April 28, 2024 - US university protests

Our live coverage of the Pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses has moved here.

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, is asking students participating in demonstrations and the occupation of at least two buildings to “leave campus peacefully.”

“The individuals who are occupying Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall East, or illegally camping around those facilities, are urged to leave the campus peacefully now,” the university said in a release Sunday night.

The request comes a day after the university announced it had closed its campus and moved to remote classes and exams until the end of the semester due to the protests.

Administrators have accused protesters of trying to break into locked buildings “with the intention of either locking themselves in, vandalizing, or stealing equipment.” 

If demonstrators leave campus voluntarily, the university said it may consider the choice as a “possible mitigating factor” during conduct proceedings and when deciding what discipline students will face.

“This does not, however, eliminate responsibility for any potential conduct or criminal charges,” the university said. 

Virginia Tech police have warned pro-Palestinian protesters on campus they will face arrest if they refuse to disperse.

At about 10:15 p.m. on Sunday, university police advised demonstrators to leave within five minutes or be subject to arrest. 

Around the same time, the university warned students to avoid the protest site.

“Heavy police activity around Graduate Life Center. Urgent. Please avoid the area. Call 911 for help,” the university posted on social media.

Earlier on Sunday, officers had worked to remove demonstrators from an on-campus encampment.

Demonstrators began to occupy the lawn at the university’s Graduate Life Center on Friday, the university said. 

“Through constant dialogue between university officials, the Virginia Tech Police Department, and protest organizers, we were able to maintain a safe and peaceful environment through much of the weekend,” the university said. 

By Sunday, the university said the situation on campus had “progressed” and had the potential to “become unsafe.” 

The number of demonstrators on George Washington University’s campus had reduced to about 20 people by Sunday night, but another group erected an encampment of about 20 tents on a nearby public street over the weekend, the school said.

As an encampment grew on campus over the past few days, the university’s administration decided students who remained there after being asked to leave would be temporarily suspended and “administratively barred” from school grounds.

“On Friday evening, April 26, demonstrators barred from University Yard established a second encampment in the middle of H Street, beyond the barriers securing GW property.
“Currently, we are aware of approximately 20 tents erected in the street by individuals from across the region. This demonstration is on public property and under the jurisdiction of the DC government,” the university said.

The university said there had been no incidents of violence during on-campus demonstrations, though it added, “the actions of some protestors have been highly offensive to many members of our community.”

No further details on the alleged actions were provided.

The encampment on Tufts University’s Medford - Somerville campus in Massachusetts “must end” for commencement proceedings to proceed, university leaders said in a Sunday message. 

“Tufts has a time-honored tradition of civil protest. Consistent with that tradition, and throughout this academic year, we have balanced our students’ right to protest with enforcing our conduct policies,” the message reads. “Over the past two weeks, we have respected our community members’ right to advocate for their beliefs through a small camp site on the academic quad on our Medford/Somerville campus.” 
“We have even delayed some preparations for Commencement as much as possible to allow the protest to resolve peacefully. But now the encampment must end, ideally peacefully and voluntarily, so we can prepare the campus for Commencement.”

Student life staff are expected to reach out to protesters Monday, “to plan for the end of the encampment in the next few days,” the message says. 

The university went on to say that “recent exchanges have been markedly different as the protesters have sought to escalate and disrupt normal university activity.”

The message was signed by university president Sunil Kumar and four other school leaders, including Caroline Attardo Genco, the provost and senior vice president. 

“We are committed to maintaining an environment that will allow our students to finish the academic year strong and for the entire community to celebrate the class of 2024 at Commencement without disruptions,” the message says. 

“Our students and their families and friends deserve nothing less. We invite the entire community to join us in this endeavor peacefully and responsibly.” 

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr Kennedy told reporters following a campaign rally in Holbrook, New York on Sunday that he supported the rights of pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses but disagreed with their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“First of all, you know, I support free speech. I think speech, even when speech is appalling to me, when it’s reprehensible, when it makes no sense, people ought to be able to say, ought to be able to voice their concerns,” Kennedy said. 

But, he said he doesn’t “understand… what the rationale is” behind calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, though he labeled himself as “very pro-Palestinian.” 

“I don’t see how people want to have a negotiation,” Kennedy said. “Every ceasefire has been used by Hamas to rearm, to regroup, to raise the banner and do another surprise attack on Israel.”

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since the start of the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. CNN cannot independently confirm the numbers due to the lack of international media access to Gaza.

Kennedy also called antisemitic threats against Jewish students on campuses “unacceptable” and urged universities to protect Jewish students. 

“If they’re going to protect people who are non-white from abuse because it makes them feel unsafe, they need to do that with Jewish students, too,” he said. 

Demonstrators on Sunday breached a security barrier meant to keep opposing protest groups apart on the UCLA campus, and the two sides have come face-to-face, at times screaming at one another and shoving back and forth.

A CNN team is on the ground watching the crowd, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered to support an encampment protesting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, and a group of counter-protesters draped in Israeli flags has erected a video screen and speaker set-up.

“Very high passions on both sides, and when these two come together we have seen confrontations,” CNN’s Camila Bernal reported from the campus. “People who are screaming at each other, sometimes shoving and pushing, and it does get violent at times.”

Organizers from each group have told Bernal that they are trying to keep the peace.

The CNN team has seen police officers in riot gear standing at a distance from the crowd, but university officials have said police will not intervene unless they feel students are in harm’s way.

The school’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, Mary Osako, confirmed in a statement that demonstrators had “breached” a barrier between the groups, and that there were “physical altercations” between protesters.

“UCLA has a long history of being a place of peaceful protest, and we are heartbroken about the violence that broke out,” the statement reads.

Information about any potential injuries has not been made available.

Watch Camila Bernal’s report from the UCLA campus

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02:04 - Source: cnn

This post has been updated with additional reporting from the UCLA campus.

Pro-Palestinian protests continued Sunday on George Washington University’s campus in Washington, DC, where demonstrators have erected an encampment of dozens of tents in a park and on the neighboring street.

A crowd chanted “Free Palestine” to the beat of a drum on H Street NW, some of them wearing traditional keffiyeh and waving Palestinian flags. The street remains blocked by law enforcement, and a number of DC Metropolitan Police officers remain in the area.

Flags, signs and sidewalk chalk decorate the encampment, where protestors say they will stay until the university fulfills their demands, which include disclosing its financial endowments and divesting from Israeli associations — similar to the message of many other college protests nationwide. 

One counter-protester walked through the crowd with an Israeli flag draped around her shoulders. Demonstrators chanted, “Free, free, free Palestine,” at the protester, while one held a sign that read, “Genocide is bad.” 

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pushed back on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that protests on US college campuses are driven by antisemitism, telling CNN’s Dana Bash that it’s critical to hold the Israeli government accountable for its actions in Gaza.

In the interview on Sunday morning, Sanders said the “vast majority of the American people are disgusted with Netanyahu’s war machine in Gaza” and do not want more aid sent to Israel.

While Sanders said he acknowledges “antisemitism exists and is growing in the United States,” he said it is not antisemitic for protesters to hold Netanyahu accountable for his actions in Gaza, which he says are “unprecedented in the modern history of warfare.”

Sanders said Israel’s widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure in Gaza, and the death toll of more than 30,000 people, according to the enclave’s health ministry, is the reason people want the Israeli government held accountable.

Sanders said he condemns Hamas, antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry, but emphasized again, “We do have to pay attention to the disastrous and unprecedented humanitarian disaster taking place in Gaza right now.”

Watch a clip from the interview below:

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Portland State University will pause receiving gifts and grants from the Boeing Company until the college holds a forum to debate the ethics of doing so, according to the school’s president.

The move comes amid nationwide protests, including at PSU, against Israel’s war in Gaza. Student organizations are calling for schools to cut ties with Israel and to divest from companies that sell weapons, tech and other items to the country, among other demands.

Boeing says on its website that the Israel Defense Forces currently operates nine different Boeing products, and the company contributes a $3.5 billion benefit to the Israeli economy.

“I have heard many students and faculty express that they would like to see PSU cut ties with the company. I initially found these demands confusing and arbitrary: PSU has no investments in Boeing but accepts philanthropic gifts from the company and, given that Boeing is a major employer in the region, many of our alumni work there,” PSU President Ann Cudd said in a letter to the campus community Friday.

“However, the passion with which these demands are being repeatedly expressed by some in our community motivates me, as a scholar of academic ethics and a university leader responsible for the well being of our campus constituents, to listen and ask additional questions,” Cudd said.

Cudd said PSU will host a two-hour moderated debate in May with faculty and students. 

On its website, Boeing says its relationship with Israel dates back “more than 75 years — to the founding of the State of Israel.”

Boeing declined to comment on Cudd’s announcement.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says the decision by University of Southern California leaders to cancel the school’s main commencement ceremony for 2024 graduating students in May was necessary due to safety concerns.

“I believe that that was a decision that they had to make,” Bass told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday.

“They were expecting about 65,000 people on campus and they just did not feel that it was going to be safe, and the job of the (university) president, just like my job as mayor — my number one job is to make sure that Angelenos are safe.”

The mayor, herself a USC alumna, pointed out that while the main ceremony had been canceled, individual schools and departments will go forward with their own ceremonies.

Some context: A USC professor who has criticized the school’s response to pro-Palestinian protests told CNN on Saturday that the university’s initial decision to cancel its valedictorian’s commencement speech served as a catalyst for demonstrations at the Los Angeles campus.

Asna Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian-American Muslim, said in a statement published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations that she has “serious doubts about whether USC’s decision to revoke my invitation to speak is made solely on the basis of safety.”

CAIR has accused the school of canceling Tabassum’s speech in response to “attacks and harassment launched by anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian extremists.”

The school announced it was canceling the main commencement ceremony altogether on Friday, days after the decision to cancel the valedictorian speech.

CNN’s Amanda Musa, Alisha Ebrahimji and Melissa Alonso contributed reporting to this post.

Several US lawmakers and other elected officials have spoken in media appearances Sunday about the protests seen across the country in response to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell criticized what he said was antisemitic rhetoric seen in the protests, saying on CBS that “university presidents need to get control of the situation, allow free speech and push back against antisemitism.”

“We’ve all got to get serious about the challenges ahead of us, engaging in antisemitic behavior in the United States needs to be stood up to by the administrators of these colleges,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin also condemned instances of antisemitic rhetoric, and said Virginia wouldn’t allow protest encampments to be put up at its academic institutions.

“We will protect the ability to peacefully express yourself, but we’re not going to have the kinds of hate speech and intimidation that we’re seeing across the country in Virginia,” the governor told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, meanwhile, pushed back against House Speaker Mike Johnson’s suggestion that the National Guard could be sent to college campuses amid the protests, calling it a “very, very bad idea.”

“I think calling in the National Guard to college campuses for so many people would recall what happened when that was done during the Vietnam War — and it didn’t end well,” Kaine said on “Meet the Press.”

“There are other ways, using campus security, but also offering students more opportunities to have dialogue that is civil and constructive where people hear one another — that’s by far preferable,” he added. 

Dozens of Palestinian students staged a display of solidarity at a demonstration in southern Gaza on Sunday to express gratitude for the support seen on US college campuses in recent weeks.  

Video from the Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah shows children holding banners with messages that read: “Students of Columbia University, continue to stand by us,” and “Violating our right to education and life is a war crime.”   

The students gathered around makeshift tents near a school that now serves as a shelter for Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza. Footage shows people spray-painting messages of gratitude on the fabric of the tents, saying “Thank you, students in solidarity with Gaza. Your message has reached.”

Takfeer Abu-Yousuf, a displaced student from the northern city of Beit Hanoun, told CNN he felt it was necessary to thank the students in the US who “supported us with their humanity.”

“We can’t write these thank you messages on the walls of our homes because we have no homes. They have been destroyed on top of our children, elders and women,” he said.  

Eighteen-year-old Rana Al-Taher pointed to the school in the camp, telling CNN that what should have been a place for learning and education has become a place for sheltering.   

“That means that we have lost our education. We have lost our only hope in Gaza and we want it back. We’re here to ask for it back. It’s our right to have it back … that’s why we’re here,” she said.

Read the full story here.

With tension mounting over an encampment in support of Palestinians at New York’s Columbia University, police strode onto campus this month and arrested more than 100 demonstrators.

Soon, dozens more students protesting the monthslong assault on Gaza were arrested at New York and Yale universities. At the University of Texas at Austin, police in riot gear and on horseback moved to disperse a like-minded demonstration, while nearly 100 at the University of Southern California also got arrested. Then at Emory University in Atlanta, law enforcement deployed pepper balls to break up a pro-Palestinian action, arresting 28, including several professors. And at Boston’s Emerson College, another 108 protesters were arrested, with four officers hurt.

While the latest run of arrests has commanded outsized attention, US colleges have been using law enforcement — along with academic suspensions and, for at least one school, expulsion — to try to rein in student demonstrations since Hamas’ October attack on Israel left more than 1,200 dead and dozens taken hostage. Israel’s devastating counterpunch in Gaza – with more than 34,000 Palestinians killed, according to its health ministry – has further fueled deeply held views of students and faculty on all sides.

Amid US students’ broad insistence their tactics are peaceful, administrators often have decried campus protests as disruptive, with some — including at Indiana University, George Washington University and California State Polytechnic University’s Humboldt campus — employing school rules governing use of public spaces to threaten or enact discipline, or call for police backup.

Administrators lately have seemed quicker to levy consequences against campus demonstrators than they were six months ago, according to Zach Greenberg of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Read more about the crackdown here.

The University of Southern California says campus property was vandalized Saturday “by individuals who are part of the group that has continued to illegally camp on our campus.”

The Tommy Trojan statue and a fountain in Alumni Park were vandalized, the university said, without elaborating on the type of damage they sustained. University officials also did not state what led them to believe the perpetrators were among those taking part in encampment demonstrations.

Video footage from CNN affiliate KABC showed the words “Say No to Genocide” spray-painted on the base of the Tommy Trojan statue.

“Despite repeated warnings, this group has also continued to disrupt our campus operations and harass students and others, in violation of numerous university policies,” Joel Curran, senior vice president of communications, said in a statement.

“While the university fully supports freedom of expression, these acts of vandalism and harassment are absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Curran said.

University President Carol Folt has made attempts to meet with students, “but they have declined these offers,” Curran said.

“We are hoping for a more reasonable response Sunday before we are forced to take further action,” he said. “This area is needed for commencement set up early this week.” 

Remember: Demonstrators at universities across the country have organized in protest of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, in many cases calling on the schools to disinvest from Israeli institutions and other entities they say benefit from the war.

A USC professor who has criticized the school’s response to protests told CNN on Saturday that the university’s decision to cancel its Muslim valedictorian’s commencement speech, citing safety concerns, served as a catalyst for demonstrations at the Los Angeles campus.

This post has been updated with additional information about the protests at USC.

Dozens of police cars lined the streets as a large group of officers swarmed the University of Southern California Saturday night, video from CNN affiliate KABC shows.

The Los Angeles Police Department issued a “tactical alert” Saturday amid the pro-Palestinian protest at USC, CNN affiliate KCBS reported. No arrests had been reported as of early Sunday and it’s unclear what prompted the move.

The university posted a message on social media Friday night that said the University Park campus will be temporarily closed due to a “disturbance.”

USC has served as the backdrop of demonstrations tied to the school’s valedictorian speech cancellation and as part of the nationwide campus pro-Palestinian protests.

Arizona State University Police arrested 72 people, 15 of whom are students, on Friday in connection to an encampment on campus, university officials said Saturday.

“ASU Police arrested 72 people for trespassing after they set up an unauthorized encampment Friday, in violation of university policy,” the university said in a media release. “Encampments are prohibited on Arizona State University property. Lawful demonstrations can take place except overnight between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.”

Of the 72 people arrested and charged with criminal trespass, “about 80 percent of those arrested were not students,” the release said.

“A group of people – most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff – created an encampment and demonstration that continued until well past 11 p.m. when the group was instructed repeatedly to disperse,” the media release said. “Individuals who refused to leave after numerous warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass.”

“While the university will continue to be an environment that embraces freedom of speech, ASU’s first priority is to create a safe and secure environment that supports teaching and learning,” the university said in the release.

With tension mounting over an encampment in support of Palestinians at New York’s Columbia University, police strode onto campus this month and arrested more than 100 demonstrators.

Soon, dozens more students protesting the monthslong assault on Gaza were arrested at New York University and Yale University. At the University of Texas at Austin, police in riot gear and on horseback moved to disperse a like-minded demonstration, while nearly 100 at the University of Southern California also got arrested. Then at Emory University in Atlanta, law enforcement deployed pepper balls to break up a pro-Palestinian action, arresting 28, including several professors. And at Boston’s Emerson College, another 108 protesters were arrested, with four officers hurt.

On the cusp of the close of the academic year, university communities across the nation remain on edge, not only over flares of political action but also what response, if any, it might compel.

While the latest run of arrests has commanded outsized attention, US colleges have been using law enforcement – along with academic suspensions and, for at least one school, expulsion – to try to bring to heel student demonstrations since Hamas’ October attack on Israel left more than 1,200 dead and dozens taken hostage. Israel’s devastating counterpunch in Gaza – with more than 34,000 Palestinians killed, according to its health ministry – has further fueled deeply held views of students and faculty on all sides.

Amid US students’ broad insistence their tactics are peaceful, administrators often have decried campus protests as disruptive, with some – including at Indiana University, George Washington University and California State Polytechnic University’s Humboldt campus – employing school rules governing use of public spaces to threaten or enact discipline or call for police backup.

Implicit in the crackdowns is a built-in tension of higher education: balancing the role of campuses as bastions of free speech while ensuring the safety of students, including those who are Jewish and have expressed concern for their well-being in the face of antisemitism that’s surged nationally since October 7 and has occasionally been seen at or near – or conflated with – pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations.

Administrators lately have seemed quicker to levy consequences against campus demonstrators than they were six months ago, according to Zach Greenberg of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

But, he said, calling in police carries risk.

It is a “drastic action” that “should be reserved for only the most direct and severe threats to campus safety,” Greenberg said. Further, doing so threatens to “erode” the trust between universities and students, who may see “police officers in riot gear arresting their classmates, maybe their professors.”

Read the full story here.

More than 80 people were arrested at Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday amid ongoing Pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the university said in a statement.

A group of demonstrators, which included students, employees and individuals not associated with the university, marched at multiple locations on campus where they “pitched tents, and indicated that they did not intend to leave,” the university said.

“It quickly became clear through the words and actions of this group that they did not have good intentions on our campus and that this demonstration had the potential to get out of control and become dangerous,” the university said.

“When the group began to set up a camp in violation of university policy, we made the decision to tell everyone present that they needed to leave,” the statement said. Dozens were arrested after they “refused to leave after being asked multiple times.”

“All will face charges of trespassing and some may also be charged with resisting arrest and assault, including for injuries to police officers,” the university said. “We are firmly committed to free expression and allow ample opportunity for voices to be heard on our campus. However, we expect everyone to respect our policies and we will take swift action to enforce them to their fullest extent.”

Presidential candidate Jill Stein was among those arrested Saturday at the university, her campaign’s communications director previously said, adding that “we are not aware of any charges at this time.”

The University of Southern California has closed its University Park campus temporarily, the school announced on Saturday night.

“Due to a disturbance, the University Park Campus is temporarily closed except for residents,” the university posted on X.

The university has been the backdrop to ongoing pro-Palestinian protests, CNN has previously reported.

Some context: Nearly 100 people were arrested after the university ordered protestors at the campus’ Alumni Park to disperse Wednesday. Protesters are demanding “full amnesty” for those brought into custody and “no policing on campus.” This week, the university canceled its main stage commencement ceremony set for next month, after sparking criticism by canceling Asna Tabassum’s valedictorian commencement speech.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested Saturday at a pro-Palestinian protest at Washington University in St. Louis, but “we are not aware of any charges at this time,” her campaign spokesperson said.

Stein was at the protest to support students who had set up an encampment and declared they would not leave until Washington University divested from Boeing and boycotted Israeli academic institutions, among other demands. In a video recorded prior to her arrest and posted to X, the Green Party candidate said she stood in support of the students and their constitutional free speech rights.

“We’re going to stand here in line with the students who are standing up for democracy, standing up for human rights, standing up to end genocide,” Stein said.

David Schwab, communications director for Jill Stein for President, said Stein had attempted to de-escalate the situation between protestors and police Saturday afternoon, but that the police “were not responsive” and began arrests shortly afterward.

“As Dr. Stein said, it’s shameful that university administrations are condoning the use of force against their own students who are simply calling for peace, human rights, and an end to a genocide that the American people abhor,” Schwab said.

Stein’s campaign manager and deputy campaign manager were also arrested. 

University of Southern California administrators failed students and faculty who are encouraged by the institution to speak their minds, said Mike Ananny, PHD, an associate professor of communications and journalism at USC who recently criticized university leaders over their handling of campus demonstrations.

On Thursday, Ananny wrote an open letter appearing in the student publication, the Daily Trojan, stating he no longer trusts the school’s provost, Andrew Guzman, and its president, Carol Folt, after witnessing how they handled what he called peaceful protests, especially on Wednesday.

Nearly 100 people were arrested after the university ordered protestors at the campus’ Alumni Park to disperse, CNN previously reported.

“Peaceful protestors were at the university expressing their speech rights and doing all the things that we ask our students to do,” he said. “We want them to be engaged and passionate citizens who are taking care of their world.” 

Ananny cited the university’s decision last week to cancel Asna Tabassum’s valedictorian commencement speech due to safety concerns as the catalyst for the pro-Palestinian protests. This week, the university also canceled its main stage commencement ceremony set for next month – further dismantling trust between administrators and the university community, Ananny claims.

“The university needs to trust its students, trust its faculty to do the work that we know how to do,” he said. “We know how to have these conversations – let us have them.”

Ananny says he has not received a response from Folt to his open letter.

Pro-Palestinian protests are ongoing at major universities across the US. Several schools have called on authorities to remove demonstrators and more arrests have been made Saturday.

A central demand of protesters is for universities divest from Israel-linked companies that they say are profiting from the war in Gaza.

Here’s what you should know:

More arrests and warnings:

Other schools saw relative calm Saturday:

A Northeastern University student organization, Huskies for a Free Palestine, says it was not infiltrated by outside organizers, as school officials had said after shutting down a protest encampment at the Boston campus.

About 100 people were detained at the encampment, though the school said those with a valid school ID were released and will face school disciplinary proceedings rather than legal action. The school said in a statement that the group had been “infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern.”

“We were not ‘infiltrated’ in any way, shape or form by ‘professional protestors’, no one hired, it was comprised primarily of students,” the student group said in a statement Saturday.

Claims about hate speech: The organization is also disputing the university’s statement that the “use of virulent antisemitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews,’” was among the reasons for shutting the protest down.

“The only people hurling antisemitic slurs last night were Zionist counter-protestors attempting to instigate our peaceful encampment. Despite this, the university exploited this moment to lie about our encampment and justify the brutal arrest of over 100 students,” Huskies for a Free Palestine said in its statement.

Videos shared with CNN show what appears to be at least two counter-protesters holding an Israeli flag attempting to provoke the crowd to chant, “Kill the Jews.”

After yelling the antisemitic remark, one of them is heard saying, “Anyone on board? Anyone on board?” Some protesters responded with boos.

Asked for any additional comment, the school’s vice president of communications, Renata Nyul, said “the fact that the phrase ‘Kill the Jews’ was shouted on our campus is not in dispute,” citing news reports and video from the scene.

“Any suggestion that repulsive antisemitic comments are sometimes acceptable depending on the context is reprehensible,” Nyul said. “That language has no place on any university campus.”

Faculty group criticizes response: In a statement Saturday, Northeastern University Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine also spoke out against the university’s handling of the protest.

“We were shocked to learn that the Northeastern administration issued a statement claiming that the university’s decision to arrest those in the encampment was triggered by an antisemitic statement allegedly made by protesters,” the group said.

“Numerous videos that have been posted online, along with eye-witness accounts from a WGBH reporter and others, make it clear that the phrase in question – ‘Kill the Jews’ – was uttered by a pro-Israel counter-demonstrator who was seeking to provoke the students at the encampment.”

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.

Officers arrested at least 23 people on Saturday after a protest encampment formed at Indiana University Bloomington, according to the school’s police department.

Police said a group of protesters put up tents and canopies Friday night “with the stated intention to occupy the university space indefinitely,” and that the unapproved “temporary or permanent structures” violated school policy.

Video from the school’s student-run newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student, showed officers in riot gear carrying shields and batons as they attempted to clear out the encampment. Police can be seen shoving demonstrators as they try to break through interlocked arms, and at least four officers are seen dragging a person away from the camp.

In its statement, the Indiana University Police Department said it approached the demonstrators in the school’s outdoor Dunn Meadow area around noon ET, along with Indiana State Police. Authorities say they gave demonstrators “six verbal warnings” to remove the encampment, before detaining those who did not remove their structures.

Police said the 23 people arrested face “charges ranging from criminal trespass to resisting law enforcement.” Police said they had not confirmed how many of those arrested were directly affiliated with the university.

CNN has reached out to state police and the Monroe County Sheriff’s office.

In a post Saturday, the university said, “IU encourages and respects free speech, including the right to peacefully protest and demonstrate,” but said students, faculty, staff and visitors are expected to comply with school policy and state law.

CNN’s Sharif Paget contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with details from a video taken at the scene.

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.

“While the university will continue to be an environment that embraces freedom of speech, ASU’s first priority is to create a safe and secure environment that supports teaching and learning,” the statement read.

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.

“Here I am — now, not just a professor but a human being — watching this child being pummeled. I said ‘No’ and I stood there. But I stood there in a way that was non-confrontational. I just stood there. And then I’m 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.

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.

“What began as a student demonstration two days ago, was infiltrated by professional organizers with no affiliation to Northeastern,” said Renata Nyul, the school’s vice president for communications.

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.

“Students who produced a valid Northeastern ID were released. They will face disciplinary proceedings within the university, not legal action,” she said. “Those who refused to disclose their affiliation were arrested.”

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

Protesting has become the “new sex” for American youth, New York University Stern School of Business professor and author Scott Galloway told CNN.

“I think that protesting is kind of the new, if you will, sex. Young people aren’t having as much sex – I know how ridiculous that sounds, but for the species to survive you have to have young people connecting in terms of romantic opportunities,” Galloway said Saturday.

“And also for the species to survive, you get a dopa(mine) hit from gathering together and fighting off a perceived enemy. And I think they’re erring on the latter, if you will. I think they’re on the hunt for what I call a fake mortal enemy.”

Watch the full video here:

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. 

“Campus is now closed through May 10, and work and academic instruction will be remote as individuals continue to occupy Siemens Hall and Nelson Hall East,” the statement said, adding that protesters have attempted “several times to break into multiple locked buildings with the intention of either locking themselves in, vandalizing, or stealing equipment.” 

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.