By Elizabeth Wolfe, Kathleen Magramo, Dalia Faheid, Antoinette Radford, Emma Tucker, Anna Cooban, Rachel Ramirez, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Lauren Mascarenhas, Chandelis Duster and Tori B. Powell, CNN
From CNN's Antoinette Radford
New York Mayor Eric Adams said New York City police entered Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.
He said police entered the campus, "to allow Columbia University to remove those who have turned a peaceful protest into a place where antisemitism and anti-Israel attitudes were pervasive," he said at a news conference Wednesday morning.
He added that approximately 300 people were arrested between Columbia and the City College of New York.
From CNN's Rachel Ramirez
Law enforcement officers on Wednesday morning tore down tents at the University of Wisconsin, Madison's encampment, removing multiple protesters with hands behind their backs.
The standoff on the school's Library Mall, where students put up the encampment, comes as campus protests across the country become increasingly confrontational.
According to the university, the encampment at the UW-Madison campus violates school policy and a state law that was enacted by the legislature, limiting certain types of activities on campus.
"Once compliance with campus policy and state law has been achieved and tents have been removed from campus property, we, as campus leaders, stand ready to meet with campus-based organizers to discuss their demands," a statement from the university released Monday said.
Watch the scene:
From CNN’s Avery Lotz
House Speaker Mike Johnson slammed pro-Palestinian protesters on Columbia University’s campus as “common criminals" on Tuesday, reiterating calls for the Ivy League institution’s president to step down.
“The first responsibility of a university administrator obviously is to protect the safety and security of their students,” the Republican from Louisiana said of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik in an interview on Fox News. “And she was unwilling or able to do it.”
Johnson visited Columbia earlier this month to meet with Jewish students as pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses coast to coast have been met with accusations of antisemitism and led to hundreds of student arrests.
The Republican, standing alongside fellow GOP lawmakers after his April 28 meeting with Shafik, called for her resignation should she be unable to reign in campus demonstrations amid loud boos from the crowd who listened.
“This is wrong – this is not protected free speech at all,” Johnson said of protesters who breached and occupied a campus building. “They are inciting violence.”
Johnson claimed the tensions on Columbia’s campus were “100% preventable,” arguing: “None of this should have happened.” He recalled telling Shafik to “get control of this situation” while meeting with her during his visit, calling on her to resign “if she could not do so.”
He called on higher education administrators to “step up right now and stop the madness” and for US President Joe Biden to “speak right now with moral clarity." Johnson slammed the commander in chief as “MIA as usual” and “afraid to speak to the issue.”
The House is expected to vote Wednesday on bipartisan legislation targeting the rise in antisemitism that supporters say will confront vitriol on college campuses.
The Daily Bruin, the college newspaper at the University of California, Los Angeles, published an editorial on Wednesday morning accusing the school of failing to protect students as violence escalated on the campus.
In the editorial posted on the newspaper’s website, it says “Daily Bruin reporters on the scene were slapped and indirectly sprayed with irritants. Despite also being students, they were offered no protection. The world is watching. As helicopters fly over Royce Hall, we have a question. Will someone have to die on our campus tonight for you to intervene, Gene Block? The blood would be on your hands.”
CNN has reached out to UCLA for comment.
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
University of South Florida (USF) police and supporting law enforcement agencies, dispersed an on-campus protest Tuesday, with ten people taken into custody, according to a release from the university.
On Tuesday morning, roughly 75 to 100 protesters assembled on USF’s campus, the release said. According to the university, as the day progressed, USF police found the protest was “no longer peaceful” when they determined protesters intended to use some of the things they brought on campus “as weapons and to resist university staff members and law enforcement officers.”
After making several attempts to tell participants to end the protest and they needed to disperse, protesters refused to comply and ten individuals were taken into custody, the university said.
Police found that one of those arrested was carrying a concealed firearm, USF noted.
From CNN's Antoinette Radford
Tulane University has confirmed that protesters have been removed from its campus in a statement released Wednesday.
In the statement, the university said students participating in the "illegal encampment" were given "numerous warnings" before officers from the New Orleans Police Department and Louisiana State Police removed them.
The university noted that "the overwhelming majority of the protestors are unaffiliated with our community."
Police arrested at least 14 protesters — of whom two were Tulane students, the statement said. Earlier this week, six people were arrested, including one student for "trespassing, resisting arrest and battery on an officer," according to the statement.
Seven students have been suspended, the statement said, adding that students who participated in the protest "have also been referred to the Office of Student Conduct for immediate disciplinary action."
"We have supported numerous lawful demonstrations throughout this year. However, we remain opposed to trespassing, hate speech, antisemitism and bias against religious or ethnic groups. Harassment, intimidation, violence, and other criminal acts on any of our campuses are not acceptable," the statement said.
Wednesday is the last day of classes for most students, according to the school, and classes scheduled in three closed buildings should be conducted remotely. Police and security will remain on campus for the remainder of the semester.
From CNN's Emma Tucker
An editor for the University of California, Los Angeles student newspaper, the Daily Bruin, told CNN she has heard reports of pipes, Tasers and pepper spray being used in the violent confrontation between pro-Palestinian protesters and Israel supporters on Tuesday night.
“The counter protester activity here at UCLA has been sort of constant throughout the days the camp has existed,” Anna Dai-Liu, an editor for UCLA’s newspaper, the Daily Bruin, told CNN.
By 11 pm PT Tuesday night, many more people appeared and began pushing into the barricades, which is when the fireworks went off and tear gas was sprayed, Dai-Liu said.
Some Daily Bruin reporters who were all standing on the counter protester side were gassed and assaulted, but it’s unclear who released the tear gas, she added.
“There’s also been reports of pepper spray and bear spray. As of the moment, it’s very difficult for us to confirm which sides these sprays are coming from, but we’re hearing it’s coming more from the counter protester side,” Dai-Liu said.
There have also been reports of pipes, Tasers used in the violent altercations, she added.
The student newspaper editor said she’s heard from sources on the ground the violence was one-sided but stressed that is “difficult to ascertain among the chaos that is still going on.”
Dai-Liu said it’s still unclear when the camp will be cleared from campus, as they wait for more announcements from UCLA officials.
“It has been a rather chaotic day of events at UCLA. We’re not quite sure, either, as to how it escalated to this degree. It’s not something we have seen yet on campus, but it is definitely violent in ways previous demonstrations by the counter protesters weren’t,” Dai-Liu said.
From CNN's Mark Morales and Gloria Pazmino
Asked about the request from Columbia University to remain on campus until mid-May, a law enforcement official told CNN the department is still determining how long and in what capacity it will stay.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York Police Department Commissioner Edward A. Caban and other officials will hold a news briefing at 9 a.m. “in regard to the Columbia University and City College demonstrations,” according to public schedules.
As a reminder, more than 200 protesters were arrested Tuesday at Columbia University and City College of New York, according to law enforcement sources.
Most of the arrests were made at Columbia, including about two dozen protesters who police say tried to prevent officers from entering the campus, a law enforcement official said.
We'll bring you the latest updates here as we get them.
From CNN's John Miller and Mark Morales
New York Police Department officers arrested around 230 people at Columbia University on Tuesday after police in riot gear breached a building on campus in which pro-Palestinian protesters had barricaded themselves, clearing the property, law enforcement sources tell CNN.
There were dozens of additional arrests made several blocks north at the City College of New York, the sources say.
