May 5, 2024 - US campus protests

Our live updates on campus protests across the US have moved here.

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 in a post online.

“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,” the post detailed. 

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 after 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. 

Commencement ceremonies began at colleges and universities across the US this weekend, while administrators continue to grapple with major protests on campus.

Demands vary, but most of the 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.

Here are some of the scenes that played out across the country Saturday and Sunday:

The University of California, Los Angeles, says it will change the school’s security operations in light of the violence at recent campus protests over 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 chancellor explained 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 to fire rubber bullets while clearing out the demonstrators. Masked men were also seen attacking the pro-Palestinian encampment for 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.

Demonstrators who rebuilt an encampment on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles “repeatedly chose to ignore university policies designed to benefit everyone, and to break the law,” the school’s President Carol Folt said in a statement Sunday.

The encampment was dismantled by the Los Angeles Police Department and USC’s Department of Public Safety for a second time early Sunday morning local time.

Folt echoed the university’s earlier statement that Sunday’s operation was “peaceful.” The school did not report any arrests, and students interviewed by CNN affiliate KABC said there was a less chaotic atmosphere than the last time police cracked down on campus.

Folt said students are returning to campus to prepare for finals, and that setup for the school’s modified commencement plans is in “full swing.” 

“Despite our efforts to de-escalate, the occupation was spiraling in a dangerous direction over the last several days,” Folt said. “This had to stop.” 

People were harassed, campus property was stolen and defaced, commencement structures were dismantled, and campus police officers were assaulted by people from outside the university who “jumped the perimeter fencing,” Folt alleged. 

“We will not tolerate illegal encampments of any kind at USC,” she said.

More background: Folt has previously said she had at least two meetings with encampment protesters and brought “specific proposals that would address concerns they had” about the school’s endowment, but the two sides did not come to an agreement.

While demands vary, student protesters have generally called on universities to divest from companies and other entities that they say support or benefit from Israel’s war in Gaza.

A USC professor who has criticized the school’s response to protests told CNN last week that the university’s decision to cancel its Muslim valedictorian’s commencement speech, citing safety concerns, served as a catalyst for demonstrations there.

Video shows LAPD clearing encampments at USC:

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00:32 - Source: cnn

Chicago police are on campus at DePaul University Sunday after the school said pro-Palestinian protests had “escalated” beyond the campus safety office’s control.

Video shot by CNN at the scene shows large crowds of police, protesters and counter-protesters, but no obvious signs of violence or vandalism.

“​Today’s protest escalated requiring intervention beyond DePaul’s Office of Public Safety,” the university said in a statement.

“The Chicago Police Department is on the scene to ensure the safety and wellbeing of DePaul’s students, faculty, staff and community. We have alerted the campus community to avoid the area.”

The university posted online about a heavy police presence on the Lincoln Park Quad, advising anyone on campus to remain indoors.

CNN has reached out to the Chicago Police Department for more information.

Watch video of the protest:

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01:22 - Source: cnn

The Chicago Police Department said Sunday that it arrested 68 people during a demonstration at the Art Institute of Chicago on Saturday.

Authorities had previously said they arrested around 50 people, including students from the affiliated School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Police provided a timeline on the lead-up to the arrests, saying they first issued a warning to disperse at 4:11 p.m. local time, then issued a second warning to disperse at 4:20 p.m.

“The third and final warning was issued at 4:30 p.m. The demonstrators were given another opportunity to leave without arrest, which several did,” police said.

“Following these warnings, ​dozens of demonstrators were arrested for criminal trespass to property. Within 20 minutes of the final warning, the area was cleared.”

The police statement did not specify what other charges those arrested might face.

CNN has reached out to school administrators for information about how many of those taken into custody were students.

University of Southern California’s main campus has reopened to students, faculty and staff after a protest encampment was cleared by the Los Angeles Police Department and school law enforcement early Sunday, university officials announced on X. 

Valid school identification is required to enter the University Park campus, USC officials said.

“Tents and related equipment remain prohibited on campus and will be subject to immediate confiscation,” the post reads.

Some background: USC has seen weeks of anti-war protests at its Los Angeles campus, and the pro-Palestinian encampment cleared Sunday was not the first to form at the school in recent days.

A USC professor who has criticized the school’s response to protests told CNN last week that the university’s decision to cancel its Muslim valedictorian’s commencement speech, citing safety concerns, served as a catalyst for demonstrations there. The school later canceled its main commencement ceremony altogether.

USC’s President Carol Folt has had at least two meetings with encampment protesters and says she brought “specific proposals that would address concerns they had” about the school’s endowment, but the two sides did not come to an agreement.

The number of campus protesters arrested at demonstrations across the US has continued to rise since the first demonstrators were detained at Columbia University two 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 began with 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.

This map shows where people have been taken into custody so far:

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:

Mitch Landrieu, 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.

Landrieu also responded to independent Sen. 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 circumstances.

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 span May 1 to May 6 and 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 will 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.”

Scott also claimed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Biden has not sufficiently condemned antisemitism and is “pandering” to his base with his response to protests.

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

Police cleared the protest encampment at the University of Southern California without making any arrests Sunday, the school confirmed in a statement.

The school’s main University Park Campus in Los Angeles remains closed, USC said in a post online around 6:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET).

In a statement to CNN, Joel Curran, the school’s senior vice president of communications, said the Los Angeles Police Department provided security as the encampment was cleared “peacefully.”

Two students told CNN affiliate KABC they did not witness any arrests Sunday morning, shortly after LAPD and campus security personnel cleared out the encampment.

Student Nicolas Corral said the police presence overnight Saturday differed greatly from earlier in the week, when 93 students were arrested on campus.

“We didn’t see any arrests, whereas on that Wednesday, protesters were surrendering peacefully to LAPD to be arrested,” Corral said.

Henry Kofman, a student journalist with the school’s Daily Trojan newspaper, agreed it “100% went a lot smoother” than the police operation earlier in the week, and said students were cooperative with authorities.

Video from ANG News showed some protesters dragging away their belongings as officers in riot gear moved in to take down tents from the encampment. Officers could be seen requesting student ID from some of the people in the area.

Some context: USC has seen major protests against Israel’s war in Gaza over the past several weeks. The prestigious school’s president has met with encampment protesters multiple times, but said last week that USC has been unable to reach a deal with them.

This post has been updated with a statement from the school and details from an interview with USC students.

Police officers have moved in on the pro-Palestinian protest encampment on the campus of University of Southern California, the school said early Sunday morning.

Officials have closed the school’s primary campus, University Park Campus, while Los Angeles Police Department and school law enforcement officers clear the protest site, according to campus alerts.

Videos posted online early Sunday from witnesses and local media appear to show LAPD officers in riot gear assembling in large numbers at the edge of campus.

Some context: USC has seen major protests at its Los Angeles campus over the past several weeks. The prestigious school’s president has met with encampment protesters multiple times, but said last week that USC has been unable to reach a deal with them.

The school warned Thursday that students arrested during on-campus protests could face disciplinary action from the university, according to student newspaper the Daily Trojan.

While demands have varied among schools and even within protest movements, students demonstrating across the US have called on institutions to disinvest from companies and other entities that they say support or benefit from Israel’s war in Gaza.

A USC professor who has criticized the school’s response to protests told CNN last week that the university’s decision to cancel its Muslim valedictorian’s commencement speech, citing safety concerns, served as a catalyst for demonstrations there.

This post has been updated with additional information about the protests at USC.

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 — and in 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 protests were bigger, fiercer and more sustained than 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 here.

“Saturday Night Live” took on one of the top news stories of the past week on its latest episode, when cast members played concerned parents of New York City college kids involved in protests in the cold open over the weekend.

Michael Longfellow played a talk show host who welcomed parents played by Heidi Gardner, Mikey Day and Kenan Thompson. Longfellow remarked that it’s been a worrisome time on university campuses throughout the country, and sought comment from his guests.

While Gardner and Day’s characters expressed concerns about their children’s activities in the protests against Israel’s war against Hamas, Thompson said he was supportive of the efforts.

“Well I think it’s just great, it’s wonderful,” he said. “Nothing makes me prouder than young people using their voices to fight for what they believe in.”

But when Longfellow asked Thompson how he felt about his daughter, a Columbia student, specifically getting involved, the latter responded, “What’s that now? When whose daughter is out there? No man, you buggin’!”

“Alexis Vanessa Roberts better have her butt in class. Let me find out that she’s in one of those damn tents instead of the dorm room that I paid for,” he added.

At Columbia University on Tuesday, dozens of protesters entered the university’s Hamilton Hall and barricaded themselves inside before the institution asked for the New York City Police Department’s assistance. A total of 282 people were arrested at the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia as well as The City College of New York, according to the NYPD.

Read the full story.

From New York to Los Angeles, traditional university graduation ceremonies – many beginning this weekend – will take place on the heels of escalating confrontations over the war in Gaza, with police entering campuses to make mass arrests and rip apart encampments.

A time of sun-drenched pomp and circumstance, esteemed speakers, academic robes and decorated mortarboards arrives amid anxiety and exasperation for graduates, faculty and university officials.

An important personal milestone for many young adults will be reached against a backdrop of police barricades and heightened law enforcement presence, metal detectors and other security measures. Trained staffers will be on hand to manage disruptions.

US colleges have been using law enforcement – along with academic suspensions and expulsions – to quell student demonstrations since Hamas’ October attack on Israel left more than 1,200 dead and dozens taken hostage. Israel’s devastating response in Gaza – with more than 34,000 Palestinians killed, according to its health ministry – has further fueled deeply held views of students and faculty on all sides.

Read more about preparations universities are making as commencement ceremonies get underway.

The University of Mississippi has opened a student conduct investigation after actions of “hostility and racist overtones” were portrayed during a demonstration on campus.

On Thursday, about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating on campus in a barricaded zone when they were surrounded by an estimated 200 counterprotesters, some holding American flags, several Trump flags and some dressed in red, white and blue.

While there are multiple videos circulating online showing the protest at varying times, one video in particular shows a group of mostly young White men in the counterprotest yelling at a Black woman, at least one counterprotester is seen on video making what appears to be monkey gestures at the woman — although CNN has not confirmed that is the case— as she records the group on her phone. 

Jaylin R. Smith, 24, confirmed to CNN she is the woman seen in the video. 

“One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me,” the journalism and new media graduate student told CNN on Friday. 

The video viewed by CNN shows a large group of counterprotesters yelling at Smith as she walks toward them while holding her phone. Law enforcement appeared to be telling her to “go back” to where other pro-Palestinian protesters were rallying. Smith is heard in the video saying, “I’m not so peaceful” repeatedly as police usher her away from the counterprotesters. 

CNN has been unable to identify any of the counterprotesters seen in the video.

At least 25 people were arrested for trespassing Saturday, the University of Virginia said, after police were called in to disperse a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

In a statement, UVA said those arrested were taken to the Albemarle County Regional Jail. The university said it is still waiting for confirmation regarding how many of the 25 arrested were affiliated with UVA.

The statement said the University of Virginia “responded today to a demonstration near the University Chapel following protesters’ multiple University police violations and subsequent violent conduct.”

CNN has reached out to the UVA Encampment for Gaza multiple times for comment.

When asked for examples of violent conduct from demonstrators, a university spokesperson referred CNN to its statement, which indicated during the police action Saturday, “authorities were again met with agitation, chanting and violent gestures such as swinging of objects.”

The campus was declared “stable” around 4 p.m., UVA said, after police were seen clearing protesters from the area.

Earlier this week, a group called UVA Encampment for Gaza posted a statement on Instagram calling for the university to divest from Israel.

In its statement, the university said protests earlier in the week were peaceful, with no disruptions to university activities. A request to remove tents near the UVA chapel Tuesday was honored and previous demonstrations complied with university policies, the statement said.

The statement said on Friday, UVA officials offered to continue discussions about university investments, adding, “The University agreed to the group’s final request to allow students, faculty and staff to express their support for Palestine without risking administrative discipline, provided that such expressive activity occurred within the limits of the laws and UVA policies.”

UVA said by Friday evening, “a crowd occupied the demonstration area for a vigil and began erecting several tents and canopies prohibited by University policy.”

Saturday morning, the university said its chief of police told the group they would be given 15 minutes to voluntarily remove the tents. After several further warnings throughout the day, UVA said, “Due to the demonstrators’ increasing resistance and refusal to comply with the declaration by promptly leaving the designated area, additional resources from Virginia State Police were requested to assist with enforcing the declaration of an unlawful assembly around 2:45 p.m.”

Virginia State Police referred CNN to the University and its police as the lead agency on campus. State Police were there in “an assist capacity” Saturday, a spokesperson said.

Approximately 50 people were arrested outside the Art Institute of Chicago during a demonstration on Saturday, according to the institute.

A demonstration, including some School of Art Institute of Chicago students, started on Saturday morning in the North Garden of the museum, according to an institute spokesperson.

As time went on, protesters “shoved a security officer and stole their keys to the museum, blocked emergency exits, and barricade gates,” according to the spokesperson.

Officers offered a new location to the group to continue their protest, but they refused. “During multiple rounds of negotiations, SAIC student protesters were promised amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges if they agreed to relocate,” the spokesperson said.

Negotiations continued for about five hours and an agreement was never reached.

Chicago Police decided to end the protest in “the safest way possible” and arrested approximately 50 people, according to the spokesperson.

CNN has reached out to the Chicago Police Department for additional information.

Police have cleared out pro-Palestinian protesters and taken down tents near the center of University of Virginia’s campus.

A line of officers in riot gear approached the group of protesters Saturday afternoon, grabbing away umbrellas and tossing them aside before pushing forward to a line of tents and canopies, video from CNN affiliate WVIR showed. Officers could be seen pulling apart the structures and appeared to detain some of the demonstrators.

Around 4 p.m. ET, the university said on its website that the situation was “stable” and that “police remain on scene.”

The UVA Department of Safety and Security had earlier announced on X that the protest was declared an “unlawful assembly,” and urged students to avoid the area near the Rotunda and Chapel at the center of campus.

CNN has reached out to the university and local law enforcement for further comment.

Some context: Over the last several days, pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered for demonstrations at the Charlottesville campus in a “picnic-like environment,” without a significant number of tents or other temporary structures being assembled, CNN’s Polo Sandoval reports. The school had previously stated that tents would be in violation of campus policy and prompt a response from officials.

In the last 24 hours or so, there have been more signs that demonstrators could be assembling an encampment similar to those seen at other universities, according to Sandoval.

Earlier this week, a group called UVA Encampment for Gaza posted a statement on Instagram calling for the university to divest from Israel.

“UVA administration has militarized our campus. But what did they do when white supremacists attacked Charlottesville in 2017? Nothing. Call and email now. Flood the lines and tell them to stand down,” the statement reads.

This post has been updated with more details about the police activity at UVA.