Pro-Palestinian encampment leads to suspension threat at Purdue

Protesters vow to stay, as 4 students face suspension or expulsion after demonstration was slow to meet Purdue demands to take down structure. Plus, a Purdue prof takes the stand in hush money trial

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

With scenes of arrests, building takeovers and escalating tension at campus demonstrations tied to the war in Gaza across the U.S., Purdue’s version – working its way through a sixth day on the West Lafayette campus – boiled down to disciplinary threats from the university about suspension or expulsion for four students identified as leading an encampment on the Memorial Mall lawn.

By Tuesday afternoon, students called out by university had met with Dean of Students administrators and a group of students, faculty and community members tore down a makeshift structure of 2-by-4s and tarps that had been a central beef for Purdue as the demonstration wound through finals week on campus and aimed for graduation weekend, more than a week away.

“This wooden structure, it’s not the movement,” Arjun Janakan, among the four called to the Dean of Students office, said Tuesday afternoon. “The rest of us, we don’t plan to go anywhere. The message is what’s important.”