UW president repeats call for pro-Palestinian camp to disband following graffiti, vandalism on campus

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce is again calling for organizers to voluntarily take down a pro-Palestinian protest camp that is now in its third week on the Quad at UW's Seattle campus.

RELATED: University of Washington students join pro-Palestinian campus protest movement

Protesters, for their part, are calling on the university to cut ties with Boeing and divest from Israel over its ongoing war in Gaza.

Cauce's latest message came after graffiti was found on multiple buildings on campus Wednesday. The main administration building and classroom buildings along the Quad were tagged with slogans like "UW funds genocide" and "divest or die."

RELATED: UW pro-Palestinian activists take their demands to the university's Board of Regents

Some of the messages personally targeted Cauce, who described the graffiti as anti-Semitic and violent.

Leaders at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle also expressed concern and called on UW to clear the protest and enforce any violations of the student code of conduct.

"Jews hold dearly the right to free speech, and, yet, these criminal actions and hate speech go far beyond free speech and must be treated with the utmost seriousness," the organization's leaders wrote. "Actions by members of the encampment traffic in blatant antisemitism and threaten the physical and psychological safety of many Jewish and Israeli campus community members. At some point, the University leadership’s actions – or lack thereof – speak louder than words. Enough is enough."

Cauce has said she's hopeful that sweeping the encampment can be avoided.

On Instagram, protest organizers accused the UW administration of caring more about buildings than lives.

Disclosure: KUOW's broadcast license is held by the University of Washington, but the station operates independently of the university.