Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at New York University and Yale, and the gates of Harvard Yard were closed to the public on Monday as some of the most prestigious US universities took up Israel’s war with Hamas. K had tried to ease the campus tension. .
The separate actions followed last week’s arrests of more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters who camped out on Columbia Green, as schools struggle to toe the line between allowing free expression while maintaining a safe and inclusive campus. Where to draw
In addition to demonstrations at Ivy League schools, pro-Palestinian campuses have spread to other campuses, including the University of Michigan, New York University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In a statement on Instagram on Monday, New York University officials warned protesters to vacate the plaza by 4 p.m. or face consequences. The mass arrests started around 8.30 pm.
The protests have pitted students against each other, with pro-Palestinian students demanding that their schools condemn Israel’s attack on Gaza and divest from companies that sell arms to Israel. Some Jewish students, meanwhile, say much of the criticism of Israel has turned into anti-Semitism and made them feel unsafe, and they report that Hamas is still holding hostages during the group’s Oct. 7 attack.
Tensions remained high Monday at Columbia in New York City, where campus gates were locked to anyone without a school ID and where protests took place both on and off campus.
A Democrat from North Carolina, US Rep. Kathy Manning, who was visiting Columbia with three other Jewish members of Congress, told reporters after meeting with students from the Jewish Law Students Association that there was a “huge encampment of people” who took a third of the green. .
“We have seen signs that Israel must be destroyed,” he said after leaving the Morningside Heights campus.
A woman inside the campus gates led about two dozen protesters out into the street, chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” – a charged phrase that can mean very different things to different groups. Meanwhile, a small group of pro-Israel counter-protesters protested nearby.
University President Minoche Shafiq said in a message to the school community on Monday that he was “deeply saddened” by what was happening on campus.
“In order to minimize conflict and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held on Mondays approximately,” wrote Shafiq, who does not live on campus. are, they should stay away.
Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots football team and funds the Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life across Columbia’s campus, said he was suspending donations to the university.
“I no longer have confidence that Columbia can protect its students and staff and until corrective action is taken, I am not comfortable supporting the university,” he said in a statement.
Protests have rocked many college campuses since Hamas’ deadly attack on southern Israel, when militants killed nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took nearly 250 hostages. During the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.
Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT graduate student studying electrical engineering, was among two dozen students who set up a tent camp on the school’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus Sunday evening. They are calling for a cease-fire and protesting what they describe as “MIT’s complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“MIT hasn’t even called for a ceasefire, and that’s definitely a demand we have,” Iyengar said.
He also said MIT is sending out confusing rules about protests.
“We are here to show that we reserve the right to protest. It is an essential part of living on a college campus,” Iyengar said.
On Sunday, Eli Buchler, a rabbi for the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative at Columbia, sent a WhatsApp message to about 300 Jewish students recommending that they go home until it was safe for them to be on campus.
The latest developments come ahead of the start of the Jewish Passover holiday on Monday evening.
Protesters over the weekend were “calling for Hamas to blow up Tel Aviv and Israel,” said Nicholas Baum, a 19-year-old Jewish freshman who lives in a Jewish theological seminary in a building two blocks from Columbia’s campus. Some of the protesters who were chanting anti-Semitic slogans were not students, he said.
“Jews in Colombia are scared. It is as simple as that. Zionism has been much maligned, and that has spilled over into the maligning of Judaism,” he said.
The protest camp emerged in Columbia on Wednesday, the same day that Shafiq faced harsh criticism at a congressional hearing from Republicans who said he had not done enough to fight anti-Semitism. Two other Ivy League presidents resigned months ago after widely critical testimony to the same committee.
In her statement on Monday, Shafiq said the conflict in the Middle East is dire and she understands that many are facing a deep moral crisis.
“But we cannot have one group dictate the terms and try to distort important milestones like graduation to advance their vision,” Shafiq wrote.
In the coming days, a working group of deans, school administrators and faculty will try to find a solution to the university crisis, noted Shafiq, who did not say when individual classes would resume.
The U.S. House Republican from New York urged Shafiq to resign, saying in a letter Monday that she had failed to provide a safe learning environment in recent days as “chaos erupted on campus.”
In Massachusetts, a sign said Harvard Yard was closed to the public on Monday. It said structures including tents and tables were allowed in the yard only with prior permission. “Students who violate these policies are subject to disciplinary action,” Sign said. Security guards were checking people’s school IDs.
At Yale, police officers arrested about 45 protesters and charged them with disorderly conduct, said Officer Christian Brookhart, a New Haven police spokesman. He said that everyone is being released on the promise of appearing in court later.
Demonstrators set up tents on Benecke Plaza on Friday and demonstrated throughout the weekend, calling on Yale to end any investment in defense companies that do business with Israel.
Nadine Cubici, a Yale student and one of the organizers of the demonstration, said it was disturbing that “this university that I attend, that I contribute to and that my friends use this money to fund violence. are.”
In a statement to the campus community on Sunday, Yale President Peter Salove said university officials had spoken with student protesters several times about the school’s policies and guidelines, including allowing speech and access to campus spaces. Including giving.
School officials said they negotiated with the protesters for several hours and gave them until the end of Saturday to leave Bieneke Plaza. They said they warned the protesters again on Monday morning, telling them they could face arrest and discipline, including suspension, before police moved in.
After the arrests Monday at Yale, a large group of protesters regrouped and blocked a street near campus, Brookhart said. There were no reports of any violence or injuries.
Last week, the University of Southern California took the unusual step of canceling a planned commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian, who had publicly supported the Palestinians. The university cited security concerns in a decision that was praised by some pro-Israel groups but criticized by free speech advocates.
Several students at Columbia and its sister school, Barnard College, said they were suspended for participating in last week’s protests, including Barnard student Isra Hirsi, Democratic US Rep. Ilhan Umar’s daughter is also involved. ___
Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire, and Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston and Susan Hague in Hartford contributed to this report.