NEW YORK (AP) — What started last week when students at Columbia University refused to stop protesting. battle between israel and hamas By Tuesday, it had turned into a much larger movement, as students across the country set up encampments, occupied buildings and ignored demands to leave.
Protests have been escalating for months, but intensified after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators camped out on Columbia University’s upper Manhattan campus. arrested on thursday. Since then, dozens more protesters have been arrested on other campuses, and many now face charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.
As tensions continue to rise at Columbia University and some students fear setting foot on campus, officials announced the Ivy League school will switch to hybrid learning for students. remaining semesteris expected to be completed by the end of next week.
At nearby New York University, police said late Monday that 133 protesters had been taken into custody, all of whom were summoned to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges and released. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said police officers were hit with bottles and other objects at some protests this week.
In Connecticut, police arrested 60 protesters at Yale University on Monday, including 47 students, for refusing to leave an encampment in a plaza in the center of campus.
Yale University President Peter Salovey said the demonstrators rejected an offer to call off the demonstration and meet with the school’s board of governors. After several warnings, school officials determined that “the situation was no longer safe,” and police evacuated the campsite and made arrests.
In the Midwest, nine University of Minnesota anti-war demonstrators were arrested Tuesday after a demonstration in the center of the University of Michigan campus grew to nearly 40 tents and police took control of an encampment in front of the library. Hundreds of people gathered on the Minnesota campus in the afternoon to demand his release.
On the West Coast, California State Polytechnic State University Humboldt announced it would close its campus until Wednesday after protesters occupied the building Monday night. Three protesters were arrested. The school said on its website that classes will be conducted remotely.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather in front of Sproul Hall on the University of California, Berkeley campus on April 23, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Haven Daily)
Since the war in Gaza began, the university has I struggled to balance safety. Along with the right to free speech. Many people have long tolerated protests, but are now imposing stricter discipline.
Harvard University in Massachusetts is trying to stay ahead of the protests by locking most gates to its famous Harvard Yard and restricting access to those with student IDs. The school also posted signs warning people not to set up tents or tables on campus without permission.
Christian DeLeon, a doctoral student in literature, said he understands why Harvard authorities are trying to avoid protests, but said students still need a place to express their ideas.
“We should all be able to use spaces like this to protest and make our voices heard,” he said.
Ben Wisner, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said university leaders are very strict because they have a responsibility to allow people to express their opinions, even if it makes others uncomfortable. He said he was faced with a decision.
“But we also need to protect students from targeted harassment, intimidation and intimidation,” he says. “And sometimes that line can seem gray.”
Students protest at an encampment outside Kresge Auditorium on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus on April 23, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
In a statement Tuesday, the New York Civil Liberties Union warned the university not to rush into calling police.
“Officials should not confuse criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism or use hate incidents as an excuse to silence opposing political views,” said Donna Lieberman, the group’s executive director.
Leo Auerbach, a student at the University of Michigan, said differing positions on the war didn’t make him feel unsafe on campus, but “hateful rhetoric and anti-Semitic sentiment echoed.” He said he was afraid of that.
“If we are going to build an inclusive community on campus, we need constructive dialogue between groups,” Auerbach said. “And so far, no dialogue is occurring.”
Hannah Didebani, a senior professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the protesters were inspired by those at Columbia University.
“Currently, there are several professors on campus who receive research funding directly from the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” she said. “We have called on MIT to sever these research relationships.”
Protesters at the University of California, Berkeley, who camped out in about 30 tents on Tuesday, were also inspired by protesters at Columbia University, “which we consider to be the epicenter of the student movement,” law student Malak Afaneh said. said.
In a message to school officials on Monday, Columbia University President Minoush Shafik expressed concern for what is happening on campus, where some Jewish students say criticism of Israel leans toward anti-Semitism. “I am deeply saddened,” he said.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson planned a trip Wednesday to visit Jewish college students and address anti-Semitism on college campuses in a press conference.
On April 22, New York City police arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside a student-led encampment at New York University. (AP Photo/Noreen Nasir)
In Colombia, history of protest, most notably in 1968, when hundreds of students angry over racism and the Vietnam War occupied five buildings on campus. A week later, 1,000 police officers stormed in to remove them and arrest 700 people. The Associated Press reported at the time that 100 students and 15 police officers were injured.
The campus protests began after a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. In the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but at least two-thirds of the dead were children and children. She is said to be a woman.
Associated Press correspondent Jackie Quinn reports on growing anti-Israel protests at U.S. universities as the Jewish holiday of Passover begins.
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Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Triangle, Virginia; Larry Large of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Steve LeBlanc lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dave Collins of Hartford, Conn.; Jim Salter of O’Fallon, Missouri; Haven Dairy in San Francisco. and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
