Chloe Edwards, Photography Editor

Following the arrest of 48 pro-Palestine protesters on Monday morning outside of the Schwarzman Center, peaceful protests continued throughout the day Tuesday on Cross Campus and in Sterling Memorial Library. 

By 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, dozens of protesters remained on Cross Campus after sleeping there overnight, with one Yale police officer also present. Throughout the day, protesters remained on Cross Campus, and the crowd grew to over 100 people around 5:30 p.m. Protesters also marched into Sterling in the afternoon in an unsuccessful attempt to confront Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis. 

Around midday, organizers of the past week of protests on Beinecke Plaza — including the three-night encampment — announced a leadership transition on their Instagram.  

Occupy Beinecke leadership transitions, re-labels as “Occupy Yale”

Lead organizers of the Occupy Beinecke coalition — which is the group that set up the three-night encampment on Beinecke Plaza that prompted the arrests — have transferred leadership to a “broader coalition” of organizers from Yale, New Haven and Connecticut, the group announced via a statement released on Instagram on Tuesday afternoon. The group’s name, they wrote, has shifted from “Occupy Beinecke” to “Occupy Yale” following the leadership change.

“While acknowledging the success of this mobilization, it is important to broaden it –– especially in light of the prejudice Yale administration has demonstrated toward New Haven and Connecticut community members,” organizers wrote in a statement. “Our movement is bigger than Beinecke Plaza now. On the heels of President Salovey and Dean Lewis’s racist and classist lies, it is important to address Yale’s fundamentally extractive and exploitative role in New Haven and all over the world, while still continuing to center Palestine and Gaza.”

According to the statement, the new leadership is continuing to demand Yale disclose and divest from weapons manufacturing, while also demanding increased investments by the University into the New Haven community and calling for “Palestinian liberation.”

Organizers declined to comment on what the reason was for the transition in leadership.

Protests in Sterling Memorial Library

A group of approximately 40 pro-Palestine protesters marched through the Sterling Memorial Library at 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening, carrying signs and quietly chanting “We shall not be moved.” 

Gabriel Colburn ’24, a marshal at the protest, told the News that protesters entered the library to confront Lewis, who was in a meeting with departmental directors of undergraduate studies — faculty members who serve as liaisons between undergraduate students, departmental faculty and Yale College administrators. 

“People just got excited to go in and sort of spontaneously express their feelings about the war in Gaza and the issue of divestment,” Colburn said. “The administration has consistently avoided and dismissed our calls to meet with them and discuss this issue. So I think this is just an expression of students’ desire for the administration to take us seriously.”

The protesters marched through the main entrance of the library, known as the Nave, and continued down the hallway past the Periodical Reading Room and Selin Courtyard. They lined the walls at the end of the hallway, in front of the Memorabilia Room, where the meeting was being held.

Lewis did not leave the meeting while the protesters were there and later told the News that he had left the building around 5 p.m., only learning of the protesters after the fact.

Protesters adapted their chants as faculty walked out of the meeting, encouraging them to join the group.

At least five YPD officers arrived on the scene at around 5:15 p.m. Officer Matt Franco told the News that the protesters were not breaking any University regulations and that they did not ask them to leave. Franco added police just reminded protesters not to block exits.  

The protesters remained in the library for approximately 20 minutes before exiting through the entrance onto Cross Campus at 5:23 p.m. After exiting Sterling protesters gathered on the steps outside the library where they sang “Down by the Riverside” for several minutes. Three protesters went to Cross Campus to retrieve the missile that reads “Books not bombs” from last night’s demonstration, as one protester led chants with a megaphone. 

Commons reopens

By Tuesday morning, the Schwarzman Center reopened for Yale affiliates, though entrance to the building was restricted to the College Street entrance. The building’s Beinecke Plaza entrance — and the plaza at large — remained closed and taped off by Yale police officers. 

Police initially closed the plaza on Monday morning preceding the arrest of encamped pro-Palestine student protesters calling on the University to disclose endowment investments and divest from military weapons manufacturers. 

Commons, The Elm and the Bow Wow were open during the day, though signs on the College Street door to the Schwarzman Center indicated that the building was only open to individuals with Yale IDs.

Overnight protesters on Cross Campus

The Occupy Yale Instagram account urged recommended to pro-Palestine protesters on Tuesday evening that they “be prepared to spend the night.” The post asked protesters to bring or donate supplies including sleeping bags, pillows, power banks and blankets.

At 10:06 p.m., the News counted approximately 60 individuals on Cross Campus, though several departed as the night progressed. Organizers were cleaning up and distributing food to protesters. One of the organizers urged more protesters to stay overnight or to return in the morning to increase protester turnout.

“We want to call on Yale to disclose their investments to divest and to reinvest in the New Haven community,” said Chisato Kimura LAW ’25, a pro-Palestine protester on Cross Campus who had been arrested the previous morning, told the News. “We also are in solidarity with the nearly 50 students who were arrested just yesterday morning for peacefully protesting yells role in the genocide in Gaza and reclaim our space as students and as community members.”

From 7 to 10 p.m, Yalies4Palestine and Mecha de Yale held “Baila Por Un Sueño” on Cross Campus. The annual event raises money for Mecha’s college scholarship Sueños Scholarship, which helps local undocumented high school seniors pay for college. This year, Mecha split the donations with the event with Y4P, who was directing the money to Palestinian mutual aid.

As of 10:52 p.m., the News also counted approximately 20 individuals with sleeping bags who intend to stay overnight on Cross Campus. Police on Monday night notified protesters that they were not allowed to put up tents, organizers told the News. 

Protesters complied — they intended to use sleeping bags and tarps, instead — and told the News that they were not anticipating any arrests or issues with police on Tuesday night. 

Sterling Memorial Library is located at 120 High Street.

Adam McPhail, Evan Gorelick, Sarah Cook and Carlos Salcerio contributed reporting.