April 27, 2024 - Campus protest updates

A central demand of protesters on college campuses across the nation is that universities divest from Israel-linked companies that are profiting from the war in Gaza.

Other common threads include demanding universities disclose their investments, support a ceasefire in Gaza, and sever academic ties with Israeli universities.

At Princeton University, protesters are demanding the school end research on weapons of war “used to enable genocide,” according to a flyer at a demonstration.

At Columbia University, where the movement started last week, protesters want the university to sever ties with its center in Tel Aviv and a dual degree program with Tel Aviv University. New York University protesters also use the school’s Tel Aviv center as a rallying cry.

Amid hundreds of arrests at universities across the US, some call for officials to protect free speech and spare students from being punished for participating in the protests.

At the University of Southern California, protesters are demanding “full amnesty” for those brought into custody and “no policing on campus.”

Columbia protesters called for the university to “disclose and sever all ties” with the New York Police Department and ask that the university support low-income Harlem residents, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest.

Student protesters say the demands to disclose and to divest are interconnected.

Protesters argue that many of the financial interests of universities are opaque and the links to Israel may be even greater than officials realize.

Read the full story.

Pro-Palestinian protests continued at major US universities through Friday evening decrying Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

Throughout the week, several schools called police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across the country. Protesters have demanded schools divest campus funds from entities connected to Israel.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel killed about 1,200 people.

College administrators are facing increasing pressure from lawmakers to rein in protests. At Columbia - the epicenter of the demonstrations - the school's senate passed a resolution late Friday to investigate the university leadership’s handling of the protests. 

Here are the latest developments:

Arizona State University: Police at Arizona State University arrested three people Friday on suspicion of trespassing "in connection with setting up an unauthorized encampment," a university spokesperson said.

Barnard College: The school said it reached resolutions with “nearly all students who were previously placed on interim suspension” for participating in the protest encampment on Columbia’s campus.

Columbia University: The university banned a student spokesperson for the Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition who said in January “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” He subsequently apologized.

Denver campuses: At a joint campus for the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver and Metropolitan State University of Denver, around 40 of the approximately 100 people who set up a pro-Palestinian encampment were arrested Friday, the campus said in a statement.

Emory University: Faculty gathered on campus to express concerns about the violent arrests that took place on campus on Thursday, with tenured professors calling for the university's president, Gregory Fenves, to step down over the decision to call in state and local police to clear out the protesters. 

George Washington University: The university said Friday that any student who remains in University Yard may be placed on temporary suspension and administratively barred from campus.

Ohio State University: A total of 36 demonstrators were arrested Thursday night after refusing dispersal orders, according to a preliminary report from the university.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: More than 75 students gathered Friday to set up an encampment at the school, demanding the university divest from corporations that invest in Israel and its military operations.

University of Southern California: School president Carol L. Folt said in a statement the campus has become unsafe and the university will launch an inquiry and take action to protect all USC students, faculty and staff.

University of Texas at Austin: The school has placed the Palestine Solidarity Committee on "interim suspension." The group organized Wednesday's event, where over 50 arrests ensued.

Virginia Tech: School officials on Friday issued a statement about an encampment on campus, saying they told protesters the event does not comply with university policy.

Yale University: One letter from the Faculty for Justice in Palestine organization criticized student arrests this week and said faculty are prepared to stage walkouts and boycott Yale’s graduation ceremonies. Another letter denounced Yale's administration for failing "in your responsibility to protect the Jewish students, staff and faculty at Yale." 

"Outside agitators" at Columbia are "trying to hijack a peaceful protest," New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said Friday night.

The commissioner added the NYPD has seen the same groups of “professional protestors” demonstrating nightly “at various demonstrations regardless of the message.”

Daughtry reiterated the NYPD is ready to intervene and address issues on Columbia’s campus as soon as the university’s president gives them the go-ahead.

Around 40 of the approximately 100 people who set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the Auraria Campus in Denver were arrested Friday, the campus said in a statement. 

The campus is home to the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver as well as the Metropolitan State University of Denver. The arrests were made by Auraria Higher Education Center Police and the Denver Police Department.

Campus and education department officials directed students to dismantle and leave the encampment, and after "protestors did not comply after numerous written and verbal requests, law enforcement stepped in at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Friday to remove the encampments," the campus statement continued.

Columbia University's senate voted in favor of a resolution to create a task force to investigate the university leadership's handling of Pro-Palestinian protests on campus, according to documents obtained by CNN.

The resolution passed Friday alleges, among other things, that the administration jeopardized academic freedom, breached privacy and due process of students and faculty members and violated shared governance principles by calling for police intervention on campus, according to documents on the meeting. 

After the investigation, the task force will present its findings and recommendations to the university's senate to determine further actions and take the necessary steps to address the alleged misconduct of the administration, according to the documents. 

Some context: The decision comes after the school and university president Minouche Shafik faced criticism from students, faculty and left-leaning lawmakers after Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to shut down student protests on campus, which have urged school leaders to cut off economic and academic ties to Israel. At the same time, students, religious groups and right-leaning lawmakers have said the administration has failed to stop antisemitism inside Columbia’s campus and at protests outside its gates, CNN previously reported.

Columbia's senate represents people on campus, including faculty, researchers, students, administration and more, according to the school's website. The body has the authority to make policies on a variety of issues that affect the school.

The University of Southern California needed to "act immediately to protect our community" when it came to protests on campus this week, school president Carol L. Folt said in a statement.

The university has "long-standing protocols that allow for peaceful protesting" and has been working with the school community to ensure they are followed during the school year, Folt said.

"The current pressures and polarization have taken a toll in ways that break my heart," she said. "I know Trojans will do what they have always done: share points of view, listen, search for common ground – and find ways to support each other."

She encouraged anyone in the campus community experiencing harassment or bullying to report it to the school, saying it would launch an inquiry and take action to protect students, faculty and staff "no matter their views."

Columbia University has banned one of the students leading the university’s pro-Palestinian protests, a university spokesperson told CNN on Friday.  

Khymani James, a student spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, acknowledged in a post on X that he said, “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” saying it was from an Instagram Live video taken in January.

“I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize," James wrote.

The American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to leaders at public and private universities Thursday, urging them to make space for student speech and protest.

The organization noted five "basic guardrails" to ensure free speech and academic freedom on campus. But some of that guidance also highlight the challenge for college administrators. The second guardrail reads:

Two open letters are circulating among Yale faculty reacting to the university administration's pro-Palestinian protests this week, according to the school's student-run newspaper, the Yale Daily News.

One from the Faculty for Justice in Palestine organization criticized student arrests this week and said that faculty are prepared to stage walkouts and boycott Yale’s graduation ceremonies “if the administration continues to meet students’ demands for disclosure and divestment with silence and punishment."

The other letter denounced Yale's administration for failing "in your responsibility to protect the Jewish students, staff and faculty at Yale." The letter cites alleged examples of protesters intimidating and harassing Jewish students.

The two letters' differing messages underscore the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the protests roiling college campuses across the US, not only for the students but also for academics and other staff.