Unlike pro-divestment encampments at peer institutions, Brown’s demonstration last April ended peacefully. But as negotiations between student participants and University administrators were underway, Brown and Providence’s police forces were drawing up contingency plans which included a mass arrest of students, likely within days.
Text messages obtained by The Herald show that before and throughout the week-long encampment, the Chief of Brown’s Department of Public Safety Rodney Chatman and the Chief of Providence Police Oscar Perez continually updated one another via text, sharing intel and offering logistical support.
After three days of negotiations, activists on College Hill dispersed in exchange for a promise that the University’s Corporation would vote on a proposal to divest its endowment from companies associated with the Israeli military at their upcoming October meeting…