Pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally on University of Chicago campus

A campus alert was sent at around 1 p.m., advising people to avoid the Main Quadrangle due to reports of physical altercations. The university said a confrontation between two groups of protestors occurred on the quad.

"The University of Chicago Police Department was on the Quad to prevent escalation, and the two groups separated from each other and peace was restored," a university spokesperson said in a statement. "While members of the University community are free to express their views on the Quad and elsewhere, using force or physical intimidation to carry out a protest is never acceptable."

Hours earlier, students and university officials reached an "impasse" during talks about the encampment. Three students and two faculty members met with university president Paul Alivisatos and provost Katherine Baicker to discuss the demands of student organizers, though it "ended without resolution," according to UChicago United for Palestine, the group organizing the encampment.

"[UChicago United for Palestine] refuses to accept President Alivisatos' repeated condescending offer of a public forum to discuss 'diverse viewpoints' … as this is clearly a poor attempt at saving face without material change," said Christopher Iacovetti, a student who participated in negotiations, in a statement Friday.

University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos sent a letter to the campus community, saying the "encampment can't continue," as it has "created systematic disruption of campus."

"...Protesters are monopolizing areas of the Main Quad at the expense of other members of our community," the letter said, in part. "...Clear violations of policies have only increased. Our students have issued a torrent of reports of disrupted classroom learning..."

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Fewer police have been able to provide safety patrols "because they are obliged to be present for the growing 24-hour unauthorized protest," the president said.

"Left to itself, there is no end in sight, and the disruptions will continue to mount," he added. "The encampment protesters have flouted our policies rather than working within them, despite UChicago being an institution that allows for many ways to express views."

Alivisatos explained university leadership met with the group "designated by the protesters to listen to their demands and to search for a way to end the encampment grounded in dialogue." But, he said, "the nature of their demands are such that we could not accede..."

"There remain, however, numerous ways consistent with our principles and policies for the protesters to advance their views," the president said, in part.

Pro-Palestinian demonstration organizers have continued to continued to make their demands for disclosing investments in weapons manufacturers, divesting from those aiding Israel in its continued strikes in Gaza that have killed more than 34,000 since October.

The full letter from Alivisatos to the University of Chicago community can be found here.