U.S. student protest spreads to other universities
Gaza war disrupts Ivy League campuses, classes
Pro-Palestinian student protests in the United States have snowballed with counterparts from Yale, MIT and University of Michigan (UM) joining Columbia University protesters in putting up so-called “Gaza Solidarity” camps inside campuses.
Some Jewish students at Columbia have reported intimidation and antiSemitism amid the days-long protest, which is calling for the prestigious New York institution to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
Classes were moved online Monday, with university president Nemat Shafik calling for a “reset” in an open letter to the school community.
“Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus,” she said.
“Anti-Semitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken.
“To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday,” she added.
Last week, more than 100 protesters were arrested after university authorities called the police onto the private campus Thursday, a move that seemingly escalated tensions and sparked a greater turnout over the weekend.
Mimi Elias, a social work student who was arrested, told Agence France-Presse on Monday: “We are going to stay until they talk to us and listen to our demands.”
“We don’t want anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. We are here for the liberation of all,” Elias said.
Joseph Howley, an associate professor of classics at Columbia, said the university had reached for the “wrong tool” by involving police,
which had attracted “more radical elements that are not part of our student protests.”
As the Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday night, social media images appeared to show pro-Palestinian Jewish students holding traditional seder meals inside the protest areas on multiple campuses, including at Columbia.
Further downtown, police began detaining protesters who had set up their own encampment at New York University at around 8:30 p.m., the New York Times reported, after the school called the students’ behavior “disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing.”
At least 47 demonstrators at MIT, the UM and Yale, were arrested on Monday after refusing requests to disperse.
“The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind,” the Ivy League university said in a statement.
At Harvard, university officials on Monday suspended the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, the student group said on Instagram.
They were ordered to “cease all organizational activities” for the rest of the term, or risk permanent expulsion after holding an unregistered demonstration last week, student newspaper the
reported, citing an email to the group.