April 29, 2024

On the morning of Monday, April 29, a tent encampment of roughly 20 tents was created at the University of Oregon’s Memorial Quad. As of noon on Monday, participants are students primarily representing non-UO affiliated student groups including, but not limited to, Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace.

The safety of our campus community is our highest priority. We uphold the constitutional right to free speech and peaceful dissent. At the same time, we also uphold the right for all our students to receive their education, to participate in and attend classes, and to do so safely and without intimidation. We would like to remind the student community of expectations of appropriate behavior as outlined in the Student Conduct Code, and resources available to them – including support for mental health and well-being.

As we have seen over the last week, universities across the nation who have taken a hard stance – including calling in law enforcement as an early response – have seen an escalation in violence, including harm to bystanders and students alike. In keeping with our longstanding protocols, university representatives have been in communication with those participating, outlining relevant institutional policies, and advising them of an existing reservation for that space later this week. Representatives from the Division of Student Life and Safety and Risk Services are committed to remaining engaged with the students with the goal of centering student safety.

We are actively monitoring this situation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students, faculty, and staff on campus. This includes remaining watchful for participation by non-student demonstrators, who may adversely affect or redirect this activity on our campus. We will continue to remind students participating in the encampment of relevant policies and possible repercussions based on violations of the Student Conduct Code and will be watchful for any disruption to educational or business operations of the university.

Additional information will be published to the UO Alerts Blog as it becomes available.

This statement was emailed to UO faculty, staff, and students.