WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Several dozen student protesters Wednesday began an encampment at the heart of Williams College's campus to amplify their demands that the school divest from companies with ties to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

 

The move follows months of protests on campus, at the Field Park rotary and in town hall from students and other residents concerned about indiscriminate bombing that has reportedly killed more than 30,000 Palestinians since Israel began its response to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by the Gaza-based Hamas terrorist group.

 

It also mimics similar encampments on college campuses around this country, most notably at places like New York’s Columbia University, where student protests led to the occupation of an administration building and, ultimately, the arrest of nearly 300 protesters.

 

At about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, students sang protest songs and listened to speakers on the Williams Quad, surrounded by a ring of tents set up in the wee hours of the morning.

 

On Monday, Williams College President Maud Mandel sent a campus-wide message reminding students of the college’s policies on demonstrations and noting that encampments, “in and of themselves do not violate any college rule.”

 

On Wednesday afternoon, senior Hannah Bae and sophomore Deena Iqbal of the local chapter of the group Students for Justice in Palestine, said that they were aware of the college’s policies and that the encampment was not violating them.

 

The pair said the students planned to sleep in the tents, and they put no timeline on the protest.