Dozens are arrested on campuses as protests grow
USC canceled its main graduation ceremony Thursday and dozens more college students were arrested at other campuses nationwide as protests against the IsraelHamas war continued to spread.
College officials across the U.S. are worried the ongoing protests could disrupt plans for commencement ceremonies next month. Some universities called in police to break up the demonstrations, resulting in ugly scuffles and arrests nationwide, while others appeared content to wait out student protests as the final days of the semester ticked down.
Schools such as Columbia University continued to negotiate with protesters, while others are rewriting their rules to ban encampments and moving final exams to new locations.
But encampments and protests continued to spring up Thursday. A tent encampment popped up at Indiana University Bloomington before police with shields and batons shoved into a line of protesters, arresting an unknown number.
At the City College of New York, hundreds of students who were gathered on the lawn beneath the Harlem campus' famed gothic buildings erupted in cheers after a small contingent of police officers retreated from the scene. In one corner of the quad, a “security training” was held among students who said they expected to be arrested in the coming hours.
Students protesting the war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
USC announced the cancellation of the May 10 graduation ceremony a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said it will still host dozens of commencement events, including all the traditional individual school commencement ceremonies.
Tensions were already high after USC canceled a planned commencement speech by the school's pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns.
At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested overnight at an alleyway encampment. Video shows police first warning students in an alleyway to leave. Students link arms to resist officers, who move forcefully through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground.
The University of Texas at Austin campus was much calmer Thursday after 57 people were jailed and charged with criminal trespass a day earlier. University officials pulled back barricades and allowed demonstrators onto the main square beneath the school's iconic clock tower.