“Nothing is going to change in the Middle East until the hostages are free,” said Levy, holding a sign depicting some of estimated 250 hostages taken on Oct. 7.

At Swarthmore College students set up tents on Monday evening, with as many as 200 protesters participating, according to one student organizer. At the University of Pennsylvania and other local campuses, no protests or activity was reported as of Thursday morning.

But at Penn, campus officials were getting ready for a “listening session” scheduled for faculty, students and staff at 4 p.m. Only people with Penn IDs will be admitted, the university has said. The school is facing mounting criticism for suspending the pro-Palestinian student group Penn Against the Occupation from campus.

Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors in a statement this week condemned “the capricious and one-sided suppression of dissent at Penn this year, most recently seen in the unjustified ban” of the student group.

The Daily Pennsylvanian, the student newspaper, reported that more than 40 Penn and Philadelphia organizations had signed a letter to Philadelphia universities in support of the student group.

The university told the newspaper that the group “failed to comply with policies that govern student organizations at Penn, despite repeated efforts to engage with the group and to provide opportunities to resolve noncompliance.”

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(Staff writers Jesse Bunch, Max Marin and Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.)

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