Willamette University student protesters 'pause' occupation, leave Mark O. Hatfield Library

Willamette University student protesters voluntarily left the Mark O. Hatfield Library building Tuesday evening, saying they planned to re-organize in the fall.

About 50 Willamette students first occupied the third floor of the Putnam University Center on May 3 before moving to the library Saturday morning, demanding the private university disclose and divest its investments in Israel "and the American war machine as a whole."

Willamette Students for a Democratic Society organized the protest and said leaving campus for summer break meant beginning a "temporary pause" of their occupation. In a prepared statement, organizers said they plan to regroup in the fall.

Willamette University administration confirms meeting with students

The Willamette students said delegates met Tuesday morning with Dan Valles, the school's chief operating officer, and Lisa Landreman, vice president of student affairs.

"The administration feels it would be too expensive and controversial to divest. We must show them that complicity will be more expensive and controversial, "the students said in a prepared statement. "Power concedes nothing without a demand. Our demands remain, and we also remain."

A university spokesperson told the Statesman Journal: "We have appreciated that students have respected the rights of members of the university community to work and study and maintained respect for the Willamette facilities during their time of protest."

Protesters demand existing Willamette endowment policy be extended

President Steve Thorsett emailed the Willamette campus Friday morning with some information about Willamette's $304 million endowment.

According to that email, the university's board of trustees uses an outside firm, Global Endowment Management, to manage its funds and adopted an environmental, social, and governance consideration policy in 2018 for the endowment to protect the university's capital and generate real returns "while engaging in responsible investment stewardship."

Student organizers said that ESG should also apply to disclosures about the arms industry.

"The 341 signers of our petition for divestment and disclosure, including 264 students, believe that complicity in genocide is more than 'controversial' and that divestment is the moral minimum," students wrote. "It is clear that the only way forward is to increase pressure until the Board decides to serve students instead of itself."

Last week, organizers referred to the occupation as part of the international solidarity movement. Thousands of students have been arrested in other occupations and encampments across the country. At the University of Oregon, an encampment across the Knight Library Lawn continues to grow.

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on X @DianneLugo

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Willamette University students voluntarily end occupation