Columbia protesters declare impasse, will continue camp
NEW YORK — Columbia University students who inspired pro-palestinian demonstrations across the country said Friday that they have reached an impasse with administrators and intend to continue their encampment until their demands are met.
The announcement after two days of exhaustive negotiations comes as Columbia’s president faces harsh criticism from faculty. The development puts more pressure on university officials to find a resolution ahead of planned graduation ceremonies next month — a problem that campuses from California to Massachusetts are facing.
As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus, partly prompting calls for police intervention.
After a tent encampment popped up Thursday at Indiana University Bloomington, police shoved into protesters and arrested 34. Hours later at the University of Connecticut, police tore down tents and arrested one person.
And at Ohio State University, police clashed with protesters just hours after they gathered Thursday evening. Those who refused to leave after warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson said, citing rules barring overnight events. A preliminary report indicated that there were 36
arrests: 16 students and 20 people unaffiliated with the university.
The clock is ticking as May commencement ceremonies near, putting added pressure on schools to clear demonstrations. At Columbia, protesters defiantly erected a tent encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in a few weeks.
Columbia officials had said negotiations were showing progress as the school’s self-imposed deadline of early Friday to reach an agreement on dismantling the encampment came and went.
Student negotiators representing the Columbia encampment said that after meeting with administrators for 11 hours Thursday and another hour Friday, the university had not met their primary demand for divestment, although they had made progress on a push for more transparent financial disclosures.
“We will not rest until Columbia divests,” said Jonathan Ben-menachem, a fourth-year doctoral student.
Meanwhile, Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, faced a significant but largely symbolic rebuke from faculty Friday but retains the support of trustees, who have the power to hire or fire the president.
A report by the university
senate’s executive committee, which represents faculty, found that Shafik and her administration had “taken many actions and decisions that have harmed Columbia University.” Those include calling in police and allowing students to be arrested without consulting faculty, failing to defend the institution in the face of external pressures, misrepresenting and suspending student protest groups, and hiring private investigators.
Just past midnight, three dozen pro-palestinian protesters handed out signs and started chanting outside the locked university gates. They marched away as at least 40 police officers assembled nearby.
On Friday morning, hundreds of counterprotesters gathered on the streets outside Columbia, many holding Israeli flags and chanting for the release of hostages being held by Hamas and other militants.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, has been negotiating with students who have been barricaded inside a campus building since Monday, rebuffing an attempt by the police to clear them out. Faculty members met with protesters Thursday to try to negotiate a solution; the campus remains shut down at least through the weekend.