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SFJ students and community supporters stayed after the May 16 rally to begin the decampment process. The activists took time for reflection between packing supplies.

Student protestors at Hamline announced plans to remove the encampment on Old Main’s lawn. The camp and corresponding actions resulted in some students receiving conduct charges for occupation of a space and failure to comply with university officials, among other alleged violations. The students say that the decampment is not a response to charges, but a move to preserve the energy of the movement.
On May 13, Interim President Kathleen Murray and Dean of Students Patti Klein-Kersten held a meeting with students alerting them that conduct charges were moving forward, and at 5 p.m. 10 students were emailed notices of their conduct violations with a message saying each student needed to have meetings scheduled with Kersten by May 20 to begin the conduct hearing process.
In a series of meetings following the dispersal of conduct letters, Kersten walked students through multiple options available to them, but made it clear that the university was not open to negotiation until the encampment was removed. One option for resolution is conduct hearings, a process conducted by the Dean of Students office that brings in a conduct board of impartial university parties that listen to the charges brought against the students, a statement of those who initiated the charges, a statement from the receiving party and closing statements from each party. The other option is voluntary resolution, which allows for students and administration to come to a written agreement that resolves the dispute without a hearing process.
On May 16, Hamline Students for Justice (SFJ) held a stand-in protest at a faculty and staff open forum in Anderson Center, directly followed by a rally in front of Old Main. At the rally, SFJ read a group statement announcing the removal of their camp from Old Main’s lawn. The statement also announced that the conduct charges had primarily been in response to SFJ students reinstating a vigil to Old Main’s steps after it was removed by Kersten and Hamline grounds staff, as Kersten had warned would happen if the vigil was not removed by students. The students also removed the Bishop’s cap and gown garb following the removal of the vigil, which prompted the charged violation of the Bishop dressing policy as well as a charge of theft and violation of university property.
SFJ organizer June Gromis spoke at the rally about her disappointment with the university’s decision to deliver penalties to students, citing the tentative projection of 0.1% of university investments in Israeli companies SFJ was given in a meeting with President Murray on April 29.
“The university is more interested in condemning me for sleeping in a tent, putting up posters and dressing a statue than remedying a betrayal of its own values,” Gromis said at the rally on May 16.
The additional conduct violations students are charged with include violations of the Freedom of Expression policy, damage to property, posting and canvassing policy and violation of published university policies, rules or regulations.
Additionally at the rally, six of the 10 students with conduct charges delivered speeches announcing they would not be seeking voluntary resolution, and will instead choose to move forward with conduct hearings. The other four students will likely seek a voluntary resolution.
Dave List, a parent of a 2015 alumnus was one community supporter at the May 16 rally. List expressed additional disappointment with Hamline’s choice to deliver conduct charges to students.
“This is something I might have expected from a school someplace where the political environment is very anti-student, anti-progressive, [but] given the environment here in the Twin Cities and given Hamline’s involvement with social justice movements over the years, I’m very surprised,” List said. “Particularly since the students have gone out of their way to not be disruptive.”
Local houseless community member Aria Chatman, who goes by Helios, has experienced a sense of community through the camp and expressed gratitude for the student organizers at the Old Main lawn encampment.
“Getting to know these wonderful, proactive people has done nothing short of enrich my life,” Helios said. “There’s no replacement for that.”