April 27, 2024 - Campus protest updates

Early Saturday morning, Arizona State University Police arrested 69 people for trespassing after an “unauthorized encampment” was set up, according to a release from the university.

According to the school, a group of people, “most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff,” had created an encampment and their demonstration lasted until 11 p.m. local time on Friday, when the group was instructed “multiple times” to disperse. 

Those who refused to leave after multiple warnings, were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, the release said.

The university said while encampments are prohibited on ASU property, “lawful demonstrations” are allowed to take place on campus, except between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Three people were also arrested on the ASU campus Friday in connection with the encampment, CNN previously reported.

Northeastern University campus operations are back to normal and the school's quad has been "fully secured" as of Saturday afternoon, the university said in a post on X and in an email to CNN.

Police detained about 100 people this morning as officials cleared "an unauthorized encampment" set up by pro-Palestinian demonstrators on Northeastern’s campus in Boston, CNN previously reported.

The school said in its update that the process was complete by 11:30 a.m. ET.

The campus of Emory University in Atlanta was calm Saturday, following the arrest of protesters and at least two Emory professors Thursday in clashes with police.

On Friday, tenured Emory faculty pushed for a "no confidence" vote of Emory President Gregory Fenves in the wake of the violent arrests.

One of the faculty members who had been arrested — Noelle McAfee, chair of Emory’s philosophy department — told CNN that university administrators made the problem worse on Thursday when they called in the police.

She said police told her to step back as she stood near students who were being arrested.

Fenves said in a letter Friday that ahead of the arrests there were “highly organized, outside protestors” who came to the campus in vans to "construct an encampment, and overtake the Quad."

But students and faculty who participated in the protests recalled events differently, saying the protesters were mostly students and people affiliated with the university.

One such student, Martin Berg, a third-year law student who had been arrested, put it this way: "What I saw was unprovoked and severe brutality exacted by police that Emory University had allowed to come on campus and assault their students. The message that the president of the University sent regarding outside agitators … was a lie."

"The majority of us (in jail) were associated with the university in one way or another," he added.

Protesters at George Washington University in Washington, DC, are now blocking a street.

Around a dozen tents spilled from University Yard — the grassy area where the encampment was initially erected earlier this week — onto H Street NW, where a sign that reads "Liberated Zone Solidarity Camp" stretches between two trees.

The group of protesters has grown since Friday, according to CNN journalists who have been at the scene.

The protesters, who remain peaceful, were chanting, "Students you are not alone. This campus is a freedom zone."

One chalk-written message on H Street read: “A Free Palestine in our Lifetime."

The tents on H Street, a public area, puts them in a zone overseen by the DC Metropolitan Police.

DC Metropolitan Police remain in the area, and the U-Yard park is cordoned off by metal barricades and tape.

Things are "relatively calm" on Columbia University's campus Saturday, especially compared to tense protests off campus earlier this week, according to CNN's Polo Sandoval.

Negotiations are still ongoing between protest leaders and university administration.

Organizer Mahmoud Khalil spoke with Sandoval on Friday. Khalil said negotiations are at an "impasse" and added that Columbia is not acknowledging "the extent of the movement."

Student organizers told Sandoval there won't be an update on negotiations until Monday.

One of the core demands 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 military action in Gaza.

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

The request from Columbia University Apartheid Divest — a coalition of student groups behind the movement — includes, among other steps, 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. Columbia has a history of student activism, from the now-famous 1968 student occupation of multiple campus buildings to raise awareness of the Vietnam War, to hunger strikes over issues such as the university’s expansion in Upper Manhattan.

Keep reading about the demands for divestment and what the university has divested from in the past.

Police detained about 100 people as officials cleared "an unauthorized encampment" on Northeastern University's campus in Boston on Saturday morning, according to a university spokesperson.

In a statement earlier Saturday, Northeastern officials said they believed “professional organizers” had joined the ranks of student protesters on the campus.

Nyul said the "use of virulent antisemitic slurs" at the encampment Friday night had "crossed the line."

"We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus," she said.

Nyul said later Saturday that about 100 people were detained as Northeastern and local police cleared the site.

It is unclear from the university's statement how many of those detained were ultimately arrested.

The California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt campus will be closed and move to a remote format until the end of the semester due to the continued occupation of at least two campus buildings, according to a statement on Friday. 

The decision is not entirely unexpected as school officials previously said in an update that the campus would remain closed over the weekend and that they were considering keeping it closed beyond that.

Demonstrators were given until 5 p.m. Friday to leave with a guarantee of no immediate arrest. 

CNN has reached out to the university for comment regarding the situation on the campus. 

Cal Poly Humboldt is a public university in Arcata, California, approximately 275 miles north of San Francisco.

Officials at the University of Pennsylvania called for demonstrators to leave an on-campus encampment, citing "blatant violations of University policies."

UPenn officials added that the “vandalism of the statue in front of College Hall with antisemitic graffiti was especially reprehensible and will be investigated as a hate crime.”

“The harassing and intimidating comments and actions by some of the protesters, which were reported and documented by many in our community, violate Penn’s open expression guidelines and state and federal law, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act,” the statement said. “All members of our community deserve to access our facilities without fear of harassment or being subjected to discriminatory comments or threats.” 

The university said it has notified demonstrators of their “legal and policy violations" and that failure to immediately disband the encampment would result in sanctions.

In response, the Penn Arab Student Society (PASS) issued a statement on social media, calling for "further investigation" regarding the graffiti incident. 

The Muslim Students’ Association at UPenn shared the PASS statement on their Instagram account and released a statement of their own. 

“The University must carefully consider its actions going forward and ensure they conform to the University’s principles of equality and fairness,” the statement said in part.