The latest on pro-Palestinian campus protests
- There were no signs of police action at Columbia University after the deadline for Pro-Palestinian protesters to reach a deal about clearing out their campus encampment passed without a resolution.
- Administrators said they were talking with student organizers about "dismantling the encampment, dispersing, and following university policies going forward. Those talks are facing a deadline of midnight tonight to reach agreement," President Minouche Shafik said.
- Classes at Columbia's main campus, where more than 100 students were arrested last week following protests over the war in Gaza, will be hybrid until the end of the spring semester.
- Pro-Palestinian encampments have also been established at the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.
- A demonstration at New York University on Monday night turned chaotic, with the New York Police Department reporting that officers were pelted with bottles after the university called them to assist with dispersing the growing crowd.
Senate passes $26 billion aid for for Israel, Gaza
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed an aid package that includes $26 billion in assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief in Gaza.
The package, approved by a 79-18 vote, also includes aid for Ukraine and Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.
Protesters gathered near Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn home Tuesday, opposed to U.S. military assistance to Israel in the war in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians.
The total amount of the package to the three areas is $95 billion, and it includes a provision that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok.
President Biden said he will swiftly sign the package into law.
Midnight deadline for Columbia agreement passes
The midnight deadline that had been set for negotiations about a Columbia University protest has expired with no announced resolution.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said that if an agreement between student organizers and administration staff was not reached, “we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus so that students can complete the term and graduate.”
There were no signs visible of any police action.
There has been an encampment and protest at the Manhattan university over the war in Gaza that was set up on the West Lawn around four days ago, the university said.
On Thursday, more than 100 people were arrested and issued summonses after there was an encampment on the South Lawn.
The number of encampments is growing on several college campuses across the U.S. This comes as hundreds of students have stepped out to protest their universities.
Protesters appear to be arrested near Sen. Schumer’s home
New York City police appeared to be arresting demonstrators opposed to the war in Gaza in Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn neighborhood tonight, video showed.
An NYPD spokesman did not immediately have reports of how many people were arrested at the demonstration in the Park Slope neighborhood or why arrests were occurring as the situation was ongoing.
The protests, which began earlier by Jewish demonstrators opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza, occurred the same day that Schumer helped pass bills in the Senate to secure military aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.
“Free, free Palestine!” a woman in a shirt reading “Not in Our Name” yelled as she was taken away by police tonight, video from NBC New York showed.
The group Jewish Voice for Peace said thousands converged near Schumer’s residence to send a message about U.S. military aid during a war that has killed more than 30,000 people in Gaza, according to health officials there.
The group called the action “an emergency Passover seder.”
A sign at the demonstration earlier read "Jews say stop arming Israel" and protesters said they opposed the U.S. supplying weapons that are used in a war that is killing civilians in Gaza, video from the Reuters news agency showed.
Columbia gives students midnight deadline for agreement on encampment
The president of Columbia University announced a midnight deadline for students and others to reach an agreement about dismantling an encampment on campus set up in protest.
The encampment was set up four days ago on the Manhattan campus’ West Lawn.
On Thursday, police made more than 100 arrests when they were called in about an encampment on the South Lawn, and for which Columbia was criticized.
Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said in a letter to the community today that the demonstrators at the encampment at the West Lawn have been peaceful.
“However, the encampment raises serious safety concerns, disrupts campus life, and has created a tense and at times hostile environment for many members of our community. It is essential that we move forward with a plan to dismantle it,” Shafik wrote.
University officials and faculty have been in discussions with student groups about dismantling it, she said.
“I very much hope these discussions are successful. If they are not, we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus so that students can complete the term and graduate,” Shafik wrote in the letter.
Students in Australia join Gaza movement
Students at the University of Sydney in Australia have established a pro-Palestinian encampment, similar to the ones set up at colleges across the United States.
As more universities across the nation establish pro-Palestinian encampments and protests, it's crucial to remember that college campuses have a decades-long history of serving as a setting for cultural movements.
Two arrested at Ohio State University during ‘disruptive’ protest, university says
Two people were arrested at Ohio State University in Columbus today in what the school called a disruptive protest at Meiling Hall.
The charges were not immediately available from police.
“When today’s demonstration became disruptive to the students, faculty and staff in Meiling Hall, the university issued multiple warnings,” OSU spokesperson Ben Johnson said. “When the disruptive activity continued, two individuals were arrested.”
The Columbus Dispatch newspaper reported the two arrested were students who were charged with criminal trespass. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” according to the newspaper.
Jewish protesters at Columbia support movement, say antisemitism is being weaponized against them
Three students from Barnard College, Columbia University's sister school, spoke to reporters today in support of pro-Palestinian protesters, saying their own stories of being Jewish anti-Zionists are being ignored.
One Iranian Jewish student, Lea, has been suspended and noted that she and fellow students "proudly put everything we have on the line, because our vision is unclouded." She said she saw the same trauma and pain of her own family reflected in the plight of Palestinians, moving her to join the protest.
"More than 15 Jewish students were arrested, suspended and evicted as punishment for protesting on their own campus," said Lea, a student who identified by first name only. "For singing songs of love and liberation for Columbia's divestment and a free Palestine."
Jewish students led a Passover Seder event at the encampment last night, and students said they held shabbat prayers over the weekend, as well.
Soph Askanase, who was arrested and suspended last week, rejected portrayals of the Jewish community as a monolith. Askanse, who uses they/them pronouns, said they felt unsafe months ago on campus when they were sprayed with chemicals during a Palestinian demonstration, and they were bedridden for days.
"I would encourage everyone to listen to a variety of perspectives and to analyze what it means to not like something or disagree with something versus to actively be in a position of being unsafe, because when you are arrested, dragged out in zipties ... that is what being unsafe is," they said.
Mahmoud Khalil said he is an international student and Palestinian refugee, who fears participating in protests because he could be arrested and eventually deported.
"And this is why a lot of Palestinian students here, they feel very uncomfortable participating and protesting ... that's why we are very grateful for everyone on campus for protesting on our behalf," Khalil said.
Rutgers accused of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bigotry
Two anti-discrimination groups have filed a federal civil rights complaint against Rutgers University in New Jersey, accusing the school of fostering an environment of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bigotry.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed the complaint on behalf of students who attend the university's New Brunswick campus and Newark law school.
It alleges that students who expressed anti-Zionist views, including Jewish students, were harassed and targeted for doxxing campaigns.
Incidents reported to the administration were not adequately handled, the complaint alleges, leaving Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian students living in anxiety and fear.
A man accused of vandalizing an Islamic center at the university last month on the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr has been charged with a federal hate crime.
Selaedin Maksut, executive director of the New Jersey chapter CAIR, said it was no secret that campuses have become hostile environments for Muslim and Palestinian students.
"University administrations have effectively enabled this climate of hostility and unsafe environment when they repeatedly refused to act and respond with appropriate urgency to Muslim and Palestinian students’ concerns," Maksut said.
Rutgers "abhors all forms of intolerance" and takes takes every claim of bias and hate seriously, the university said in a statement to NBC News.
"Without commenting on the specifics of any inquiry, the university always cooperates with regulators and others who recognize that the safety of our students is our top priority," the statement said.