April 30, 2024 - US university protests

Dozens of Columbia University students are occupying Hamilton Hall, one of the campus buildings occupied during 1968 student protests, according to a social media post early Tuesday from Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. 

Overnight, protesters on campus made their way from the West Lawn encampment to Hamilton Hall, one of the main academic buildings for undergraduates.

Hours earlier, the university announced it had begun suspending students who refused to leave the encampment before a 2 p.m. Monday deadline set by the administration.

A large group of protesters rallied in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday, chanting the call-and-response, "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now."

Aerial footage from Freedom News TV showed several dozen people crowded onto the steps of the building. Several people can be seen inside the building and a Palestinian flag is draped out of one window.

At the nearby encampment, a line of marching protesters encircles the tent-covered lawn, appearing to form a picket line around the encampment, the footage shows.

CNN has reached out to Columbia University and the New York Police Department for more information.   

Hear from Columbia student and CNN freelancer John Towfighi:

In a conversation with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday, the lead negotiator for Columbia students, Mahmoud Khalil, discussed what he called an "anti-Palestinian narrative" at the school amid pro-Palestinian protests.

Khalil said Jewish students participating in the protests were an "integral" part of the demonstrations.

University of Southern California President Carol Folt said she met with student organizers of campus protests Monday, but conceded that no agreement has been reached.

The meeting, which also included a faculty member, lasted about 90 minutes, the president said. Folt said she plans to meet with the group again Tuesday.

“I think we need to continue to have those conversations, and I'm pleased we all agree on that. We'll go day by day,” she said. 

Columbia University began suspending student protesters who refused to vacate the on-campus encampment by the 2 p.m. ET deadline set by the administration Monday.

These students will not be eligible to complete the semester or graduate and won't be allowed in university housing and academic buildings, the New York-based university said.

"Once disciplinary action is initiated, adjudication is handled by several different units within the university based on the nature of the offense," Vice President of Public Affairs Ben Chang said during a briefing Monday evening.  

The two bodies overseeing this disciplinary process are the Office of University Life and the university's senate, a policy-making group that represents students and faculty.

"Decisions made by the Office of University Life can be appealed to the dean of the student's school," said Chang. "Decisions made by the senate can be appealed to a panel of deans and, ultimately, the university's president."

Chang added that the university asked student protesters to remove the encampment, in part, to make sure that the university's commencement ceremony for its 15,000 graduates can continue as planned.

The students at Columbia, the epicenter of the weeklong pro-Palestinian protests, had earlier voted to defy the order and stay.

Some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were taken into custody at UT-Austin on Monday were arrested on suspicion of trespassing, while others are accused of disorderly conduct after refusing to disperse, university officials said in a statement. 

Demonstrators set up an encampment that included a “barricade enclosure of tables secured by metal chains, and strategically placed tools, tents, and rocks,” the statement read. 

 Protesters “escalated” the situation, and in response, officials “took swift action to preserve a safe, conducive learning environment for our 53,000 students as they prepare for final exams,” according to the statement. 

In a statement to CNN Monday, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said she was concerned the protests on “could escalate and lead to more disruption and violence.” 

“I have begun discussions with the University administration and am hopeful that a reasonable solution can be reached to ensure everyone involved is kept safe and their constitutional rights protected,” Garza said. “We will continue to collaborate with our partners and individually review each case that is presented to our office.”

Dozens of people were arrested Monday at a protest on the campus of University of Texas at Austin, according to the university’s Defend Palestine Encampment, who also alleged that officers used force to take people into custody.

The encampment was formed on the school’s South Mall Lawn around 12:30 p.m. CT, and around an hour later, officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Austin Police Department and campus police responded wearing riot gear, a news release from organizers said. 

The university is working on compiling information, including the number of people arrested, for a news release later Monday, said Brian Davis, senior manager for issues and crisis communications at the university. 

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office will not have a total number of arrests until Tuesday morning, spokesperson Kristen Dark told CNN. 

CNN has reached out to the Department of Public Safety for comment. 

"We demand that UT divest from the Zionist state of Israel and from all institutions and companies that are enabling the current genocide in Gaza … We demand the resignation of President (Jay) Hartzell for green-lighting the militarized repression of peaceful student protesters on their own campus,” Lenna Nasr, of the Palestinian Youth Movement, said in the news release. 

Hundreds of people have been arrested on college and university campuses from coast to coast as schools prepare for spring commencement ceremonies. The University of Southern California — where nearly 100 protesters were arrested April 24 — canceled its primary commencement event.

Protesters have been arrested on more than 20 campuses across at least 16 states. Many other schools have experienced protests without arrests.

CNN is monitoring campus protests and will continue to update this map with any new arrests.

As Pro-Palestinian protests continue to sweep major US universities, a unifying message has emerged.

At multiple schools, the same chant can be heard: “Disclose! Divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!”

What it means: Divestment involves an investor or institution selling off shares of a company to avoid complicity in activities they deem unethical or harmful.

That action is intended not only to reallocate funds to more ethical investments but also to make a public statement that can pressure a company or government to change policies.

Critics argue that while divestment can be an effective expression of disapproval and a call for change, its actual impact on corporate behavior and market trends is more tenuous.

Stock prices remain steady: Research finds that there’s very little correlation between divestment campaigns and stock value or company behavior, Witold Henisz at the University of Pennsylvania told CNN.

When you sell shares, said Henisz, you give someone who cares less about the issue voice and you give up your own voice.

Proponents of divestment counter that its value lies in raising awareness and stigmatizing partnerships with targeted regimes or industries.

Detangling interests: University investments are much more complicated now than they were in the 1980s. Many endowments are managed by asset managers and invested in opaque private equity funds.

Read the full story.

A core demand over the past week by the pro-Palestinian student groups at Columbia University has been for the school to withdraw investment funds from what they describe as companies profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza.

Columbia’s endowment is worth $13.6 billion and is managed by a university-owned investment firm.

The request from a coalition of student groups behind the movement includes divesting endowment funds from several weapons manufacturers and tech companies that do business with Israel’s government.

The group has described those companies as profiting “from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and military occupation of Palestine.” Israel denies accusations of genocide.

This is not the first time such demands have been made. 

In 2000, the university established an advisory committee on socially responsible investing, made up of students, faculty and alumni, to provide feedback to the managers of its endowment investments.

Columbia now lists five areas where it refrains from investing: tobacco, private prison operations, thermal coal, Sudan and fossil fuels — all decisions made in the past decade.

Columbia was also the first Ivy League university to divest from South Africa, and various other colleges followed suit.

In 2015, Columbia became the first US university to divest from private prison companies after a student campaign raising concerns about human rights abuses.

A fossil fuel divestment proposal was approved by Columbia’s Board of Trustees in early 2021. The policy includes a commitment not to invest in “companies whose primary business is the exploration and production of fossil fuels.” Columbia’s announcement was followed by similar commitments at other Ivy League universities.

Here's more about student's pushing for divestment.