Emerson College’s Student Government Association is set to vote on a resolution of no confidence calling for the resignation of the school’s president, Jay Bernhardt, on Friday, a move that comes just a day after the arrests of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters on the school’s downtown Boston campus.
“We invite the community tomorrow to show admin that this is what we want,” the association wrote in an Instagram post. “As representatives of the student body, we can assure you have been heard, and seen by us, and we want our students to affirm that by being there with us tomorrow.”
The association will convene in the Bright Family Screening Room on Emerson’s campus at 1 p.m. Friday.
“Together we go in strength,” the Instagram post reads.
The incoming president of the college’s student government, Nandan Nair, told reporters that the no-confidence vote is the “only course of action” after the arrests, according to Emerson’s student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon.
Charlize Silvestrino, the association’s current leader, denounced Bernhardt’s “inefficiency and unwillingness to collaborate and communicate with protesters,” according to The Beacon.
School officials on Thursday acknowledged that Boston police clearing the encampment in the Boylston Place alleyway “significantly and adversely impacted our community.” School staff and administrators were at the scene “focused on supporting our students through this highly stressful situation and seeking to de-escalate the conflict.”
Thursday marked the second time in as many months that Emerson students have been arrested protesting Israel’s actions during the war in Gaza and agitating for a free Palestine. On March 22, 12 students were arrested while protesting outside Bernhardt’s inauguration.
Videos posted to social media show dozens of Boston police officers, many of them dressed in riot gear, arriving at the encampment around 1:45 a.m. Thursday, where a line of students holding umbrellas sought to block their entry. Police began ripping the umbrellas out of students’ hands and trying to physically disperse the crowd, videos show.
