Harvard set to enforce new rules on protests ahead of fall semester, university document shows

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Harvard is planning to adopt several new university-wide rules that will impact protesters occupying campus spaces, according to a draft document.

The document, produced by the school's Office of General Counsel and the Working Group on Campus Space Use, prohibits overnight camping, unapproved signage and displays and chalking on Harvard property.

"Both to foster the well-being of community members and to preserve these resources for future generations, the University has an obligation to adopt rules and policies that simultaneously protect and facilitate the use of the University's private property," the document obtained by The Harvard Crimson states.

Harvard spokesperson Jason A. Newton told The Crimson the University is "working to ensure that common rules and guidance around the use of campus spaces are more readily accessible to community members" and noted that much of the document draws from already established Harvard policies.

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A view of the encampment in Harvard yard. The "Liberated Zone" had several signs decrying genocide and calling for divestment from Israel.  (Nikolas Lanum/Fox News Digital)

"The draft document obtained by the Crimson is an earlier version that was in review and may not accurately indicate the current status of guidance regarding a particular topic," Newton wrote in a statement to the paper. "Once the document is finalized, it will be shared with the Harvard community."

Individuals or groups that fail to comply with the unfinished guidelines may be held financially responsible for "result costs incurred" and could be subject to a range of other consequences for noncompliance, including a "referral for discipline."

The document, in part, appears to be a response to months of anti-Israel protests that rocked the campus last semester, including a temporary encampment that was set up in Harvard Yard.

Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers recently said he was skeptical of the school's ability to enforce the document policies.

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Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024.  (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

"These policies, like many that have been promulgated, are fine and reasonable," Summers said in an interview. "The issue is that the University, over the last year, has consistently failed to act and impose sanctions when policies are violated and has been slow to implement policies on behalf of Jewish student groups. That is why it is subject to multiple federal government investigations and civil suits."

Richard F. Thomas, a Classics professor at Harvard and a Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine member, told The Crimson that he believed the draft policies were misplaced.

"'Safety, security and well-being; compliance with rules; orderliness.' That could put us up there with Singapore as one of the world's safest spaces," he said. "I'm not sure that such rules will actually produce well-being, however."

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Harvard did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.