PB
>>22531933 An encampment has formed at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Students are occupying the Smith Union building
Bowdoin Safety and Security locks down Smith Union, SJP encampment continues
By Emma Kilbride and Janet Briggs
Staff Writer
February 7, 2025
College security has blocked access to Smith Union Friday morning as protesters affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) remain in the encampment they established Thursday evening.
College security personnel are posted at the entrances to the building. Orient staff were denied entry.
Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Jim Hoppe sent an email to students and employees at 8:18 a.m. to provide an update on the encampment.
“While we support students’ right to express their views, it is essential to note that college policy prohibits activities that disrupt the normal operations of the College,” Hoppe wrote. “Smith Union is a shared space, meant to be accessible to all members of our campus community, and no group or individual can restrict access to it.”
He stated that students who did not break down tents and vacate the space could face potential disciplinary action. According to a post on SJP’s Instagram, student protesters are receiving notice from the Office of the Dean of Students about scheduled disciplinary meetings for this morning.
Benny Adler ’25, who was in the encampment from last night until early this morning, claims that security officers, including Associate Vice President of Safety and Security Randy Nichols, returned to the encampment this morning to collect identification from students who slept in Smith Union overnight. Security first took protesters’ information at 1:00 a.m. this morning after warning students they would face consequences if they didn’t vacate the space by then.
“I was sleeping behind the cafe … [and] I basically heard that Randy [Nichols] went around and woke people up in their tents and got names of everyone who stayed overnight,” he said. “Smith Union was blockaded basically from the outside, so anyone who left wasn’t allowed back in.”
SJP organizers inside the building have yet to respond to the Orient’s requests for comment at this time.
Around 8:30 a.m., about 15 student protesters gathered outside Smith Union’s south entrance to demonstrate. They led a chant to “free Palestine” and were apparently trying to communicate with students and officers inside the building.
“To our beautiful bears who are encamping inside the Union, we send you our love, we will not leave you,” students chanted. “This institution does not scare us. To the security, you do not scare us.”
At 10:00 a.m., upwards of 70 students and other community members flooded the path to Smith’s south entrance, holding “honor the referendum” signs and chanting. Students who remained in the encampment overnight came to the windows to wave at protesters outside.
“Open Smith, open Smith,” students chanted.
Turned toward Moulton Union, where several College administrators are housed, students shouted: “Dear Bowdoin, your colors are showing.”
Nate Hintze emailed students at 9:56 a.m. that Student Activities will be assisting students at Moulton Union today, and the Mail Center will be open and accessible through the hallway in Sargent Gym.
This is a developing story.
Miles Berry contributed to this repor