Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza rattle colleges across the US: Live updates | CNN Business (2024)

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday it’s “unfortunate” that Columbia University students will experience a scaled-back commencement after demonstrators occupied a campus building that resulted in several people arrested.

“It is unfortunate that a small group of people went too far and cost their classmates this important event,” she said.

Quoting remarks from President Joe Biden last week, Jean-Pierre told reporters during the White House press briefing, “destroying property is not a peaceful protest — it’s against the law. Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes, and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest.”

Earlier Monday, CNN reported Columbia planned to cancel the university-widecommencementceremony planned for next week and will be holding smaller events instead due in part to security concerns, per a university official. The university official told CNN that security concerns were one of the main reasons for the decision not to hold a large commencement ceremony.

Jean-Pierre told reporters that President Joe Biden, who’s scheduled to deliver the commencement addresses at Morehouse College and at West Point later this month, “understands that this is a moment of joy, a moment of celebration — and we feel for them.”

“We feel for each of the graduates, and we’re going to continue to reiterate the President’s comments and statements and what we’ve said from this podium — to call for protests peacefully, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do, but we do feel for them,” she said. “These are graduates who are going to miss out on an incredibly important day of commencement.”

Jean Pierre declined to say if plans are being made in the event protesters disrupt either of Biden’s scheduled commencement addresses, instead referring questions to the US Secret Service.

A total of 64 people were arrested as police dismantled a protest encampment at the University of California, San Diego, campus on Monday, school officials said in an updated statement.

Of those arrested, 24 people were not affiliated with the university, according to the statement.

“The arrested students have been or will be placed under immediate interim suspension,” the statement said.

The encampment was “successfully and peacefully” dismantled around 6 a.m. PT by the UC San Diego Police Department, California Highway Patrol and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, university officials said in an earlier statement.

“The decision to vacate the site was based on danger arising from a prolonged event in terms of health, fire, safety and security,” the earlier statement read.

A minor injury was reported at that time, university officials said without elaborating.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) ordered protesters in a letter to peacefully clear an encampment by 2:30 p.m. on Monday or face disciplinary action, after efforts to reach an agreement crumbled.

Students who refuse to leave the encampment by the deadline will face “immediate interim academic suspension” that will last through commencement activities, barring them from classes, exams, research or graduation activities, according to the letter.

Two weeks ago, pro-Palestinian students at MIT in Cambridge set up over a dozen tents as an act of solidarity with students at Columbia University, camping out at Kresge Oval.

In a message to the university community, MIT President Sally Kornbluth warned of athreat of outside interference and potential violence.

“As recently as this weekend, we were presented with firm evidence of outside interference on US campuses, including widely disseminated literature that advocates escalation, with very clear instructions and suggested means, including vandalism,” said Kornbluth. “Our own campus has seen a variety of actions involving people from outside MIT, including a series of rallies organized by people who have no MIT affiliation. An outside group is planning another campus disruption here this afternoon.”

Last week, the university erected barriers around the Pro-Palestinian encampment, ahead of a large counterprotest organized by the New England chapter of the Israeli American Council.

The letter handed out to MIT activists detailed escalating consequences for students depending on whether or not they voluntarily leave.

Those that have previously been sanctioned by the Committee on Discipline or have a pending case since October 7, face “immediate interim full suspension” meaning students will “not be permitted to reside in your assigned residence hall or use MIT dining halls.”

Students who do voluntarily leave the encampment and swipe their IDs on the way out will have that noted as a “mitigating factor” when reviewing their disciplinary case.

“This prolonged use of MIT property as a venue for protest, without permission, especially on an issue with such sharp disagreement, is no longer safely sustainable,” said Kornbluth.

All classes at UCLA are moving online during a resurgence of protesters on campus, the university announced in a safety alert Monday.

“All classes are moving remote today 5/6 and campus operations are limited due to ongoing disruptions,” saysthe notice.

The decision follows three days of cancelled classes and remote learning prompted by violent clashes at an encampment that was cleared by police early Thursday morning. UCLA and campus police did not comment on those arrests. The Los Angeles Police Department said only that it was assisting and referred all comments to the university.

The local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine saidin a social media postthat a few dozen people were arrested in a parking structure. SJP at UCLA had alsoannounced a sit inat Moore Hall, just south of where the encampment was previously located.

Pro-Palestinian protesters in Southern California’s Pomona College on Monday set up their second encampment of the year on the lawn where construction for graduation is underway, according to an Instagram post from protest organizers.

Pomona Divest from Apartheid, a coalition of student groupsdemandingthe college “disclose and divest” its $2.8 billion endowment from “all weapons manufacturers and all institutions that aid the ongoing occupation of Palestine,” said student members are prepared to defend the encampment until their demands are met.

In response, the university sent out a statement asking students and university members to avoid the encampment area, noting that campus buildings are shifting to “swipe access as a precaution” due to safety concerns, the statement said.

“Our students, faculty, staff and alumni hold a range of viewpoints. Throughout the year, college leaders have offered to meet with student protesters and will continue to do so,” Patricia Vest, senior director of communicationsat Pomona College, told CNN. “We will promote safety for all members of our community and pursue our educational mission, considering the full range of viewpoints.”

The encampment comes just a little over a month after around 20 people were arrested for staging a sit-in at the college’s Alexander Hall.

Before the early April sit-in, protests have gone on largely without interference until Pomona College’s president sent a message to the university community on April 3, decrying the “harassment targeting visitors to our campus” and telling students continued violation of the student code “is subject to disciplinary action.”

School staff and security on April 5 began dismantling an “apartheid wall” where pro-Palestinian demonstrators had gathered, CNN previously reported.

Protesters are urging the college “not to repeat their mistakes,” calling on the college president to “not opt for violence again,” but rather “listen to your community.”

CNN’s Cheri Mossburg and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.

Harvard University warned protesters on Monday that those involved in the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus face “involuntary leave” and may not be able to sit for exams.

“I write today with this simple message: The continuation of the encampment presents a significant risk to the educational environment of the University,” Alan Garber, Harvard’s interim president, wrote in anemailto the Harvard community.

“Those who participate in or perpetuate its continuation will be referred for involuntary leave from their schools,” Garber said.

Students placed on involuntary leave may not be able to sit for exams, may not reside in Harvard housing and “must cease to be present on campus until reinstated,” the Harvard interim president said.

Protesters set up an encampment at Harvard Yard nearly two weeks ago despite efforts by the university to prevent such a large-scale protest.

Garber did not explicitly threaten on Monday to ask law enforcement to intervene, something that has happened at other universities in recent weeks.

In his new email, Garber said officials are “especially troubled by increasing reports that some within, and some supporting, the encampment have intimidated and harassed other members of our community.” He said Harvard staffers asking to see the IDs of protesters have been yelled at by supporters, who have “tried to encircle them.”

“We have also received reports that passers-by have been confronted, surveilled and followed. Such actions are indefensible and unacceptable,” Garber said.

Garber haspreviously saidHarvard would have a “very, very high bar” before asking police to intervene.

Police officers are clearing out a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the University of California-San Diego on Monday morning. Video fromCNN affiliate KFMBshowed officers from several different departments entering the encampment, including San Diego Police and California Highway Patrol.

The university announced it is suspending activities on the WestCampus due to the police action, as lectures and classes move remote, the UC-San Diego said in apublic notice.

University Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla saidin a statement issued Sundaythat efforts to communicate with encampment organizers had broken down.

“We began communicating with participants within minutes of the camp’s establishment. Nevertheless, the encampment has tripled in size in violation of the group’s commitment not to expand the footprint,” said Khosla. “This encampment poses an unacceptable safety and security hazard on campus.”

Around 100 students have set up around 30 tents at the Piazza Scaravilli, the first pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Bologna on Sunday, according to Italian state police.

Protest organizers have scheduled a number of activities and events, including a speech on May 8 by Patrick Zaki, an Egyptian student and researcher affiliated with the university who made international headlines when he was detained in Cairo for more than a year due to his research.

In addition to the encampment, the students have also called for a nationwide pro-Palestinian march on May 15.

“We have been working for months, interfacing with the University of Bolognaand its governance, to ask for the interruption of research agreements with Israeli universities and companies complicit in the genocide, and with Italian companies that actively support Israelin its ethnic cleansing,” the Giovani Palestinesi d’Italia (Palestinian Youth Italy group), which organized the encampment, said via social media and in press interviews.

“We send an even broader appeal: we ask the Italian government and the institutions of the Western world to immediately cease their shameful and criminal complicity with the crimes of the Israeli government in Palestine.”

The University of Bologna is a public research university founded in 1088 and is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, according to its website.

As graduation ceremonies began at colleges and universities across the US this weekend, amid pro-Palestinian protests on campus, some major universities like Columbia have decided to either cancel or modify their main commencement ceremonies.

The University of Southern California was the first to cancel its main commencement ceremony at the end of April, citing “new safety measures in place.” As arrests unfolded and escalated across campus encampments last week, other universities are following suit.

Demands vary for these pro-Palestinian protests that have swept university campuses in recent weeks, but most demonstrators are calling for their schools todivest from companiesand other entities that they say support or benefit fromIsrael’s war in Gaza.

Here are the latest developments:

Harvard University: The school warned that protesters involved in the pro-Palestinian encampment face “involuntary leave” and may not be able to sit for exams and may not reside in Harvard housing.

Columbia University: Columbia University on Monday canceled its university-wide commencement ceremony planned for next week due in part to security concerns, a university official told CNN. Instead, Columbia said it will “make the centerpiece of our Commencement activities our Class Day and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers.”

Emory University: Atlanta’s Emory University on Monday announced it will scale back and relocate its commencement ceremony, also citing concerns for safety and security as the main reasoning for adjusting plans.

Princeton hunger strike: Some students at Princeton University in New Jersey have launcheda hunger strikeuntil their demands are met, according to a student protest group. At least 17 undergraduate students were taking part as of Sunday, according to theDaily Princetonian. Princeton told CNN they “care about their well-being,” and that physicians were monitoring the group.

British universities: The campus protests have spread across the Atlantic, where pro-Palestinian encampments have been set up at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England, as students there call on leadership to sever ties to Israel.In the statement, the group said they “stand in solidarity” with students across the globe “from CUNY to UCLA, Trinity College to Sciences Po.”

University of Southern California:Policecleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampmentat USC without making any arrests Sunday, the school said. It was the second time the school dismantled an encampment at the Los Angeles university. School President Carol Folt said in a statement that theprotesters had chosen to “break the law”and that encampments won’t be tolerated on campus.

Moments after Columbia University announced it would scale back and relocate its commencement ceremony, Emory University issued a similar announcement Monday.

The Atlanta university said it would move its commencement to Duluth, Georgia, which is 20 miles north from campus and about a half-hour drive.

“Please know that this decision was not taken lightly,” said University President Gregory Fenves, in a statement. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors, and other agencies — each of which advised against holding Commencement events on our campuses.”

Fenves said the university has been committed to holding a commencement ceremony, despite widespread protests about Israel’s war in Gaza – protests that have disrupted classes and led to dozens of arrests on campus.

“While that commitment has not changed, concerns about safety and security require us to adjust the plans,” he said.

A Columbia official told CNN that security concerns were one of the main reasons for the decision not to hold a large commencement ceremony for this year’s graduating class.

However, Columbia said it plans to share details in the coming days about a “festive event” on May 15 that would allow graduates to come together to celebrate.

“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families. They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers,” the university statement said. “As a result, we will focus our resources on those school ceremonies and on keeping them safe, respectful, and running smoothly.”

The decision comes nearly a week after New York police arrested more than 200 protesters on campus last week. After the arrests, Columbia said law enforcement will stay on campus to ensure safety through at least May 17, after the university’s May 15 commencement ceremony.

At the time, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said the university did not “want to deprive thousands of students and their families and friends of a graduation celebration.”

“Please recall that many in this graduating class did not get a celebration when graduating from high school because of the pandemic, and many of them are the first in their families to earn a University degree,” Shafik said.

Columbia University is canceling the university-wide commencement ceremony planned for next week and holding smaller events instead due in part to security concerns, a university official told CNN on Monday.

In anannouncementon Monday, Columbia said it decided to “forgo the university-wide ceremony” scheduled for the South Lawn of Morningside campus on May 15 and to relocate all school ceremonies.

Instead of a university-wide ceremony, Columbia said it will “make the centerpiece of our Commencement activities our Class Day and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers.”

Pro-Palestinian encampments have been set up at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in England, as students there call on leadership to sever ties to Israel.Photos posted on social media show several tents erected outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, a tourist attraction located on the campus.

Campaign group, Oxford Action for Palestine, said they set up the encampment at 4 a.m. on Monday (11 p.m. ET Sunday) and had deliberately chosen the museum, which they said symbolizes the “relationship that Oxford has to colonial projects.”At the entrance to the encampment, a banner shows the list of demands from student protesters which include: the disclosure of university finances, the divestment from Israeli businesses, an overhaul of the university’s investment policy and support towards Palestinian-led rebuilding of educational facilities in Gaza.

“We are here after exhausting every other means of protest at our disposal. We have organized demonstrations and marches and made all possible efforts to work with the Administration to realise [sic] our demands. We have been met with inaction,”the students said in a statement on Instagram.

In the statement, the group said they “stand in solidarity” with students across the globe “from CUNY to UCLA, Trinity College to Sciences Po.”

Students at Cambridge also set up an encampment on Monday on the lawn outside theuniversity’s King’s College in the center of the city.The encampment is being organized by the group “Cambridge for Palestine” which is demanding the university “discloses and divests from its financial and professional support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”

Graduation ceremonies began at colleges and universities across the US this weekend, as administrators grappled with major pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

Demands vary, but most demonstrators are calling for their schools to divest from companies and other entities that they say support or benefit from Israel’s war in Gaza.

These were the major developments nationwide on Saturday and Sunday:

Watch LAPD clear encampments at USC:

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Princeton University officials are aware of a group of students who have launched a hunger strike“in solidarity with Gaza,” and told CNN physicians are monitoring the group.

“We care about their well-being,”Michael Hotchkiss, an assistant vice presidentfor communicationsat Princeton University,told CNN via email.

“Dr. Melissa Marks, director of medical services at University Health Services, visited the group on Friday and Sunday to offer health information and ongoing medical support. She has also spoken with one of the outside physicians who are monitoring the group.”

The university hasbeen in touch with protest organizers and is willing to meet with students, Hotchkiss said.

“We continue to hope that productive conversations will occur in the days ahead,” the university said in a statement.

George Washington University President Ellen Granberg said the pro-Palestinian protest encampment that has occupied part of the university’s campus for more than a week “has grown into what can only be classified as an illegal and potentially dangerous occupation of GW property.”

Granberg contrasted the encampment with previous on-campus demonstrations related to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, describing the current situation as “increasingly unsafe.”

“When protestors overrun barriers established to protect the community, vandalize a university statue and flag, surround and intimidate GW students with antisemitic images and hateful rhetoric, chase people out of a public yard based on their perceived beliefs, and ignore, degrade, and push GW Police Officers and university maintenance staff, the protest ceases to be peaceful or productive,” she said.
“All of these things have happened at GW in the last five days.”

She said the encampment is in violation of multiple university policies and is occupying the space reserved for law students’ final exams. The university also believes the protest involved people not affiliated with the school, she said.

Granberg said the university is not equipped to single-handedly manage the situation and “must rely on the support and experience of the DC Metropolitan Police Department.”

The Washington Posthas reportedthat DC’s Metropolitan Police Department and mayor’s office have already turned down a request from the university to disperse protesters.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser defended the decision in a statement Friday, saying: “We support peaceful protests, and I rely on MPD and their experience and expertise to decide what types of interventions are necessary and when.”

Granberg said the school is communicating with DC officials and district police are providing an increased presence on campus. CNN has reached out to MPD for more details.

Some students at Princeton University in New Jersey have launched a hunger strike “in solidarity with Gaza,” according to a student protest group.

Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest said that participants in the strike would refrain from all food and drink – except water – until their demands were met.

Protesters are demanding the university disclose all its investments, divest from companies that “profit from or engage” in Israel’s “ongoing military campaign, occupation and apartheid policies,” and commit to “a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel.”

The students also want assurances that protesters will have “complete amnesty” from all criminal and disciplinary charges and that bans and evictions against student protesters will be reversed.

At least 17 undergraduate students were taking part in the hunger strike as of Sunday, according to student newspaper theDaily Princetonian.

CNN has sought comment from Princeton.

The University of California, Los Angeles, will return to regular operations Monday and “plans to remain this way through the rest of the week,” campus officials said.

“Faculty are encouraged to resume in-person instruction as soon as possible, but may continue to conduct courses remotely at their discretion through next Friday, May 10, without the need for departmental authorization. Students will hear from instructors directly.”

Exams for the law school will continue as scheduled, and the university’s extension program will also resume in person.

UCLA canceled classes last week following a night marred by violence, in which pro-Palestinian protesters were attacked by masked men for hours without police intervention.

Officials said students, faculty and staff are advised to avoid the area of Royce Quad, between Royce Hall and the Powell Library, while repairs in the vicinity continue.

“A law enforcement presence continues to be stationed around campus to help promote safety,” the post read.

After lengthy protests, pro-Palestinian encampments on the campuses of Ivy League schools Columbia and Brown came down last week.

But while the apparent end of Columbia’s encampments was marred by a takeover of a building, a mass arrest, and a widespread condemnation of the heavy police presence, encampments came down voluntarily at Brown and other institutions.

None of the schools agreed to fully divest from companies doing business in Israel, a demand student protesters have commonly rallied for across the country.

Northwestern reached a dealwith protesters to end the encampment. It agreed to more transparency over specific investment holdings and fully funded the cost of attendance for five Palestinian students.

Rutgersagreedto meet with student protesters to discuss divestment and to support scholarships for at least 10 displaced Gazan students. Rutgers, along with Northwestern, agreed to expand spaces for Arab and Muslim students on campus. Rutgers also said it would “revisit and follow up” its existing relationship with Birzeit University in the West Bank.

The University of Minnesota said it would allow protesters to present a case for divestment to its board. It also said it would “explore” an affiliation with a Palestinian university and make a “good faith effort” to disclose as much information about its holdings as possible, as well as not pursue disciplinary action against protesters affiliated with the school.

Brown’s boardagreed to hold a divestment votein the fall and said no student or faculty member involved in the protests would face retaliation, though they emphasized they would investigate reports of bias, harassment or discrimination. Rutgers made a similar commitment.

Read the full story.

The University of California, Los Angeles, says it will change the school’s security operations in light of theviolence at recent campus protestsover the war in Gaza.

Chancellor Gene D. Block announced the move Sunday, saying it is clear that “urgent changes are needed in how we administer safety operations” in order to best protect the school community. He also committed to a “thorough investigation of our security processes.”

Block said oversight and management of the UCLA Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management is moving to a newly created Office of Campus Safety. The office’s leader will report directly to Block, the chancellorexplained in a statement.

“It is clear that UCLA needs a unit and leader whose sole responsibility is campus safety to guide us through tense times,” Block said.

Block also announced that Rick Braziel, the former chief of the Sacramento Police Department, will lead the office as its associate vice chancellor. Braziel has more than 30 years of experience in public safety,served as an instructor in community policing, and has led reviews of law enforcement departments and police responses, the chancellor said.

Some context:The change comes after protesters calling for an end to the war in Gaza and the university’s divestment from Israel set up an encampment on UCLA’s campus.

School officials called in the police, who appeared tofire rubber bulletswhile clearing out the demonstrators.

Masked men were also seenattacking the pro-Palestinian encampmentfor hours without police intervention, punching, hitting and kicking the protesters, according to video from the scene and witness accounts.

Block acknowledged in his statement that recent events had “strained trust within our community,” but did not reference a specific incident.

The number of campus protesters arrested at demonstrations across the US has continued to risesince the first demonstrators weredetained at Columbia Universitytwo weeks ago.

More than 250 protesters were arrested on May 2, after April 30 saw the largest number of arrests in a day since protests beganwith nearly 400, according to a CNN review of university and law enforcement statements.

More than 2,200 people have been arrested on college and university campuses since April 18, according to CNN’s ongoing review.

Here’s where people have been taken into custody so far:

As universities and colleges across the US turn to police to clear their campuses of protests over Israel’s assault on Gaza, the response by law enforcement is under heightened scrutiny after thousands were arrested since mid-April.

Footage captured from the physical — andin some cases violent— confrontations between police and protesters reveals a gamut of tactics used to disperse demonstrators from occupied school buildings and take down on-campus encampments.

The wide range of police tactics seen on campuses nationwide reveal the disparities between police agencies in their training and understanding of the generally accepted best practices in dealing with protests and crowd control issues, law enforcement experts told CNN.

Still,the experts said, police were largely measured in their approach and showed restraint in using force – a direct result of lessons learned during the widespread protests after the police killing of George Floyd nearly four years ago. Those protestswere bigger, fiercer and more sustainedthan prior demonstrations.

“In the rearview mirror of every police executive is the summer of 2020, which was a real defining moment for police in terms of handling demonstrations, violent demonstrations,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement policy group. “Police were not prepared for the level of violence they encountered.”

“You have a balancing act here between universities wanting the police to come on board and then you have police decision makers who are having to determine what response is appropriate,” Wexler said.

Read the full story.

Republican and Democratic officials used cable news interviews Sunday morning to address the ongoing protests on college campuses against the war in Gaza.

Here are some of the latest remarks:

MitchLandrieu, the national co-chair of the Biden-Harris campaign and former New Orleans mayor, stressed that there’s “no place” for either antisemitism or Islamophobia on college campuses.

Landrieu told CNN’s Jake Tapper that President Joe Biden is focused on the “core principles” of what the US Constitution says about protected speech. “Everybody has a right to protest, but they have to protest peacefully,” he said.

Landrieualso responded to independentSen. Bernie Sanders’ warning that what’s unfolding at US colleges could be “Biden’s Vietnam,” saying Sanders’ remarks were an “exaggeration” and that these are different circ*mstances.

Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, now the University of Florida president, called for school officials nationwide to “step up and mind their own shops.”

The university’s spring commencement ceremonies have continued in person as other schools have grappled with canceling or modifying graduation events.

Sasse — whose appointment as president of the state’s flagship university was met with condemnation from students and faculty who opposed his conservative views and knocked his lack of relevant experience —said in an interview with Tapper that the university would affirm the right to free speech, but balance that with enforcing time, place and manner restrictions.

“You don’t get to take over the whole university. People don’t get to spit at cops. You don’t get to barricade yourselves in buildings. You don’t get to disrupt somebody else’s commencement,” he said.

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said that while he respects the right to peaceful protest, the campus demonstrations are “too often not peaceful.”

Scottalso said on NBC that Biden has not sufficiently condemned antisemitism and is “pandering” to his base with his response to protests.

Scottsaid federal funding for colleges and universities is a “privilege” to consider when administrators choose how to respond to unrest.