Portland State University has estimated it will cost about $750,000 to repair the damage to Millar Library from the three-night occupation of its central library by pro-Palestinian protesters earlier this month.

That estimate could go up or down by about $125,000, according to Katy Swordfisk, university spokesperson.

The figure, however, doesn’t include costs of replacing and repairing damaged technology or furniture, she said by email.

The university has insurance that covers the damage. “We’re pursuing recovery under our insurance for the losses sustained, but any determination of what’s covered won’t be made until after extensive evaluations,” Swordfisk said.

Police moved in early May 2 to clear the library. They arrested 31 people, including at least six students, during the sweep and throughout the day as people continued to demonstrate.

University officials found paint splattered on library floors, glass broken, spray-painted messages covering walls and furniture moved and overturned. Security cameras had been disabled. Fire extinguishers were missing, and the fire alarm system was dismantled, according to Gail Hamilton, a university construction manager who has worked for the school for 21 years.

The prior week, Portland Police had pushed a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in tents out of the South Park Blocks. On Saturday, April 27, university President Ann Cudd allowed protesters to remain under the awning of the library but asked that they keep the south entrance open to students, faculty and other library patrons. But by that Monday, April 29, Cudd reversed course and asked protesters to dismantle the barricades they erected over the weekend. That night, protesters broke into the library and announced they were renaming it Refaat Alareer Memorial Library for the Palestinian poet who died in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza in December.

The library is expected to remain closed through summer and reopen in time for fall term, according to the university’s website.

“PSU is a community made up of people with many different views and aspirations. Students and faculty who wish to advocate a position are free to do so,” said a statement issued Friday from the university’s board of trustees’ executive and audit committee and signed by Benjamin Berry, the board’s chair. “No members of our community, however, had the right to intimidate others, shut down meetings or engage in illegal activity.”