Sydney University has ordered the sprawling pro-Palestinian encampment to pack up and leave campus almost eight weeks after it sprung up on the quadrangle lawns. Vice chancellor Mark Scott wrote to organisers on Friday instructing them to vacate the site, which has been occupied by dozens of tents since April 23. Scott told the organisers the camp needed to be cleared so the lawns could be remediated in time for the start of semester two’s “Welcome Fest”.
It came after university management put up signs on Friday morning saying unattended items would be confiscated and security removed broken items and packed-down tents. A university spokeswoman said the institution had tried for weeks to negotiate with encampment representatives to come to a peaceful resolution. “Following the last rejection of our proposal, we have also now instructed the encampment representatives that we require them to vacate the encampment to allow other students to use the space,” she said.
“The front lawns are a shared space, and as we have said previously, our shared spaces should be welcoming and inclusive to all members of our community. Since 24 April, the encampment has taken over this shared space to the exclusion of others.” Student Representative Council president and one of the protest organisers, Harrison Brennan, said the camp had not decided what its response would be, but would meet in the coming days.
He denied the camp was exclusionary, saying: “This has been one of the .