US universities imploding
Columbia University cancels in-person classes over Gaza protest tensions
Students at Columbia University in New York City will attend classes virtually today amid ongoing tensions related to student activist demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik said the university was cancelling in-person classes. She also denounced “anti-Semitic” language and behaviour she said occurred on campus. “These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas,” Shafik said. “We need a reset.”
Pro-Palestinian student protesters at the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ at Columbia University
More than 100 protesters were arrested on Thursday on the campus after Shafik called in New York police to clear the tent encampment set up by the student protesters.
Elie Buechler, an Orthodox rabbi at the university, told students in a mass WhatsApp message that the safety of Jewish students cannot be guaranteed. Student activists, meanwhile, have said they do not stand for any type of “bigotry” and are demonstrating against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Dozens arrested during pro-Palestinian demonstration at Columbia University
The protest took place hours after the school cancelled in-person classes to de-escalate tensions on its New York campus, where police cracked down on a tent encampment last week.
Protests have been held at Yale University, Columbia and other campuses across the nation in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.
Columbia University on edge over Gaza: What’s going on?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/22/columbia-university-on-edge-over-gaza-whats-going-on
The pro-Palestinian US student protest effort, dubbed the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment”, is collectively organised by student-led coalition Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
The protesters are calling for Columbia University in New York City to divest from corporations that profit from Israel’s war on Gaza.
The CUAD website lists additional demands, including more financial transparency pertaining to Columbia’s investments, and the severing of academic ties and collaborations with Israeli universities and programmes.
The groups are also calling for a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators at Yale arrested over protest camps on US university campus
Between 40 to 50 people, including students, have been arrested and charged with trespassing at the US university, on the third day of protests calling for divesting from weapons manufacturers amidst Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the Yale Daily News.
The tents were set up overnight on campus, where some students could be heard chanting, “One, we are the people. Two, we won’t be silenced. Three, stop the violence now, now, now, now” and “resistance is justified, when people are occupied”, according to the newspaper’s report.
The more than 300 protesters continue to block the intersection. There were more than 40 officers on the scene; they have now almost all entered the Schwarzman Center rotunda and are not allowing students inside. pic.twitter.com/DcS22fqqrs
— Yale Daily News (@yaledailynews) April 22, 2024
