April 26, 2024 - Protests at Columbia and other schools escalate

Negotiations between Columbia University administrators and pro-Palestinian protesters who've been occupying a campus lawn with a sprawling encampment "have shown progress and are continuing as planned," the school said in a statement late Thursday.

"We have our demands; they have theirs."

The university also denied rumors that the NYPD had been called to campus, calling them "false."

Some context: Columbia announced late Tuesday that it had given protesters a midnight deadline to agree to dismantle their encampment. But the university then said early Wednesday that it had extended the talks for another 48 hours. If no agreement is reached, the school has said it will consider "alternative options," which many protesters have interpreted to mean calling in police to clear the site.

Protesters briefly clashed with police at Emory University in Georgia on Thursday, the university told CNN.

A confrontation between protesters and police outside the school's Candler School of Theology prompted an "increased law enforcement presence" on campus, according to the university.

"The crowd ultimately returned to the Quad before dispersing."

Video from CNN affiliate WSB shows some protesters using large posters to push into a line of police officers whose backs are against the doors of the building. As officers push back against the posters, one demonstrator chucks their sign at the row of officers.

Hours earlier, 28 people were arrested, including 20 Emory community members, according to Vice President for Public Safety Cheryl Elliott.

A CNN crew witnessed at least two professors detained by Atlanta police.

Elliott said that multiple dispersal orders were issued to the encampment telling them to leave because they were trespassing.  

Georgia State Patrol said they deployed a taser on one individual who actively resisted arrest when protesters were throwing bottles at officers and refusing to disperse. Elliott said that person was not a member of the Emory community. 

Organizers of the demonstrations said the protesters will “continue the call for Emory University to completely divest from all programs enabling Israeli apartheid.”

They also called for “an end to the police's brutality and the immediate release of all activists arrested.”

President Joe Biden will be in New York City on Friday, but White House and campaign officials said there have been no internal discussions about him visiting Columbia University.

Some demonstrators say the Biden administration is complicit in the deaths of the many thousands of civilians in Gaza.

Groups of senior White House officials have traveled to cities with large Muslim and Arab populations in recent weeks to meet with local community leaders and hear their concerns — gatherings that have at times prompted calls for boycotts.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Tuesday that the White House was monitoring “closely” the protests on college campuses and that Biden takes seriously the conversations he has had with community leaders about the current “painful moment.”

Colleges across the country have erupted with pro-Palestinian protests, and school administrators are trying — and largely failing — to defuse the situation.

Several schools have called the police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across US campuses.

The recent surge in protests have inflamed tensions among students, forcing leadership to decide when free speech on campus crosses a line. The atmosphere was so charged that officials at Columbia – the epicenter of the protests that began last week – announced students can attend classes virtually starting Monday.

Passover, a major Jewish holiday, began this week, heightening fears among a number of Jewish students who have reported hearing antisemitic comments at some of the protests. The anxiety comes as reports of antisemitic acts have surged across America since October 7.

When did the protests start?

The situation escalated last week at Columbia University, where encampments were organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a student-led coalition of more than 100 organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, to protest what they describe as the university’s “continued financial investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and military occupation of Palestine,” according to its news release.

What are they asking for?

Columbia protesters say they won’t disperse until the school commits to a “complete divestment” of its funds from entities connected to Israel.

Other protesters are similarly calling on their campuses to divest from companies that sell weapons, construction equipment, technology services and other items to Israel.

Where else are protests happening?

Since last Thursday, there have been protests at several campuses, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, University of New Mexico, University of California, Berkeley, Yale University, Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.

Read more here.

Columbia University’s faculty senate is expected to vote Friday on a resolution admonishing embattled school president Minouche Shafik over several of her recent decisions, including calling in police to clear a student encampment last week, the New York Times reports.

The resolution would allow the school senate to avoid a censure vote during a critical time for the school, the Times reports, citing several unnamed senators who attended a closed-door meeting Wednesday. Some feared a censure vote would be perceived as giving in to Republican lawmakers, according to the paper.

A Columbia University spokesperson confirmed Shafik’s closed-door meeting with the senate on Wednesday but would not comment on the resolution to CNN.

Some context: Shafik has faced immense criticism from some students, faculty and Democratic lawmakers for her decision to authorize police to break up pro-Palestinian student protests last week— a move that resulted in more than 100 arrests.

Other students, Jewish advocacy groups and Republican lawmakers are slamming Shafik for not cracking down on protests — which they say have included antisemitic rhetoric — both on campus and outside its gates.

Several Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have called for Shafik to resign.

CNN’s Maria Sole Campinoti contributed to this report.

Brown University has identified about 130 students who it alleges violated a school conduct code that forbids encampments on campus, a university spokesperson said.

The university's Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards has notified the students, who were identified through ID checks, spokesperson Brian Clark said in a release.

An encampment of about 90 people had formed on the school's Providence, Rhode Island campus Wednesday morning, according to Brown.

Students found responsible will be disciplined depending on their behavior and other factors, including any prior conduct violations, the university said, noting students could face probation or separation from the school.

At least 33 people were detained on Indiana University’s campus Thursday following encampment protests.

The Indiana University Police and Indiana State Police said they warned the individuals protesting “numerous times” to remove their structures and they would be allowed to stay.

“Following their refusal to comply with university policy, the group was advised to leave the area,” the Indiana University Police Department said.

Officers gave a final warning at 3:46 p.m., and at 3:57 p.m., individuals who refused were detained and removed from the area.

Thirty-three people were taken to the Monroe County Justice Center and police continue to monitor ongoing activity on campus.

“Indiana University Bloomington is a campus where we encourage and respect free speech and open dialogue,” a university spokesperson said in a statement.

A State Department spokesperson said Thursday that the Biden administration supports the right to protest peacefully.

When asked if the protesters' voices are reaching Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Patel said, “Absolutely.”

Patel added that “harmful rhetoric, rhetoric whether it be rooted in antisemitism, Islamophobia, is incredibly problematic and needs to be condemned and called out.”

Sudents inside campus encampments that have spread across the US are from a variety of backgrounds — including Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims, joined by students of other religious and ethnic backgrounds.

They hold a spectrum of political and social views: liberal and heterodox, progressive and absolutist.

Some support Palestinians: Many have been motivated by the reports and video coming out of Gaza and see the actions of the Israeli military as a continuation of a more than 70-year-long oppression of Palestinian rights, land and culture.

Protesters say they want their schools to stand against what they believe is genocide in Gaza.

Some support Israel: As reports of antisemitism have surged to record levels since Hamas’ attack on October 7, many Jews feel Israel requires more support now than ever as a refuge for Jews, who have long been an oppressed minority.

Even if they oppose Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies and the country’s actions in Gaza, many Jews believe anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment and even peaceful protest of Israel is itself antisemitic — because the concept of Israel as a Jewish homeland is core to Judaism.

And some support the Israeli government’s efforts to crush Hamas in Gaza.