Cohen and other staffers at the Slifka Center have been in frequent communication with Montalvo and the YPD with concerns about the activities and speech of pro-Palestine organizers. “I just heard that the language around tomorrow’s SJP day of resistance now includes explicitly that violence against Zionist-identified people and institutions are both justified and politically necessary,” wrote Cohen in one early October email to Duane Lovello, director of public safety & community engagement. This language didn’t appear in any official postings by Yalies4Palestine, and it is unclear exactly which post Cohen was referring to. Despite this, Montalvo used Cohen’s comment as a pretext to call one of Yalies4Palestine’s lead organizers into a meeting to gather more information.

After a student involved in Yalies4Palestine didn’t respond to a phone call about an upcoming rally, the assistant vice president for university life contacted the student’s mother, according to Rebecca Wessel. It is unclear whether this violates Yale’s policies on contact with students and their families. 

After the Yale Women’s Center came under fire for its annual conference, which, this year, was titled, “Pinkwashing and Feminism(s) in Palestine,” Cohen commented in an article published by Jewish Insider criticizing the students for hosting the event. “To the extent the Center is organizing this event, it betrays its obligations to Yale’s Jewish and Israeli women in particular, and to its mission.” Cohen did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Even if Yale’s intention in communicating with its students about on-campus organizing is to ensure the safety of the community—per President Salovey’s November 3 statement on compassion and civility—the university’s actions reveal a desire to quash dissent.

Incidents of university administrators—who are in positions of power over students—calling students on their personal cell phones, when there has not been an alleged violation of university policies or procedures, doesn’t reflect Salovey’s stated goal of “embracing the open exchange of ideas.”

During potentially contentious academic events, administrators insist on the presence of uniformed officers, despite student resistance. Lukey Ellsberg, a graduate student at Yale, said Montavlo’s presence at these events inflamed tensions and frequently endangered the safety of students and faculty.

At an event in the fall titled “Gaza Under Siege,” which is now the subject of a federal investigation, “[Montalvo] grabbed my friend by the arm at one point and yelled in her face. She yelled directly in my face about how you need to count how many people are here so that we know how many more people we can let in,” said Ellsberg.

As Wessel said, “[These administrators] act in a way that is inappropriate and has threatened students. These tactics just try to throw us off, stop momentum, and prevent student organizing success.”

Yale not only contacts students about planned rallies but actively monitors for events before they are made aware of them through official channels. In one case, Vanessa Schenking, YPD’s compliance and crime analyst, sent an e-mail to Steven Citta, lieutenant at the Hartford Police Department, tipping him off about a potential Yalies4Palestine action at a weapons manufacturing plant: “Just found that there is a National Day of Action on 11/18. Yalies4Palestine is sponsoring an event taking place in Hartford where they intend to protest and march.”

In another, Schenking wrote to YPD officials, “I found the attached event through Instagram open-source searching. It is taking place tonight in Watson at 6pm. Just sending for awareness, not sure if we are already aware of this.”

On many other exchanges, YPD officials communicated via e-mail with the New Haven Police Department to plan their responses to pro-Palestine actions in New Haven. In some cases, that meant organizing potential routes of travel for protests. In others, it meant responding to concerns from community members about the statements or rhetoric of pro-Palestine organizers. Both agencies were intimately involved in the policing of students in the early months of pro-Palestine activism in New Haven through internet monitoring, in-person presence at rallies, and communication with university administrators.

The YPD and the NHPD’s presence on campus have left many organizers feeling scared for their safety. On May 1, Yale police violently arrested four pro-Palestine protesters in front of the university’s central library. The Yale Daily News reported that the protesters were peacefully dispersing when Chief of Police Anthony Campbell tackled a protester and knelt on his back.

Organizers emphasize how Israel’s ongoing occupation of the Palestinian Territories is intimately linked with police violence on Yale’s campus. “[The YPD] are absolutely not there to keep students safe. They’re really only putting more people in danger, injuring people,” said Wessel. “I am very uncomfortable with YPD and NHPD at pro-Palestine rallies because I fear that they will escalate.”