Columbia University extends hybrid classes through end of semester as tense protests prompt safety concerns

Columbia University faces a seventh day of tense pro-Palestinian demonstrations as solidarity protests have rippled to other colleges and prompted arrests at NYU and Yale. As Passover week began Monday, escalating campus tensions and growing safety concerns among Jewish students have drawn condemnation from donors, leaders and lawmakers, ramping up pressure on the school president to break up the demonstrations. Here’s the latest.

• Columbia goes to hybrid classes amid turmoil: As some students have expressed safety concerns, Columbia said almost all classes on its main campus will be hybrid — technology permitting — until the end of the semester. “Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the university said in an announcement Monday night. Organizers of the student protests have said their demonstrations — including a large encampment on one of the school’s lawns – have been peaceful and distanced themselves from non-student protesters who have gathered outside the campus, calling them “inflammatory individuals who do not represent us.”

• NYU students and faculty arrested as protests proliferate: New York University students and faculty members were arrested during protests on the school’s campus Monday night, police said. The protest was one of several pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have emerged at major US colleges and universities in solidarity with Columbia’s protests, including at Yale, MIT, Harvard and Boston University.

• Jewish students on heightened alert: As the major Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday, Columbia’s Jewish student organizations said they have increased security around their gatherings due to safety concerns, including having a police presence at the campus Jewish cultural center. Before Passover began, a rabbi linked to the university urged students to return home because he believes authorities “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety.”

• University president boxed in by dueling sides: The university’s president, Minouche Shafik, is facing immense pressure from alumni and lawmakers to rein in the protests, while others say such action would amount to stifling free speech. The Republican-led House Committee on Education called on Shafik Monday to ask police to clear the encampment and expel or terminate any students or faculty who were involved. But the president is already facing criticism from some faculty over her decision to call in the NYPD to disperse a pro-Palestinian protest last week.

• University may be violating the law, lawmakers say: Several lawmakers, including a contingent of Jewish representatives that visited the campus Monday, argue the university’s lack of action against the protestors may be violating Title IX, a law that protects students from discrimination and harassment based on their race or nationality. Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx has warned university leaders of consequences if they do not rein in the protests.

A robust encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters has been formed on Columbia University’s West Lawn. – Stefan Jeremiah/AP

Students arrested at Yale and NYU protests

As the demonstrations at Columbia have stretched on, smaller protests – some with their own encampments – have emerged at several major colleges and universities, including Yale and NYU, where arrests were made Monday.

At Yale’s campus Monday morning, at least 45 people were arrested and charged with trespassing after refusing to leave an on-campus protest, New Haven police said.

The demonstrators were “advocating for Yale’s divestment from military weapons manufacturers,” a university spokesperson said.

“Students who were arrested also will be referred for Yale disciplinary action, which includes a range of sanctions, such as reprimand, probation, or suspension,” the university said.

On Monday night, NYU students and faculty members were arrested during a demonstration outside its business school near Washington Square Park after “intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents reported,” a university spokesperson said.

An initial protest of about 50 people began outside the building Monday morning, NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement.

“The University closed access to the plaza, put barriers in place, and made clear that we were not going to allow additional protesters to join because the protests were already considerably disruptive of classes and other operations in schools around the plaza.”

Additional protesters – many the university believe were not affiliated with NYU – pushed through barriers and joined the demonstration Monday afternoon and the school witnessed “disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior,” the school said.

In a letter to the NYPD, NYU said the demonstrators refused repeated requests to leave and the school requested that police clear the protesters, whom the school considered trespassers, according to a copy of the letter shared by Deputy Police Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry.

A NYPD spokesperson would not confirm how many people have been arrested.

Protests have also caused significant disruptions at other campuses. California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt announced Monday night that protesters have barricaded themselves inside a building on campus, prompting the school to close its campus through Wednesday and move to remote classes “for the safety of the campus community.”

“The University is deeply concerned about the safety of the protestors who have barricaded themselves inside the building,” Cal Poly Humboldt said, describing the unfolding situation as “dangerous and volatile.”

Jewish student: ‘We feel safer off campus than on it’

A growing sense of unease has spread among Columbia’s Jewish community, particularly as they enter the approximately week-long observation of Passover, a major Jewish holiday celebrating freedom.

Jacob Schmeltz, a senior at Columbia, told CNN he typically celebrated Passover on campus, but has chosen to go home for the holiday this year.

“Jewish students have had enough, and it’s gotten to the point that we feel safer off campus than on it,” he said.

Hagar Chemali, an adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs at the university, told CNN, “If I had my child at Columbia, I also would tell them to go home.”

“It’s not just because of the tension on campus, it’s also because those protests on campus have invited extremists outside,” Chemali said, referring to non-student protesters who have been demonstrating near the campus.

What it’s like inside the encampment

Columbia’s West Lawn has become the epicenter of the university’s protest movement as it has become occupied by an encampment hosting scores of tents sheltering pro-Palestinian students and some allies from neighboring Barnard College.

On Monday, the inside of the encampment was quiet – a stark contrast from the outspoken protesters gathered outside the university’s private campus, whose chants included, “I believe that we will win” and “Long live the Intifada.”

In recent days, the on-campus demonstrations have attracted non-university-affiliated protesters to the campus gates, which student organizers have sought to distance themselves from. A smaller group of pro-Israeli protesters had also gathered Monday, chanting “Down with Hamas” and “Victory to Israel.”

Dozens and dozens of tents lined the student encampment Monday, where tables were piled with supplies of clothes, food and hygiene products. The day’s program included teach-ins, poetry readings and film screenings. Some students were quietly finishing assignments, while others were painting posters.

Protesters are calling for the university to divest its funds from companies that profit from Israel’s war with Gaza and sever ties with Israeli universities, according to an Instagram post from Columbia University Apartheid Divest, one of the organizing groups. They are also demanding the university release a public statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Demonstrators are calling for universities to divest from companies they say profit from Israel’s war with Gaza. – Caitlin Ochs/Reuters

Signs along the perimeter read, “End the siege on Gaza now” and “Welcome to the People’s University of Palestine.”

However, Democratic House Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey described the encampment as “full of protesters spewing incendiary antisemitic hate and vitriol.” Gottheimer was among a group of Jewish lawmakers who visited the campus Monday, including Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Dan Goldman of New York and Kathy Manning of North Carolina.

Elsewhere around campus, students were eating and completing assignments, and some walked down the street in graduation gowns, seemingly to take graduation photos. Risers are set up for an upcoming commencement ceremony.

CNN’s Chris Boyette, Holly Yan, Caroll Alvarado, Ramishah Maruf, Chandelis Duster, Nic F. Anderson, Shimon Prokupecz, Matt Egan, Cindy Von Quednow, Melissa Alonso and Robert Ilich contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com