”
Jihadist encampment at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania was torn apart by police on Saturday and the illegal protest shut down.
Protesters refused to leave, so they were arrested and physically carried out by police. pic.twitter.com/QxDRfYnCwa
— Paul A. Szypula ?? (@Bubblebathgirl) May 4, 2025
Of the nine arrested, one was a student and another was a former student, CBS News reports:
Those who were arrested now face misdemeanor trespassing charges. [Swarthmore President Valerie] Smith said the two people affiliated with Swarthmore will be put on interim suspension and not allowed on campus until the student conduct process is over.
“As painful as this moment is, I hope it can also serve as an inflection point — a chance to return to the principles that have long defined our community,” Smith wrote in part following the arrests. “We can choose to engage across our differences with openness and curiosity, to challenge one another’s assumptions with both conviction and respect, and to lead with care and compassion, even in the most trying times. In doing so, we can build upon what binds us together, and foster a more resilient and inclusive future.” …
Several of the protesters were fully masked and refused to identify themselves to college staff members, violating multiple college policies and posing a safety risk, Smith said. According to the college’s policies, students are prohibited from failing to provide accurate identification when asked by school officials or using tents on campus lawns to form an encampment. The policy violations do not relate to the content that the protesters were speaking of.
Swarthmore officials asked the protesters to disband, or they could be placed on interim suspension. By Thursday, college officials discovered parts of the campus property had been vandalized.
In a campus message, Smith said the protesters were repeatedly warned about possible arrests, trespassing charges, and expulsions if they did not leave by 1 a.m. Saturday.
“The encampment persisted, and on Thursday staff members recovered College property that protestors had taken to erect a barricade around their tents,” Smith wrote.
“At that point, we discovered that some of the property had been vandalized. For instance, the Big Chair was covered with graffiti containing abhorrent statements celebrating violence and promoting hate. As I wrote in a message to campus, their actions were appalling, and I unequivocally condemned them,” she wrote.
In addition to the arrests, Smith said seven student protesters received interim suspensions.
Anti-Israel protesters conducted a similar demonstration at Swarthmore last spring, ending their encampment in late May after nearly a month, The College Fix reported at the time.
The 2024 protest prompted the college to change the location of its commencement ceremony – the first time it had done so in its 160 year history.
MORE: Swarthmore College anti-Israel protesters complain about ‘bullhorn’ assault charges
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Masked protesters sit in a pro-Palestinian encampment on the lawn of Swarthmore College. Swarthmore SJP/Instagram