'These are kids!' Colleges brace for more protests; police presence questioned: Live updates

NEW YORK − Columbia University, NYU and other colleges across the nation were bracing Tuesday afternoon for more demonstrations after days of protests, campus closures and arrests swirling around U.S. support for Israel in its war on Hamas.

The protests fueled a national debate over free speech and student demonstrations amid growing unrest over the fate of Palestinians in Gaza and concerns for the safety of Jewish students at home. Dozens of protesters were arrested Monday at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan.

Hundreds of students at Stanford University held a walkout. At the University of California, Berkeley, students erected a Free Palestine Encampment. New York’s Columbia University, the epicenter of the demonstrations, announced that classes will provide a virtual learning option − where classroom technology permits – until spring semester ends May 10.

Pro-Palestinian and Pro-Israel protesters face off in front of the entrance of Columbia University in New York on April 22, 2024.

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“Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” the university said in a statement.

The protests stem from the clash between Hamas and Israel, ignited by the militant group’s assault on Israeli communities Oct. 7 that killed almost 1,200 people. Israel’s subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians − militants and civilians; men, women and children − and fueled a dire humanitarian crisis.

Columbia cancels in-person classes: Protesters arrested at Yale and NYU

Developments:

∎ Student protesters inside the Columbia encampment barred the media from entering the space Tuesday. University administrators told USA TODAY it was up to students whether to allow reporters in.

∎ Hours after dozens of protesters were arrested Monday at Yale, Jews for Ceasefire held a “Seder in the Streets.” Seder is a ritual dinner marking the start of Passover. The Yale encampment, set up last week, drew several hundred people calling on the university to drop investments to military weapons manufacturers.

∎ At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, about 25 tents housed students calling for the university to divest from Israeli investments. Palestinian flags waved around the square, with banners and signs bearing messages in support of Palestinians. Two large banners read: “Encampment For Gaza! Divest Now!” and “Long Live The Intifada (uprising).”

At Columbia, police helicopters part of daily life

Columbia University graduate student Layla Saliba said pro-Palestinian student groups set up tents on campus because they felt protest rallies and walkouts were ignored by administrators. Saliba, who is with the group Columbia University Apartheid Divestment, said multiple student groups, which include many Jewish students, want Columbia to withdraw its investments in companies that profit from the war in Gaza.

Students also want school suspensions to be revoked for some who received them after campus demonstrations in recent months.

Saliba, 24, said a handful of police helicopters and drones fly over the encampment areas daily. “I don’t like it, it makes me feel like I’m a zoo animal. Especially because we’re not doing anything wrong,” she said.

This week, some of Saliba’s friends were arrested for holding signs on campus, she said. Saliba said she hasn’t heard of any instances of pro-Palestinian students targeting Jewish students and said many students from different religious backgrounds feel scared of the large police presence.

“When you have armored vehicles, that’s going to make it tense for everyone,” she said.

− Claire Thornton

New York University sees brief quiet after Monday protests

New York University’s Manhattan campus was quiet Tuesday following pro-Palestinian demonstrations that led to scores of arrests a day earlier. Outside the Stern business school, cameras were trained on a set of barricades while a man held a sign reading, “Israel kills 1400 kids.”

Nearby, Nikhil Chirumamilla, a senior studying dramatic writing, looked on. He saw the protests Monday but chose not to get involved when he spotted police in riot gear. Referencing an email NYU President Linda Mills sent out in the aftermath, he said her reasoning for the response seemed “flimsy.”

“I feel like the university response was a bit dramatic. I think it was peaceful protest,” Chirumamilla said, adding that the university is “clear on their position on the matter. They’re not as open to pro-Palestinian voices on campus.”

NYU under fire for calling in police

Mills said she brought in police to NYU after protesters breached barriers with “disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior that interfered with the safety and security of our community.” She said many refused to leave.

NYU’s professor association issued a statement Tuesday calling much of the account false and blasting the administration for bringing in the police. The statement said the protest was loud, but there was no intimidation “other than by NYPD,” which the group said, “made arrests in an especially rough manner” and pepper sprayed a student who was taking pictures. NYPD did not immediately respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.

Spencer Mulvaney, 20, a sophomore film major at NYU, said she found the administration’s actions “upsetting.”

“The protests that occurred were nonviolent and contained,” she said. “Yet the police incited fear and used force … as someone yelled, ‘These are kids!'”

Columbia sociology professors defy university administration on student suspensions

Members of the Columbia University Department of Sociology say they were alarmed by the university’s actions in recent days, including calling police on peaceful student demonstrators on campus last week, resulting in over 100 people getting arrested. Police have said there was no credible threat to safety from the campus protests.

The sociology professors issued a statement Tuesday saying the suspensions of students arrested was “irregular, unnecessary and resting on shaky legal ground.” The educators called on the school to reverse the suspensions and allow the students to return to the campus and to classes.

“For our own part, as members of the faculty of the department of sociology, we will continue to keep our courses open to these students, we will grade their exams and papers, and we will give them final grades in our courses so they may receive credit,” the statement said.

Education Secretary Cardona backs free speech but ‘won’t tolerate harassment’

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona called for calm in a social media post Tuesday, saying universities “are at their best when they promote the respectful exchange of diverse views and constructive debate.” The Education department’s Office for Civil Rights interprets the laws it enforces consistent with free speech and other First Amendment rights, he said.

“But we won’t tolerate hate or harassment that targets students because of who they are or who they’re perceived to be,” Cardona said.

Columbia Jewish student group cites ‘climate of repression’

The Columbia chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace accused the university of creating “a climate of repression and harm for students peacefully protesting for an end of the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.” The group said in a statement Monday that students have faced physical attacks and hate speech by faculty and staff. The university has actively created a “hostile environment” for Palestinian students and their supporters while making the campus “much less safe” for Jewish students.

“The administration has not only harassed Jewish students and failed to ensure their safety and well-being, it has also obstructed their religious observances,” the statement said.

How Columbia became the center of the protests

Last week, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik trekked to Washington for a congressional hearing about antisemitism on Columbia’s campus. She faced a salvo of tough questions from lawmakers expressing dismay about reports that Jewish students have felt unsafe since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. A similar hearing in December featuring the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania resulted in controversial clashes that ultimately cost them their jobs.

While Shafik was in Washington, students set up camps on lawns at the center of campus, demanding the university sever all its ties to Israel. The following morning, Shafik called in the New York City Police Department to clear out the demonstrators. Officers arrested more than 100 people. The rallies continued and Shafik essentially closed the campus Monday, ordering classes to be held remotely.

− Zachary Schermele

Columbia and protests: School became epicenter of disagreement over Israel-Hamas war

Stanford walkout draws hundreds

Students at California’s Stanford University staged a “Solidarity Walkout” Monday that drew about 300 Palestinian supporters. Protesters, demanding Stanford divest from companies connected to the war, held posters reading, “Not in our name” and “Revolution Now,” while chanting phrases like “From Stanford to Gaza, globalize the Intifada,” the Stanford Daily reported.

The walkout was organized by Stanford Against Apartheid in Palestine (SAAP). The group previously conducted a four-month sit-in that demanded the university divest from and boycott companies “complicit in Israeli war crimes, apartheid and genocide.” University administration removed the physical structures in February.

Tents erected at UC Berkeley

More than 200 students at the University of California, Berkeley, established a Free Palestine Encampment at Sproul Plaza, a center for student activity, to support a rally organized by student-run Divestment Coalition. Organizers pitched about 12 tents with plans for more, Malak Afaneh, the co-president of Law Students for Justice in Palestine, told The Daily Californian. The students plan to remain until the school divests from defense contractors profiting from the war in Gaza, such as BlackRock, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Afaneh said.

Contributing: Niraj Warikoo and Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘These are kids!’ Colleges brace for more protests; police presence questioned: Live updates