Posted on 05/09/24
| News Source: WBAL
Student protesters at Johns Hopkins University were offered a pledge to remove their encampments and avoid discipline.
Dozens of tents have been set up for 10 days in protest of the Israel-Hamas war.
Hopkins faculty members acted as a go-between late Wednesday afternoon between the administration and the protesters to keep the sides talking after student protesters said they walked out of negotiations with university officials Tuesday night.
WBAL-TV 11 News obtained a copy of the “conduct deferral letter” on Hopkins’ letterhead that faculty members distributed around 3 p.m. inside the encampment.
| PDF: Hopkins Justice Collective statement: ‘We will remain until our demands are met’
| PDF: Hopkins’ letter to demonstrators: Sign agreement to avoid conduct action
Students who sign the document promise that they left the encampment by 6 p.m. Wednesday and will not return and vow they will not disrupt graduation ceremonies or engage in further protests or demonstrations in violation of school policy or the student code of conduct.
In return, Hopkins said it will not take disciplinary action, the letter will not go on the student’s permanent record, the letter will not impact grades or the student’s ability to graduate and student identities will be confidential.
The response from the encampment was to grow the encampment. The university has not commented on that action being taken.
Around 5 p.m., 11 News watched demonstrators begin moving canopy tents from inside the encampment to an area on campus known as “The Beach” in an effort “to send a message,” protesters said.