Protests on Boston-area campuses persist as college administrators try to manage them

Tent encampments on college campuses in Greater Boston persisted Friday, as some schools tried to have more control over the protests.

Encampments have gone up on multiple university campuses in the area, including Emerson College, Tufts University, MIT, Harvard University and Northeastern University. In recent days, college students across the country took part in similar demonstrations opposing the war in Gaza and calling on their institutions to divest from Israel.

At Emerson College, based in downtown Boston, the student government on Friday called on the school’s president to resign — a day after police arrested 118 people at a pro-Palestinian protest encampment there.

Angus Abercrombie, a member of the student government, said so many students packed the meeting that organizers had to set up two overflow rooms. Hundreds of others watched the meeting online.

"This was a violent series of arrests by the Boston Police Department," Abercrombie said. "As a student government, we wanted to express the sentiment that we no longer have confidence in the president of Emerson college."

The no-confidence vote against President Jay Bernhardt was unanimous. The move is mainly symbolic, yet emblematic of how campus crackdowns have fueled the resolve of demonstrators at Boston-area schools and around the country.

Emerson College had no immediate comment.

Emerson had announced Thursday afternoon that demonstrations are banned in the Boylston Place alleyway through the weekend. (Emerson officials noted that their policy allows the college to determine the "time, place and manner" of demonstrations.)

Early Thursday morning, police had arrested 118 protesters in the alley and forcibly dismantled their encampment. The alley near Boston Common is partially owned by the college, but is a public right-of-way; Boston police said the protesters were in violation of city ordinances.

On Thursday, a Boston police spokesperson said four officers were injuried, while no students were hurt during the arrests. But a police report released Friday listed five injuries connected to the arrests, though the names and identifying information of the injured were redacted. In one case, someone broke their ankle. Another person needed seven stitches in their hand. Other injuries listed included pain in knees, shoulders, ankles and feet.

In a social media post Friday, Boston City Councilor Henry Santana urged police to drop any charges against the students. "The right to protest is sacred," he wrote. "In this era when our democratic institutions and norms are under attack across the country, Boston is a place where we should be especially cautious about protecting freedom of speech, particularly the right to protest."

Tents went up on Northeastern's quad Thursday afternoon. Campus and city police quickly surrounded the protesters, but did not dismantle the encampment at that time.

A spokesperson for Northeastern said in a statement to WBUR that students demonstrating on the green are in violation of the school's code of conduct.

"Students currently demonstrating on Centennial Quad do not have authorization and are in violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Those who are not affiliated with Northeastern are trespassing. The university will take action accordingly," the statement read.

According to reporting from Northeastern's student newspaper, The Huntington News, one person was arrested at the school's protest around 1 p.m.

The Huntington reported that Berklee College of Music students marched in Northeastern's campus and joined the encampment Thursday evening.

With reporting by WBUR's Katie Cole and Willoughby Mariano

This story has been updated with more reporting on Emerson.