April 25, 2024 - US university protests

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

The Indiana University Police and Indiana State Police warned the individuals protesting “numerous times” on Thursday morning and afternoon to remove their structures and they would be allowed to stay, according to a statement from the Indiana University Police Department.

“Following their refusal to comply with university policy, the group was advised to leave the area,” police said.

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

33 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. “To ensure the safety and security of the IU community and to avoid disruption of university operations, expressive activity must be conducted in accordance with university free speech and events policies. This includes the enforcement of policies that require advanced approval for the installation of temporary structures.”

The nuance and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains difficult to capture succinctly, particularly during escalating turmoil among groups with deep-held—and entrenched—views on the issue.

Students inside campus encampments that have spread across the United States over the past week 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 too: liberal and heterodox, progressive and absolutist. Many have been motivated by the reports and video coming out of Gaza that is often unbearable to watch. Many of these students see the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza 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.

As antisemitism has surged to record levels since Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, 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 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.

CAIR has reported record incidents of Islamophobia on campus, and the Anti-Defamation League has recorded a historic number of incidents of violence and threats against Jewish students. Some Jewish students have said they were threatened by protesters and encountered antisemitic rhetoric at some of the rallies over the past week, and those concerns were amplified by pro-Israel (and some American) politicians. The White House and multiple governors have voiced support for Jewish students and urged protesters and universities to exercise restraint. 

CNN reporting on the ground has largely described students inside the encampments engaging in activities like poetry readings, painting and completing school assignments. There have also been examples of multi-faith prayers and group dancing. Yet hundreds of protesters have been arrested for trespassing and for violating school rules, including blocking access to campus buildings or other disruptions on campus. The protests and some protesters' social media posts have made some Jewish students feel unsafe, even as most university administrators have largely resisted taking action against protesters exercising their right to free expression in a unobtrusive, nonviolent manner, as the vast majority of the protests have been. Advocates of the protesters, including some politicians, have criticized the universities' responses, including the arrests.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke with a pair of Jewish leaders at Columbia University and Barnard College this week, a White House official said, condemning antisemitism and calls for violence against Jews amid ongoing protests on and around campus.

In calls with Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of the Orthodox Union-JLIC at Columbia and Barnard, and Brian Cohen, Levine Family executive director at Columbia/Barnard Hillel, Emhoff “recognized that while every American has the right to freedom of speech and to protest peacefully, hate speech and calls for violence against Jews is both antisemitic and unacceptable.” 

The conversations, the official added, “also focused on the immediate need to address antisemitism on college campuses.”

Buechler wrote a WhatsApp message to roughly 300 mostly-Orthodox Jewish students on campus that the clashes “have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety.”

Emhoff has made combating the scourge of antisemitism — which has significantly increased in the US since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 — a key priority of his time as second gentleman. He is the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president and has used his platform to regularly engage with Jewish leaders around the country. 

The official said that Emhoff “emphasized that no student should feel unsafe on campus and offered his support on behalf of the Administration. He wished them a happy Passover and expressed the importance in finding Jewish joy during this difficult time.”

On Wednesday, Emhoff spoke out about pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country, saying that the escalation of some protests toward antisemitic rhetoric is “just wrong.”

“First of all, we just want students to be safe,” Emhoff said in an interview with Telemundo.

He continued, “When the protests disrupt that, and when protests go beyond simply peaceful expression of a position and it goes into hate, it turns into threats of violence, it turns into calling for Jews to be gassed and Jews to be killed, that’s just wrong. That is antisemitic and it is wrong.”

In an updated statement about the protests, an Emory University spokesperson said several dozen protesters "trespassed" into Emory's campus on Thursday morning to set up tents on the school's quad.

"The activists who initially gathered were not recognized as members of our community and were disrupting the university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals," the statement said.

Members of the Emory community later joined the initial group, according to the spokesperson.

Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police at the Georgia university on Thursday. Police used pepper spray and pepper balls to clear the area of demonstrators, a CNN team on the scene reported.

The statement said "a couple dozen people" were taken into custody after the Emory Police Department notified them they were trespassing and the people refused to leave.

CNN previously reported that at least two professors were arrested during the protest, but the university spokesperson declined to share information about exactly how many people were taken into custody and what, if any, charges were filed.

A group of Democratic Georgia state lawmakers on Thursday condemned the “excessive force used by Georgia State Patrol” during arrests at Emory University.

“The use of extreme anti-riot tactics by Georgia State Patrol, including tasers and gas, is a dangerous escalation to protests which were by all accounts peaceful and nonviolent,” according to the statement posted on social media by Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Democrat who is also Palestinian.

The group blamed Georgia leaders and said they have created an environment where “state police feel free or perhaps are directed— to respond to normal peaceful protests with violence.”

“We cannot allow this dangerous repression to continue. Regardless of one's views on this or any other issue, there is no justification for this kind of excessive force,” they continued in the statement. “We call on all state officials to immediately deescalate and prevent further harm to our constituents.”

The ACLU of Georgia also said on Thursday it was concerned about law enforcement’s response to the protests.

“The freedom to protest without retribution is essential to our democracy. Atlanta has historically been a place where citizens could freely exercise their rights to protest, but we have unfortunately seen a series of unconstitutional crackdowns on speech and protest across Georgia in recent years,” the organization said in a statement. “Colleges and universities should be places where viewpoints, expression, debate, and free speech are encouraged, not suppressed.”

Georgia's attorney general, Chris Carr, weighed in on the pro-Palestinian protests and encampments at Georgia universities like Emory.

"We will proudly stand by any university that takes action to protect the health and safety of Georgia’s students," Carr said on social media. "Nobody has the legal right to shut down our schools by camping out and making antisemitic threats."

Carr's comments come after a clash between protesters and police officers at Emory University in Atlanta. Police used pepper spray and pepper balls to clear the area of demonstrators, a CNN team on the scene reported. At least two professors were also detained during the protests.

Palestine Legal filed a civil rights complaint against Columbia University this week through the US Department of Education, demanding the agency's Office for Civil Rights investigate the school's treatment of Palestinian students and allies.

The complaint goes beyond the events of the last week, when NYPD arrested more than 100 protesting students. It alleged that for the past months, "Palestinian students, Arabs, Muslims, students perceived to be Palestinian, and students associated with or advocating for Palestinians" were subject to anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian harassment and Islamophobia.

The complaint represents four students and Columbia's Students for Justice in Palestine. Palestine Legal said these students received death threats and were "harassed for wearing keffiyehs or hijab, doxed, stereotyped, being treated differently by high-ranking administrators including Columbia University President Minouche Shafik."

Palestine Legal also said the school has the responsibility to protect its students, including Palestinians and supporters, and should not threaten or call the police or military. Columbia has denied threats to call the National Guard were ever on the table in negotiations with protesters.

"Since October 7th alone, the organization has received reports of over 1,800 incidents, over five times the number we received in all of 2022, reflecting an exponential rise in anti-Palestinian repression across the US," Palestine Legal said in a press release.

Rallies for Israel and against antisemitism will take place at two universities Thursday night.

Near Emory, a "Passover gathering" will be held at a local Israeli-owned bakery near campus to show that Atlanta is "strong and will not be deterred by antisemitism," according to an image being circulated around local groups on social media.

According to the Columbia Jewish Alumni Association, there will be a "United for Israel march" outside the university later Thursday. The rally point is outside the gates of the school. The group's X account called it a "unity march of Christians and Jews."

The University of Southern California canceled its main commencement ceremony for 2024 graduating students in May, citing "new safety measures in place."

"We understand that this is disappointing," the university said in an announcement on its website.

The announcement came days after the university canceled the commencement speech of its Muslim valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, due to what it called security concerns. USC then canceled appearances by prominent speakers and honorees at the May 10 graduation ceremony.

USC's commencement weekend is scheduled for May 8-11. Its main stage ceremony traditionally brought all 65,000 students and their families together. The university said it would host "new activities and celebrations" to ensure the weekend would still be "meaningful, memorable and uniquely USC."

Many students in the class of 2024 graduated high school in 2020, meaning they may also have missed out on graduation ceremonies due to Covid-19.