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SvennoJ on 29 April 2024
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Columbia University students say protest highlights ‘bigger cause’

The students remain defiant and they remain here in the campus. Hundreds of students have not only been carrying out a sit-in – in the middle of campus – but also protesting against genocide [in Gaza] and they have lots of demands.

They say they would like to see financial transparency from this university. They would like to see university funds, for example, not being used or being invested in companies that profit from the war.

They would also like to see an amnesty for the students and faculty who have been disciplined.

Those are their demands.

The students … say that they will remain here [and] are not afraid of being suspended, facing expulsion or being arrested. They say they are here for a bigger cause. They are here to shed light on the killings, on the displacement, and on the hunger that is going on in Gaza right now.


Students march on the Columbia University campus in support of Palestinians, despite a 2pm deadline issued by university officials to disband or face suspension, in New York City, on April 29

MIT student protesters in renewed talks with university management

These student protesters have been here for more than a week. That’s when this encampment first sprung up.

Only 24 hours ago, the president of MIT said that all talks were off, that was it, it was done because they had reached a stalemate and the protesters would not budge. They weren’t willing to negotiate.

That has now changed. They have spent most of the day with the administration and the protesters, or some of the protesters, behind closed doors are trying to find some kind of solution that works for both of them. Those talks, we understand, are now over for the day.

It is very unlikely that we are going to see the police move in because there is the potential for some form of resolution.


Signs calling for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to cut ties with Israel at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians, at the university’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 28

Cornell announces more student suspensions

Martha Pollack, the president of Cornell University in the state of New York, says the university will suspend more students after they refused to relocate a Gaza war protest encampment.

In a letter sent to students on Monday, Pollack said that staff involved in the protest would also be referred to HR.

Momodou Taal, a Cornell PhD student who was temporarily suspended last week, told Al Jazeera the encampment protesters’ demands included calling for the university to divest from weapons’ manufacturers.

Just under 70 percent of students who voted in a recent referendum agreed their university should divest from companies supporting the ongoing war in Gaza, including several weapons companies.



Police pepper spray, arrest more students at Austin university


A state trooper pepper sprays pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, on April 29


A state trooper on a bicycle pepper sprays pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Texas in Austin





 

UN expert says Columbia University suspension threats ‘violation’ of students’ rights

Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, has described as “disturbing” reports that students at Columbia University in New York could be suspended for refusing to end their Gaza solidarity encampment.

“This is a clear violation of their right to peaceful assembly,” Lawlor said.

Columbia University students have refused to end their protest until the university responds to their demands, which include divesting from companies profiting from Israel’s war on Gaza.