Protests at Columbia and other schools escalate

Over 20 tents have been set up in front of a chapel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Tuesday. 

The tents display numerous Palestinian flags and signage demanding MIT stop providing “support for the Israeli Occupation Forces." Another sign reads "liberated zone." The area is currently quiet, and it appears most demonstrators are on their laptops working. 

The area is encircled by metal fencing, and police cruisers are parked near the tents where four officers are walking around on foot. 

US Education Sec. Miguel Cardona said Tuesday he is "deeply concerned" about incidents of antisemitism at Columbia University and pointed to a previously opened Civil Rights investigation into the university for violations involving antisemitic harassment.

"Antisemitic hate on college campuses is unacceptable. I am deeply concerned by what is happening at Columbia University. In November 2023, our Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation of Columbia involving Title VI," Cardona wrote on X.

The Department of Education had previously announced it was opening an investigation into a number of institutions for "alleged shared ancestry violations" following allegations of antisemitic harassment. The investigations were launched under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which says universities and K-12 schools have a responsibility to provide all students with an environment free from discrimination.

"While we can’t comment on pending investigations, every student deserves to feel a sense of safety and belonging at school. Hate has no place in our schools. All education leaders must stand definitively against hate, antisemitism, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim sentiment," Cardona wrote Tuesday.

Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey on Tuesday said Minouche Shafik, Columbia University’s president, should do more regarding the protests at the school.

But he said "it’s up to the board of trustees” on whether Shafik should resign.

“The president of Columbia must act…Now it's time for action, not just words,” Gottheimer told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on CNN This Morning. “This is a big moment for the president of Columbia and frankly for presidents across the country.”

“The question for all of these presidents is, ‘Will they step up to the moment and do the right thing?’ And that's what we should expect from them: To act and not just to talk, not just for words. But actually for action and to make all students feel safe,” he said.

Gottheimer also said having students attend hybrid classes and stay home to feel safe “is not what should be expected at Columbia or any college.”

“I'm expecting the president of Columbia to step up and fix that. And the bottom line is there's federal funding that goes to these universities... They have a legal obligation to protect all students under Title VI and that's the expectation. We expect that from Congress out of these universities and I'm hoping they step up to the moment and they have to do so now.”

Asked if he would feel safe sending his children to Columbia University in the current environment, Gottheimer said: “After what I saw yesterday, I would be very concerned.”

He also said there should be Title VI investigations when it comes to situations similar to what is happening on campus.

Gottheimer was one of several lawmakers who walked across Columbia University on Monday to stand in solidarity with Jewish students. 

Pro-Palestinian protests continue to rock major American universities, 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 has engulfed universities, leading many students, especially Jewish students, to fear for their safety as the Passover holiday is underway.

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.

In recent days, the on-campus demonstrations have attracted non-university-affiliated protesters to the campus gates, which student organizers have sought to distance themselves from.

As the protests continue, a growing sense of unease has spread among Columbia University’s Jewish community as they enter the approximately weeklong observation of Passover, a major Jewish holiday celebrating freedom.

Hagar Chemali, an adjunct associate professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, told CNN, “If I had my child at Columbia, I also would tell them to go home.”

“It’s not just because of the tension on campus, it’s also because those protests on campus have invited extremists outside,” Chemali said, referring to non-student protesters who have been demonstrating near the campus.

Read more here.

The encampment on New York City's Columbia University was lively Tuesday morning, with many students congregating in circles, eating and talking.

There is a substantial supply of food and water, organized in a buffet style on a row of plastic folding tables in the center of the lawn. Artwork, tarps and Palestinian flags decorate the hedges lining the perimeter. 

Before entering, students are reminded of the encampment's guidelines, which are listed on a sign at the entrance to the lawn and titled, "Gaza Solidarity Encampment Community Guidelines."

The encampment guidelines include not taking photos of people without their permission, not using any drugs or alcohol in the encampment and not engaging with counter protesters.

Signs on the perimeter of the lawn read, "Demilitarize education," "Admitted students enroll in revolution" and "Globalize the intifada."

One protester in the encampment told CNN Tuesday they are now adhering to specific media hours, from 2 pm to 4 pm ET, where designated students will speak to the press. He said they instigated this policy to mirror the Columbia-sanctioned media hours that occurred from 2 pm to 4 pm on Monday. 

The encampment began Thursday, the day of the arrest of 108 protesters on suspicion of criminal trespassing for camping out two nights on Columbia’s East Lawn, just opposite the current encampment.

On the rest of campus, Columbia Facilities employees continue to set up bleachers and chairs for the planned May 15 commencement ceremony.

Over 130 people were arrested at New York University at a pro-Palestinian protest Monday night, although an official number is still being tallied, an NYPD official told CNN.

The demonstrations haven't been violent overall, except for a few bottles thrown at police officers, and almost everyone was arrested for trespass Monday, the official said.

The demonstrations are mostly student vs student, in comparison to the usual student vs government or institutions. That has posed a unique challenge for police, the official said. 

There is an element present at these demonstrations of what law enforcement has previously identified as “professional agitators,” or demonstrators who are known by police who always show up to stir things up, the official said.

The NYPD is not planning on making changes to staffing because of the protests, the official said. 

Taylor Romine contributed to this report.

RELATED

Inside the Seder dinner on Columbia's Gaza protest encampment | CNN

A group of Jewish and non-Jewish students gathered at the Gaza protest encampment at Columbia University Monday evening to celebrate Seder, a ritual feast at the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

“Passover is the story of our escape from slavery from the land of Egypt and I think we need to recognize that on Passover, it’s important to stand up for oppressed people everywhere, whether they are Jewish or not,” said Columbia graduate student Jared Kannell.

Columbia student Cameron Jones told CNN: “I am Jewish and, to me, Passover symbolizes perseverance and resilience. I think this encampment represents those two ideals because we have seen the university take countless measures to try to suppress our student activism, and here is us persevering through that.”

Produced by CNN's Hazel Tang, Maya Blackstone, Bryce Urbany and Henry Zeris.

The arrests of dozens of pro-Palestinian, pro-divestment activists at Yale University has not deterred protesters from uniting for another demonstration Tuesday.

Yale University police arrested 45 protesters Monday and charged them with criminal trespassing after they refused orders to leave, said police in New Haven, Connecticut.

About a dozen protesters remained Tuesday morning – some with sleeping bags in front of the school’s library. But Beinecke Plaza – the scene of Monday’s arrests – was closed and under police guard.

The rally echoed a spate of pro-Palestinian demonstrations unfolding across other college campuses.

Tensions have escalated at many US universities since the October 7 terror attack on Israel by Hamas, in which about 1,200 people were killed, and Israel’s subsequent war on Hamas in Gaza, which has since killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, according to the enclave’s health ministry.

Read more here.

The New York Police Department shared a letter to social media on Monday that the department said came from New York University after protesters refused to comply with repeated requests to disperse from Gould Plaza on campus.

“Our officers responded to the location without delay and dispersed the crowd — making numerous arrests, as necessary,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said in a post on X.

In the letter, NYU said they considered “all protesters occupying Gould Plaza to be to be trespassers and we would like the NYPD to clear the area and to take action to remove the protesters,” the NYPD said in the post.