Columbia, Yale get tough on pro-palestinian protesters, arrest dozens
For the students, it was the ultimate betrayal: Their university had called in the cops to arrest them for what they believed was a righteous protest on campus.
That shock move by Columbia University leaders last week was intended to clear pro-palestinian demonstrators who want the school to exit all investments that benefit Israel’s government. But instead, the crackdown has further fired up students, who continue to occupy parts of the campus, and inspired similar protests at other elite institutions such as Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The demonstrations mark a new flashpoint in the uproar that has roiled US campuses since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, and the subsequent retaliatory bombardment of Gaza by Israel. Some of the protests have featured antisemitic and intimidating chants and posters, which are fueling a sense of dread and isolation among Jewish students.
The protests, have drawn condemnation from the White House and billionaire university donors such as Robert Kraft. They have also raised concerns about the use of hard-line tactics by schools against students.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul met early Monday with Columbia leadership, law enforcement and a group of students to discuss balancing campus safety with the right to free expression.
“I was once a student protester. I protested institutions, I protested governments. I protested against apartheid. But I’ve never seen a level of protest that is so person-to-person, that is so visceral,” she said in a video posted on X. “Students are scared, they are afraid to walk on campus.”
As the campus protests continued unabated after last week’s arrests, Columbia moved its classes online.
At Yale, police arrested 60 people including 47 students early Monday.
President Peter Salovey cited “police reports identifying harmful acts and threatening language used against individuals at or near the protest sites.”
Harvard restricted access to Harvard Yard through Friday, and suspended the Palestinian Solidarity Committee, a student group. The PSC was one of several organisations that had staged a rally in Harvard Yard in support of student activists at Columbia.
Interim President Alan Garber told the Harvard Crimson that he would not rule out a police response, but said the university has a “very, very high bar” for calling in law enforcement.
“If our policies were violated — particularly, if we had concerns about violence or there were any threats to safety — we would not eliminate any option from consideration,” Garber told the Crimson on Monday.
The University of Pennsylvania revoked the registration of a propalestinian campus organisation. About 150 protesters who were gathered at New York University’s Gould Plaza in Greenwich Village were arrested by the police on Monday evening,
ABC News reported.