A group of pro-Palestinian protestors demonstrated in front of Penn president Larry Jameson’s house on the morning of March 21 (Photo by Joe Piette | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Penn students, alumni, and Philadelphia community members protested at Penn President Larry Jameson’s private residence on Friday morning.
The March 21 demonstration criticized the University’s “complicity in Palestinian genocide, violations of free speech, and refusal to protect Penn’s non-citizen community from invasive I.C.E. raids.” According to a press release from the organizers, over 50 individuals — including students from other Philadelphia-area universities — arrived at Jameson’s residence in Lower Merion Township, Pa. at 7 a.m. and “plastered over 200 copies of a letter” around the property.
The demonstrators demanded that Penn disclose its endowment portfolio, divest from “all corporations profiting from the ongoing Nakba,” and defend the University community from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Pro-Palestinian student organizers have made similar demands since last fall — including during the Gaza Solidarity Encampment that took place on College Green in spring 2024.
In a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, a University spokesperson rebuked the characterization of the event as a “protest,” instead calling it “an unlawful intrusion and a deliberate act of intimidation.”
“The right to protest does not include the right to threaten and harass,” the spokesperson wrote. “This is not protected speech. These actions are not acceptable, and certainly not from members of our university community.”
The spokesperson added that Penn intends to “take whatever legal and disciplinary action that is available to address this conduct.” According to the statement, the University is working with local law enforcement and coordinating with Penn’s Center for Community Standards and Accountability on “any applicable disciplinary actions” to determine next steps.
“Penn upholds and vigorously defends the right to free expression and will not bend to those who seek to undermine our values through threats and intimidation,” the statement concluded. “As passionate as individuals may feel, actions like today’s do not advance their cause, or the University of Pennsylvania.”
“Not only has Penn disappointed my belief in education being an avenue of justice, it’s shown itself to be an actively destructive force -- gentrification in West Philly, investment in the Palestinian genocide,” a Penn student wrote in a statement. “I want to be proud of the communities I am part of, and I’m proud to be part of the Penn voices that are standing up against what our institution and country are doing.”
The letter accused Jameson of refusing “to do anything substantive to end University complicity in the Palestinian genocide” and cited recent airstrikes launched by Israel on Gaza, which were reported to have killed more than 400 people and injured at least 500.
“The genocide of Palestinians has been ongoing every second of your interim presidency — you have been so obedient in enabling it that you got a promotion,” the letter read. “You may be rewarded by wealthy zionist politicians, donors, and trustees — but the community you were appointed to serve will always see through you.”
The organizers also criticized Jameson’s implementation of the University’s Temporary Standards and Procedures for Campus Events and Demonstrations, as well as Penn’s use of police force against students on campus. In the letter to Jameson, they cited the Penn Police Department’s search in October 2024 of an off-campus student residence that belonged to pro-Palestinan organizers.
“If its oft-stated principles of bettering the world and open expression mean anything at all, Penn must both reject participation in genocide and deny I.C.E. from entering and shattering our community,” the press release read. “To carry out such violence, institutions rely on individuals. Many individuals in Penn’s power structure have enabled and permitted these harms.”
On March 13, Jameson was appointed to serve as Penn’s 10th president in a permanent capacity through June 30, 2027, following a 15-month tenure as the University’s interim leader.
In January, 1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump announced the reversal of a policy that previously declared “sensitive locations” such as schools, places of worship, hospitals, colleges, funerals, and rallies, off-limits to ICE raids. Since then, faculty members and students at multiple higher education institutions across the country have been arrested, questioned, or detained by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents.
Protesters read also a letter from 2024 Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil — a pro-Palestinian activist and lead negotiator for Columbia’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment — who was detained by ICE on March 8 at the rally. His arrest prompted nationwide protests, including multiple demonstrations in Philadelphia in recent weeks.
Trump signed an executive order in January directing federal agencies to identify and deport non-citizen participants — including college students — in pro-Palestinian protests. In Truth Social post on March 4, Trump promised that American student protesters who participate in “illegal protests” would be expelled or arrested.
“Wake up, Larry. The world is watching you. We are here on your front lawn outside your mansion telling you to hear us because you have given us no other option,” the letter to Jameson concluded. “Your silence will not save you.”
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