What to know about campus protests:
- More than 2,300 people have been arrested at pro-Palestinian protests at colleges across the country.
- Columbia University is rethinking its commencement ceremony in the wake of campus protests and mass arrests.
- Police operations are ongoing at multiple colleges, including NYU and The New School in New York. At least 30 were arrested at Portland State University, where protesters barricaded themselves inside a library.
- Pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have rocked college campuses in the United States are now gaining traction across the world, from London, Paris and Rome to Sydney, Tokyo, Beirut and beyond.
- A NYPD officer accidentally fired a gun inside Columbia University's Hamilton Hall when police entered it to clear it of protesters earlier this week, officials said.
Ole Miss protest ends in heated confrontation
A group of pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Mississippi became surrounded by a larger and rowdy group of counterprotesters yesterday, and had to be escorted into a building by police.
Videos of the protest posted on social media show the larger crowd, of about 200 seemingly mostly white young people, surrounding and shouting down the multi-racial group of between 30 and 60 pro-Palestinian protesters.
Another video showed the counterprotesters singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” to drown out the chants from the pro-Palestinian protesters, while yet another video showed a large crowd of men, including two male students who appear to be white, in American flag overalls, yelling in the direction of a Black female graduate student.
In the video, the woman appears to be walking toward the crowd while recording them on her phone.
Cal Poly Humboldt moves graduation ceremonies off campus
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, the northernmost California State University campus, today announced it has scuttled plans to hold graduation ceremonies on campus after protesters shut down the institution.
Pro-Palestinian protesters began an occupation of two buildings at the campus in Arcata on April 22, the school has said. The protests prompted the school's leaders to close the campus and cancel in-person classes for the rest of the academic year.
The occupation ended Tuesday with 35 people arrested and the buildings cleared by law enforcement, Cal Poly Humboldt said. Commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 11 have been moved off-campus.
The protest, an investigation, and the subsequent clean-up have diverted the usual month's worth of planning that goes into hosting the events on campus, it said. "There is no way," the institution said.
Commencement ceremonies will be held May 11 by major for students completing studies at each of Cal Poly Humboldt's three colleges, the institution said. Locations include Sapphire Palace at the Blue Lake Casino in Blue Lake, the Eureka Theater in Eureka, and the Eureka High School auditorium in Eureka.
A previously planned regional commencement for students from Southern California will happen as scheduled at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills on May 14, the institution said.
Columbia rethinking commencement plans
Columbia University is rethinking its commencement plans after weeks of pro-Palestinian protests ended with authorities forcing their way into a barricaded school building and arresting dozens of people, according to a source at the university and two members of student government.
The source at the university said the main commencement ceremony was slated to be canceled, but smaller events were still being planned.
After a meeting with top university leaders Friday, two members of student government said administrators indicated they are not sure they can hold a commencement ceremony on the main Morningside Heights campus in Manhattan because of security concerns.
It is unclear if final decisions have been made.
24 arrested at Northern Arizona University, after-hours protests banned
Twenty-four protesters were arrested this week at Northern Arizona University, which said protests will not be allowed after-hours.
The university said in a statement students composed 22 of the 24 people arrested after police moved in on a what it described as a prohibited encampment on the Flagstaff campus.
Those arrested remained following a dispersal deadline of 10 p.m. Tuesday, the institution said. Exact allegations related to the arrests were not revealed, but the university reiterated that temporary structures that underly encampments are prohibited along with protests outside of the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The institution also said the campus' arm of Students for Justice in Palestine was temporarily suspended.
The university said it would strive to ensure its "continued commitment to free expression."
Displaced students in Gaza have thanked pro-Palestinian protesters on U.S. college campuses for their solidarity.
USC alumni pledge to withhold donations until university divests
More than 1,700 alumni from the University of Southern California have signed a letter supporting calls from antiwar student protesters to divest from Israeli companies tied to military operations in Gaza.
Until those demands are met, they will withhold donations to the university, according to a statement by USC Alums for Justice.
“Students across the country are demanding an end to this genocide and Israel’s Zionist occupation of Palestine,” the letter states. “We, the undersigned alumni of the University of Southern California, stand with them. … In full support of the USC Divest from Death Coalition’s demands, we call on USC to boycott, disclose, and divest from Israel and war-profiteering.”
Protesters, UC Riverside come to agreement, ending encampment
Leaders of an encampment protesting Israeli military action in Gaza and UC Riverside officials struck a deal today to put an end to the tent city, school officials said.
The school agreed to publicize all campus holdings and form a task force aimed at developing "ethically sound" investments, according to a UCR statement.
"This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination," UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox said, "however, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues."
How Columbia University protesters organized before law enforcement moved in
Pro-Palestinian activists who set up a sprawling outdoor encampment on Columbia University’s campus divided themselves into two groups to stay organized.
In one group were protesters who were willing to be on the front lines of a possible confrontation with law enforcement. They were ready to be arrested imminently. In another group were protesters who stood ready to help their fellow demonstrators — but wanted to avoid arrest and potential charges.
In interviews with NBC News and videos recorded at the pro-Palestinian encampment in April, activists explained how elements of the protest were organized, providing a window into a tense standoff that divided the Columbia community and seized national attention.
In an interview last week, an undergraduate student from Bangladesh who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was concerned he could lose his visa explained that he was part of the so-called “yellow” group — a squad of protesters who wanted to avoid being handcuffed and taken away by police, but nonetheless tried to bolster the activist campaign in other ways.
“When you’re yellow, essentially, you are not prepared to be arrested,” the student said. “But you are willing to provide all sorts of other support … [such as] locating picketing, making supply runs into and beyond the encampment.” He described these as “challenging tasks” that would also “not actually have … legal repercussions.”
Another Columbia undergraduate who provided only her initials because she is an undocumented immigrant and fears deportation, said last week she spent hours a day in the encampment before university officials threatened to suspend those students.
She joined a supplies “platoon” — a subgroup formed by pro-Palestinian campus organizers. She said some of those platoons volunteered to be first in line for arrest or agreed to be configured in human chains when police officers arrived.
In a video recorded late April 23, an unidentified protest organizer in a green hoodie and black mask explained that the other team — the “red” group — would be made up of people “who prefer to be arrested today, or imminently.” The crowd surrounding the organizer can be heard cheering during his speech — and a police helicopter can be heard circling overhead.
In a dramatic escalation early April 30, a group of the protesters stormed Hamilton Hall, shattering windows and barricading doors.
The protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall hung pro-Palestinian banners over the facade and set up a rope system that they used to transport supplies into the building. They renamed the building Hind’s Hall in honor of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in the Gaza Strip.
In the end, 112 people were arrested Tuesday on the Columbia campus in upper Manhattan. New York City officials announced Thursday that 29% of those people were not affiliated with the Ivy League institution, where activist anger over Israel’s war in Gaza helped spur a campus protest movement that swept across the country in the latter half of April.
The pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia demanded that the school divest from corporations that could be profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 33,000 people, according to local health authorities. The surprise Hamas terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7 killed more than 1,200 people, and the militants also kidnapped dozens of civilians.
Columbia president defends action to break up encampment
Columbia President Minouche Shafik defended the university's action in breaking up a pro-Palestinian encampment saying Columbia had made "sincere" offers to protesters before they "crossed a new line" to occupy Hamilton Hall.
She called the past two weeks among the most difficult in university history, filled with "turmoil and tension" as students protested Israeli military action in Gaza by camping out on a campus lawn.
"The university made a sincere and good offer but it was not accepted," she said in a video statement posted to Instagram. "A group of protesters crossed a new line with the occupation of Hamilton Hall. It was a violent act that put our students at risk, as well as putting the protesters at risk. I walked through the building and saw the damage which was distressing."
Protesters took over Hamilton Hall in the early hours of Tuesday morning before the NYPD, at the behest of the university, moved in on the occupiers and encampment late that night.
University of Buffalo welcomes protest, but not encampment
The University of Buffalo today warned pro-Palestinian protesters to follow all rules and not take over a campus building or camp out.
There are prohibitions "against occupation of buildings, overnight assemblies and encampments" and protests "must not disrupt university operations or activities including classes, events, meetings and lectures," according to a UB statement.
A group expected to lead a demonstration later this afternoon, UB Students for Justice in Palestine, has pledged to disperse and follow all rules.