Columbia courses go virtual as protests continue; faculty stage walkout in support
Students at Columbia University are on their sixth day of camping out on the school's South Lawn, a re-creation of an anti-war demonstration students held in 1968 opposing U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Columbia President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik said today that classes would be held virtually and that school leaders would be coming together to discuss a way to bring an end to “this crisis.” The original 1968 protests lasted roughly a week before police forcibly removed students in full-scale police riots, alumnus Oren Root described in an opinion essay.
A large group of faculty members staged a walkout today in support of students. Students were arrested last week when the school administration asked police to remove students, citing a threat to safety, though NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told the Columbia Spectator that the protestors were peaceful and "offered no resistance whatsoever."
The Columbia encampment has inspired similar demonstrations at other campuses, including New York University, Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley. Protesters have also gathered outside the gate to Columbia University, where antisemitic incidents and aggressive crowds have been reported.
Pro-Palestinian supporters arrested at encampment on Yale plaza
Police officers today arrested protesters who had set up an encampment on Yale University’s campus in support of the Palestinian cause, one of a growing number of American universities where there have been demonstrations surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
Protesters had been on their third night of camping out to urge Yale to divest from military weapons manufacturers, the Yale Daily News reported.
Officers gathered at the protest site at Beinecke Plaza shortly before 7 a.m. Monday and were seen approaching the encampment and “flipping up the entrances to the tents,” the school paper wrote on X.
Then officers issued a warning for students and journalists to leave or they’d be arrested. Minutes later, the school paper wrote on X that police were arresting people.
In total, 47 students were issued summonses, Yale said in a statement today.
A high-energy crowd at NYU
People gathered in front of New York University's Stern School of Business to protest on Gould Plaza this afternoon. The crowd maintained high energy while chanting “free Palestine." The group also held a communal prayer and observed a moment of silence for those who have died in Gaza.
New York police were on the scene.
A few people gathered across the street, with at least one person holding an Israeli flag.
Karely Perez, an NYU alumna, said she joined the protest to show her support for the student organizations behind the encampment.
“Once the students start getting mad, things start to change,” she said.
Perez said she was proud of the students and added that although the encampments on university campuses are new, pro-Palestinian activism has always existed at schools like NYU.