A newly-formed faculty group at the University of Pennsylvania blocked access to a campus building Monday as part of an anti-Israel "die-in" protest that may have violated school policies.
Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine, which announced its formation in a Jan. 18 Daily Pennsylvanian op-ed, organized the demonstration, according to social media posts reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. Protesters were photographed Monday afternoon laying on the steps of College Hall, a famous campus building that hosts the School of Arts and Sciences and Department of History. They also held signs accusing Israel of "genocide" and displayed a long banner featuring the names of "Gazans murdered by Israel."
The demonstration comes as Penn's interim president, Larry Jameson, grapples with a lawsuit and congressional investigation related to the school's handling of campus anti-Semitism, an issue that forced former Penn president Liz Magill to resign in December.
While Penn did not return a request for comment on whether the demonstration violated its policies, the school's "guidelines on open expression" bar campus demonstrators from knowingly interfering "with unimpeded movement in a University location" and from interfering "unreasonably with the activities of other persons." College Hall is home to a number of classrooms, and Penn is continuing to hold classes in the building as it undergoes renovations.
Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine bills itself as a "collective of … faculty, lecturers, staff, and graduate employees" who are "in solidarity with the ongoing and ever-urgent struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation, warfare, and displacement."
The group does not have a website or social media presence, and most of its members wore masks, hats, and hoods during the Monday protest to obscure their identities. One English professor at Penn, Margo Natalie Crawford, promoted the group's formation in a Jan. 18 social media post, but it's unclear if she is a member. Crawford did not immediately return a request for comment. A Penn research fellow, Christopher Rogers, also promoted the protest on social media.
Other Penn campus groups, including Police Free Penn and Penn Students Against the Occupation, shared photos from the "die-in" protest on Instagram. Police Free Penn said the demonstration was aimed at honoring "the Palestinian martyrs killed by the Israeli occupation since Oct. 7th."
"Penn Faculty for Palestine led a die-in and vigil action with the names of 6,700+ Gazans murdered by Israel," the group said in a post. "People joining the action were given white flags with the names of Palestinians killed by Israel in 2014. A reminder that the violence of the Israeli occupation didn't start on October 7th."
Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine did not return a request for comment. In its Jan. 18 "announcement statement," the group downplayed incidents of campus anti-Semitism at Penn, saying there have never been "calls for ‘the genocide of Jewish people’ on our campus."
"The Israeli occupation of Palestine is one of the great moral and political issues of our time," the group wrote. "At this moment, Palestinian life is in dire crisis; the sheer scale of destruction demands an ethical response from all educators and concerned citizens."
High-profile incidents of anti-Semitism have occurred at Penn both before and after Hamas's Oct. 7 assault on Israel. In one case, a student stormed into the Penn Hillel building, yelled "F— the Jews," and destroyed furniture. In another, a student stole an Israeli flag from an apartment near campus. Penn has not said whether either student faces disciplinary action.