Students end protest and encampment in face of Miami deadline

Students at Miami University decided to end the protest encampment on their campus early Saturday night .

The encampment, initiated by Miami University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, started on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Miami Student reported university administrators told the group they had to clear out before 9 p.m. Saturday, or their organizations would be suspended for violating the university property policy . The group then voted to end the encampment which shut down around 7 p.m. Saturday night, two hours earlier than the university’s deadline.

President of SJP Miami Maysa Constandinidis and Darak Sanabria Valderrama took to Instagram to explain why they ended the encampment early.

“I’m here with what once was a beautiful and peaceful encampment. However, administrators have taken it among themselves to threaten our organizations with suspension. Our organizations MUSJP and YDSA,” Constandinidis said in an Instagram video.

“When asked to comment on any sort of action the school would take in regards to students specifically, they would not give any sort of answer at all. I was in conversation, I was cut off with the sentence, ‘we do not have any answers,’ so that led us to believe there was a very real possibility of not just our organizations getting suspended but of individual students themselves,” Darak Sanabria Valderrama with SJP Miami said in an Instagram video.

“We did not make this decision lightly to leave the encampment, to disassemble and disperse. It was a collective decision. This doesn’t mean that it’s over. This does not mean that we‘re done here at all. We have so much more planned. We will keep pressuring them in any way possible.”

More: Student group at Miami University sets up encampment to protest Israel-Hamas war in Gaza

The students joined others across the country protesting Israel’s military actions in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attacks.

Valderrama said Thursday they organized the protest to have the university disclose whether it was directly or indirectly investing in businesses in Israel.

“We were able to get them to verbally commit to reaching out to the company that does investments for the university to get some sort of itemized list,” Sanabria Valderrama said Thursday.

Protestors emphasized they wanted Israel to stop bombing inside Gaza. They also called on Miami University to officially endorse a ceasefire.

“Pay attention to what’s going on in Palestine,” Sanabria Valderrama said. “We have a group of people who are literally trapped and can’t leave.”

A group of Jewish students gathered across from the encampment in opposition.

One student, Dominic Dellapina, said he’s seen more support for Palestinians in Gaza than for Israel on campus.

“I wholeheartedly believe in a ceasefire, but I don’t believe it should be on Hamas’ terms,” Dellapina said.

The protestors marched around campus before making the encampment and setting ground rules, such as not destroying property, drinking, causing harm, or resisting arrest.

Enquirer media partner Fox 19 provided this report.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Students end protest and encampment in face of Miami deadline