Christina Lee, Head Photography Editor

According to one student who was referred to the Executive Committee, at least three students who protested on Beinecke Plaza on Tuesday evening have been referred to Yale’s Executive Committee for their participation in the protest. 

Yale’s Executive Committee, or ExComm, is the University body that adjudicates disciplinary infractions. In the notice — which was obtained by the News — Dean of Yale College Pericles Lewis wrote to one student that “among the disciplinary charges that the Executive committee will proceed to consider are violations of regulations pertaining to the Use of Outdoor Spaces, trespassing, and defiance of authority.” Lewis added that any other violations by the student “will be treated with the utmost severity.” 

Yale’s policies require students to obtain prior written permission from administrators to place structures, such as tents, on campus spaces. Yale’s undergraduate regulations also state that social functions on University property must end by 11 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday nights.

Around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, a crowd of around 100 protesters started to form a circle on Beinecke Plaza. By 9:30 p.m., protesters had erected eight tents, and the crowd had grown to around 200. By midnight, all the protesters had dispersed, and Yale Public Safety officers began disassembling the encampment.

A student who protested on Beinecke and received notice of her referral to ExComm spoke to the News about her experience. The student requested anonymity for fear of retaliation from Yale administrators for speaking to the press. 

The student was previously arrested last spring during the first protest encampment on Beinecke Plaza. She said that she has participated in many pro-Palestinian rallies this year and often leads chants. 

She said, however, that she was not an organizer of Tuesday’s protest, did not participate in the building of the tents and did not have prior knowledge of organizers’ prior planning of the gathering. 

“I wasn’t aware that [putting up tents] was going to happen. I was simply chanting, and I’ve never gotten in trouble for just chanting before. It’s something we do at every single rally,” she said. 

The student said that when she was approached by an administrator at Tuesday’s protest, she complied with the administrator’s request to stop using a megaphone to lead the chants. She noted that other protesters continued to use the megaphone later in the night, but that she did not. 

She said the administrator also told her that she and another student needed to tell the crowd to disperse and stop blocking pathways. The student said she redirected the administrator to another student who was a protest organizer and would be able to address the administrator’s concerns. 

“[The administrator] said, ‘you need to help me disperse the crowd.’ And I replied, ‘I have no idea how to do that. I’m not an organizer,’” the student told the News. “But I abided by her wishes and didn’t use the megaphone. I just used my voice.” 

The student said that she felt the University’s decision to refer her to ExComm seems random and inconsistent. She said she felt that she was referred to ExComm simply because the administrator knew her name from other contexts. 

The University spokesperson did not immediately respond to the News’ request for comment on what penalties the student protesters could face. 

The student also said that the administrator was able to identify her because she has been part of student committees that regularly interact with Yale administrators. The student has been involved with the Belonging at Yale Student Committee, which is Yale’s main diversity, equity and inclusion group, and with Muslim Life at Yale, which addresses issues related to the campus climate for Arab and Muslim communities. 

“The notice honestly came as a shock because it seems very arbitrarily chosen as to who got ExCommed,” she said. “I think my visibility in the past and my involvement in other coalition groups and cultural orgs on campus made me an easier target for the admin.”

In a press release titled “Yale maintains calm campus and takes disciplinary action,” the University wrote that during the protest, “staff identified students who had been warned or disciplined in previous incidents that violated university policy.”  

The student said that she has been in conversation with her residential college dean about what the consequences could be and is awaiting communication from ExComm.

Tuesday night’s protest was staged on the one-year anniversary of the Yale Police Department’s arrest of over 40 pro-Palestinian protesters who participated in an overnight encampment last April.