College graduations begin amid heightened protests and tensions

College graduations begin amid heightened protests and tensions

Graduation season is starting at universities across the country, including some that have been roiled by pro-Palestinian protests and police clashes.

Some colleges and universities are bracing for protests by increasing security across campus after several have already disrupted commencement ceremonies. Schools continue to grapple with balancing students’ free speech rights and maintaining an amicable atmosphere as thousands of graduating students and their families celebrate on campus. Demonstrations at graduation events have so far been peaceful, though disruptive.

More than 2,300 people have been arrested on campuses nationwide over the past two weeks, according to a count kept by The Washington Post.

Here’s what to know

• Florida State University, the University of Michigan, University of Connecticut and Indiana University are holding their main commencement ceremonies Saturday. The main celebrations at Northeastern University and Ohio State University are scheduled for Sunday. The University of Florida is also holding commencement exercises throughout the weekend.
• About a dozen protesters walked through the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance commencement ceremony Friday holding the Palestinian flag and signs that read, “UM funds genocide” and “Free Palestine.” Attendees were heard booing and shouting “out” repeatedly in a video obtained by CNN. A small group of protesters walked out of the University of Utah’s main graduation ceremony Thursday, according to local news outlets.
• U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will no longer deliver the commencement address, the University of Vermont’s president announced Friday, saying that graduating students “deserve a weekend of ceremony and celebration befitting their accomplishment.”
• The University of Connecticut is taking extra measures to ensure security on campus during its 17 commencement ceremonies this weekend. Those attending must have a physical ticket, go through metal detectors, and are banned from bringing celebratory items such as signs, banners and balloons, according to CT Insider.
• On Friday, the New York Police Department began clearing encampments at New York University and the New School and took more than 50 demonstrators into custody. More than 130 people were also arrested at the State University of New York at New Paltz.
• More than two weeks after pro-Palestinian students set up encampments at Columbia University, inspiring nationwide and global protests, a growing number of colleges and universities are negotiating deals with students to try to defuse tensions peacefully and avert further violence. Thus far, Rutgers, Northwestern, Brown and the University of Minnesota have struck deals. Students have been calling for universities to divest from Israel.
• Demonstrations over Gaza could soon cease on college and university campuses across the country once the school year ends. But Democrats are bracing for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to become the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests in August. Party leaders fear demonstrations could interfere with or overshadow their efforts to project unity ahead of the November election.