Citing increasing unlawfulness, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday called on the University of Pennsylvania to disband a pro-Palestinian encampment that has spent two weeks on the Ivy League campus.

“Over the last 24 hours ... the situation has gotten even more unstable and out of control,” Shapiro said during an event in Westmoreland County. “More rules have been violated, more laws have been broken. That is absolutely unacceptable.

“It is past time for the university to act to address this, to disband the encampment and to restore order and safety on campus.”

Penn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Shapiro’s comments mark a change in stance from last week, when he deferred questions about whether the encampment should be disbanded to the university.

“I don’t think it’s my judgment on that that matters,” he said at that time. “I think it’s the university’s judgment that matters. They’re closer to it, they see it.”

Interim Penn president J. Larry Jameson has said repeatedly that the encampment should come down.

It’s unclear what impact Shapiro’s remarks will have on the encampment’s fate. In December, his criticism of former Penn president Liz Magill’s testimony before a congressional committee about the school’s handling of antisemitism on campus proved a critical turning point in what became a bipartisan censure and she resigned days later.

Earlier this week, there was a unified front among city leaders — including Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and District Attorney Larry Krasner — that the encampment in its current form should not be disbanded using force, and that Penn should resolve the matter peacefully.

An expansion, discipline and commencement changes

...continued

©2024 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.