After Weeks of Protests, Columbia Cancels Main Commencement Ceremony

After clearing an encampment and arresting protesters, Columbia had asked the New York Police Department to keep a presence on its campus until after commencement.

After weeks of student protests, Columbia University announced Monday that it would be canceling its main commencement ceremony, and holding smaller ceremonies for each of its 19 colleges, mostly at its athletic complex some 100 blocks north.

The university’s main campus has been in a state of near lockdown since last Tuesday, when hundreds of police officers swarmed Hamilton Hall to remove some 46 pro-Palestinian protesters who had occupied the building and arrested more than 100 people protesting in and around the campus.

Columbia has repeatedly said the area remains a crime scene, leaving questions as to how some 15,000 graduates and their guests could easily be admitted to celebrate the May 15 commencement. Dozens of police still surround the campus, and work to prepare the lawns for the massive ceremony had apparently ground to a halt.

Nemat Shafik, Columbia’s president, had previously cited her desire to host the graduation on campus as one of the key reasons that she called in police on April 30 to remove both the occupiers from Hamilton Hall and the large tent encampment that had taken over a central lawn for two weeks.

But on Monday, Columbia officials explained that security was one of the main reasons for canceling the large commencement ceremony.

“We have decided to make the centerpiece of our Commencement activities our class days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the University-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” the university wrote in a statement.

The school said that it was still “looking at the possibility of a festive event on May 15 to take the place of the large, formal ceremony,” and that it would follow up with more details. The celebrations for the different colleges will begin on Friday and run through May 16.

Many of this year’s graduating seniors, officials had pointed out, also had their high school graduations canceled because of Covid-19 precautions, and many had started their college experience in remote learning.

Parents from around the world will be flying in to celebrate commencement with their graduates, which include those completing the undergraduate college, law school, medical school and many other degree programs.

“We also do not want to deprive thousands of students and their families and friends of a graduation celebration” Dr. Shafik said last week. “Many of them are the first in their families to earn a University degree. We owe it to all of our graduates and their loved ones to honor their achievement.”

At other universities around the nation where protests have broken out, administrators have also canceled or altered commencement events, out of concern that renewed protests would disrupt and tarnish the ceremonies.

Typically at Columbia, the heart of Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus becomes a sweeping venue with bleacher seating and thousands of graduates decked out in blue and white robes, arrayed around the steps of Low Library. The university president takes central stage, officially conferring the degrees on the graduates from the school’s different colleges.

Two weeks ago, the University released a video of several graduates in their robes, explaining how important an in-person ceremony was to them.

But the way the administration has handled its pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including by calling in police to crack down and make more than 200 arrests on two separate days, has proved to be deeply unpopular with many students and faculty. Officials became concerned that an event meant to unite the campus would divide it further.