Student protesters dig in as faculty slam university move
Protesters are demanding that schools cut nancial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the con„ict; some Jewish students say protests have veered into anti-Semitism
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war at universities across U.S., some of whom have clashed with police in riot gear, dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going as faculty at several schools condemned university presidents who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.
As Columbia University continues negotiations with those at a pro-Palestinian student encampment on the New York school’s campus, the university’s senate passed a resolution on Friday that created a task force to examine the administration’s leadership, which last week called in police in an attempt to clear the protest, resulting in scu£es and more than 100 arrests.
Though the university has repeatedly set and then pushed back deadlines for the removal of the encampment, the school sent an email to students on Friday night saying that bringing back police “at this time” would be counterproductive.
As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza, protesters nationwide are demanding that schools cut nancial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the con¥ict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
The decisions to call in law enforcement, leading to hundreds of arrests nationwide, have prompted school faculty members at universities in California, Georgia and Texas to initiate or pass votes of no con dence in their leadership. They are largely symbolic rebukes, without the power to remove their presidents.