Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced Tuesday evening that student organizers face a midnight deadline to reach an agreement to dismantle the pro-Palestinian protest encampment that has escalated tensions at the school and led some students to feel unsafe on campus.
If no agreement is reached by then, the university “will have to consider alternative options” for clearing the encampment, Shafik said in a letter to the Columbia community. She did not elaborate on how administrators plan to clear the site.
Shafik has faced enormous pressure from donors and lawmakers to dismantle the encampment and restore order – even as she is under fire from faculty and students for calling in the New York Police Department last week to clear out an earlier encampment. The NYPD has not been asked by Columbia University to respond to campus at this time, a spokesman for the NYPD told CNN.
“I fully support the importance of free speech, respect the right to demonstrate, and recognize that many of the protestors have gathered peacefully,” Shafik said. “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.”
Tuesday marked the seventh day of tense demonstrations at Columbia, which has moved to mostly hybrid classes on its main campus until the end of the semester due to the crisis.
Pro-Palestinian protests continue to rock major American universities on Tuesday, prompting school officials across the country to take extraordinary steps to confront the growing crisis.
The protests, counter-protests, actions by college officials and demands from lawmakers underscore the unrest that’s engulfed American universities, leading some students, especially Jewish students, to fear for their safety as the Passover holiday is underway.
As demonstrations ripple across other campuses, US House Speaker Mike Johnson will head to Columbia University Wednesday to visit Jewish students and deliver remarks “regarding the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses,” according to his office.
More than 130 people were arrested Monday night at a pro-Palestinian protest at New York University, an NYPD official told CNN. NYU said it asked for help from the NYPD after school officials said there were “intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents” during a protest. That led to scenes of a chaotic confrontation between protesters and police in full riot gear. The NYPD official said the demonstrations weren’t violent overall, except for a few bottles thrown at police officers.
At Yale University, at least 45 people were arrested and charged with trespassing on Monday after refusing to leave an on-campus protest, police said.
Facing a “dangerous and volatile” situation, officials at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt decided to close the campus through Wednesday and move to remote classes “for the safety of the campus community.” Protesters there barricaded themselves inside a building on campus.
Pro-Palestinian encampments have also been set up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Emerson College, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan. Nine people were arrested Tuesday morning at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus after they formed an encampment that violated school policy, the university told CNN.
Harvard University has closed Harvard Yard and officials at the university suspended a pro-Palestine student organization for allegedly violating school policies, according to the student group and a source with knowledge of the suspension.
Officials at Columbia and other universities are facing intense pressure from all sides.
Pro-Palestinian protesters and their supporters – sometimes including faculty – are condemning crackdowns on protests and free speech, while from some students, parents, donors and lawmakers are pleading with administrators to take new steps to restore order.
Members of the Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors are expected to move for a censure of Shafik and other university officials for the decision last week to ask the NYPD to arrest protesters on campus, the student-run news outlet Columbia Daily Spectator and Bwog reported.
– Saudi Gazzette
