May 3, 2024 - US college protests

Our live coverage of the protests at colleges across the US has moved here.

In a still from a video by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance commencement ceremony.

Protesters interrupted the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD)commencement ceremony Friday, according to a video from a reporter with CNN affiliate Richmond Times-Dispatch.  

Several protesters entered the Hill Auditorium with pro-Palestinian signs and flags. A person was heard yelling “get out” as the protesters walked through the auditorium. 

Police arrived soon after the incident, according to the Times-Dispatch.

CNN has reached out to the University of Michigan and its School of Music, Theatre & Dance for comment.  

Later Friday evening, a large group of protesters were met with police on the University of Michigan’s campus on Friday evening. The group was outside the Museum of Art on campus and was heard chanting while interacting with police.

Some context: Commencements at the University of Michigan are ongoing with programs hosting separate ceremonies with distinguished speakers. Spring graduation is scheduled for the whole university on Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. There will be a designated area for protests outside ceremony venues, the University of Michigan said on its website, noting all commencement events will include security screenings, prohibit banners and flags, and be monitored by volunteers who will immediately “respond to disruptions, beginning with warnings.”

This post has been updated with information from CNN affiliate the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

A USC Department of Public Safety vehicle sits next to the base of the Tommy Trojan statue that was tagged in Hahn Plaza at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, on April 28, 2024.

The University of Southern California started a disciplinary process for campus members “who have violated both our policies and the law,” President Carol L. Folt said in a statement Friday. 

“Freedom of expression is one of our foundational values, and throughout the year, faculty, staff, and students have held lawful marches, vigils, and peaceful demonstrations,” she said in the statement. “But let me be absolutely clear: free speech and assembly do not include the right to obstruct equal access to campus, damage property, or foment harassment, violence, and threats. Nor is anyone entitled to obstruct the normal functions of our university, including commencement.”

The university will take any further action needed to keep the campus safe and maintain legal obligations, Folt said. 

USC will hold a “family graduate celebration” on May 9, the school announced Friday, just over a week after canceling the main graduation ceremony.

Police prepare to break past barriers and onto a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus on May 2 in Los Angeles.

More than 2,100 people have been arrested on college and university campuses across the nation since April 18 as schools prepare for spring commencement ceremonies, according to CNN’s review. The first demonstrators were detained at Columbia University two weeks ago.

Protesters have been arrested on more than 40 campuses across at least 25 states. Many other schools have experienced protests without arrests.

Here are the latest headlines:

More on arrests

Reactions to campus protests

Developments on campus

Pro-Palestinian protesters and activists rally on the University of Chicago campus in Chicago on May 3.

Graduations and commencements:

Votes and agreements

Universities around the world

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, delivers remarks at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on January 30.

The US ambassador to the United Nations will no longer deliver the commencement address at the University of Vermont, according to the school’s president. 

“It is with regret that I share that our planned speaker, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will not be joining us to deliver the Commencement address,” said President Suresh Garimella.

Some of the protesters on the campus had called on the university to rescind its invitation to Thomas-Greenfield.

Garimella didn’t give a reason for the diplomat’s non-attendance – but it was mentioned in a statement that focused on the demonstrations.

“First, I want our students to know that I see and hear you. I see you mourn for lives lost in Israel and Gaza. I hear your calls for peace and a just end to the current unrest in the region,” Garimella said. 
“I hear your frustration with foreign policy decisions. I see your efforts to bring attention to your viewpoints and to make your city and your university safe places of which you can be proud. The voices of our community are as diverse and powerful as the issues are complex and heavy,” he added.

While Garimella said he was “grateful to the students and university leaders who have engaged in conversation,” he noted the demonstrations violated school policies. 

“Those who continue to violate UVM policies do so intentionally despite having been given the opportunity to express themselves within campus rules,” Garimella said. “Therefore, regrettably, appropriate student conduct processes have been initiated for those who have persistently violated university policy.” 

It’s unclear what kind of disciplinary measures are being taken. CNN has reached out to the university for more information. 

A protester sits near a barricade outside Millar Library on the Portland State University campus May 1 in Portland, Oregon.

The library at Portland State University, where protesters took over earlier this week, has been “rendered unusable,” university President Ann Cudd said in a statement Friday. 

The library cannot be occupied right now but the university hopes to reopen it “in time for fall term,” Cudd said. The library team is working on getting remote services and finding alternative spaces for students, she added. 

“Our entire campus community has been under a great deal of stress this week,” Cudd said. “I know the campus closures were disruptive.”
“I also know there is still much hurt and anger surrounding the protests, the ongoing violence in Gaza and the disturbing scenes that have played out in our midst. I know many of you will continue to raise your voice in protest and I am in full support of your right to do so. At the same time I expect that protesters will not intimidate and harass students or other members of our community. PSU will continue to uphold the law and our policies regarding trespassing and property damage,” she said. 

Cudd also said she postponed her Presidential Investiture Ceremony, which inaugurates her as president, to a later date. 

Columbia University trustee Jeh Johnson voiced support for a Friday message from the school’s president Minouche Shafik in which she called the past two weeks on campus “among the most difficult in Columbia’s history.”

“I support it and agree with every word,” Johnson, who was also the former Homeland Security secretary, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I can attest as a trustee of Columbia that the decisions that she faced were among the most delicate and complex that I’ve seen in or out of government.”

He said that “no constitutional right is absolute or unqualified,” mentioning the students exercising their First Amendment rights.

“Someone has to be in a position to regulate time, place and manner for the exercise of free speech,” he said.

Johnson also said that protecting students is among the university’s main priorities.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik prepares to testify before the House Education and Workforce Committee during a hearing on Columbia University's response to antisemitism in Washington, DC, on April 17. 

The group of protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University’s campus, “crossed a new line,” President Minouche Shafik said in a video message released on X Friday. 

Shafik called the past two weeks on campus “among the most difficult in Columbia’s history.”

“The turmoil and tension, division and disruption have impacted the entire community,” Shafik said in the message, which was just over three minutes long.  

Columbia University students “paid an especially high price,” as a result of the protests, she said. 

The University tried multiple times to come to resolution via dialogue, Shafik said. 

“Academic leaders talked to students for eight days and nights,” she said. “(The) University made a sincere and good offer, but it was not accepted.” 

While many of the protesters on campus were mostly peaceful and “cared deeply,” Shafik said the group that occupied Hamilton Hall “crossed a new line.” 

Shafik called the occupation a “violent act” that affected the safety of students. 

“Every one of us has a role to play in bringing back the values of truth and civil discourse that polarization has severely damaged. Here at Columbia, parallel realities and parallel conversations have walled us off from other perspectives,” Shafik said.

Shafik said she was born in the Middle East “in a Muslim family with many Jewish and Christian friends.” Through her two decades of international work Shafik said she’s realized “people can disagree and still make progress.” 

“The issues that are challenging us, the Palestinian Israeli conflict, antisemitism and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias have existed for a long time,” Shafik said. “And Columbia, despite being a remarkable institution, cannot solve them, single handedly.”

Shafik urged students to be an example of a better world, one in which people who disagree “do so civilly.”

A pro-Palestinian encampment in the center of the University of Chicago campus is pictured April 30.

The University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos addressed the school’s community about the ongoing encampment, saying the school has “reached that point” and would “intervene” because of disruptions and safety to the campus community. 

“On Monday, I stated that we would only intervene if what might have been an exercise of free expression blocks the learning or expression of others or substantially disrupts the functioning or safety of the University. Without an agreement to end the encampment, we have reached that point,” Alivisatos said.

The president said the encampment, which is located on the university’s Main Quadrangle, has “created systematic disruption of campus” and “violations of policies have only increased.”

Despite a meeting with a group of protesters to find a way to end the encampment, Alivisatos said they could not find common ground and the demands were “such that we could not accede.”

CNN has reached out to the university and to campus police for more information.

A protest encampment will disband at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) by midnight Friday, as university administration and protesters have reached an agreement regarding investment transparency and study abroad programs.

Though the agreement does not appear to specifically promise divestment, one key tenant is the creation of a task force aimed at removing the university’s endowment from the University of California’s Investments Office.

“These meetings have been productive, civil, and representative of multiple points of view on how to reach a resolution,” said UCR Chancellor Kim Wilcox in a letter to the campus community. “It has been my goal to resolve this matter peacefully and I am encouraged by this outcome – which was generated through constructive dialogue.”

The student group protesting at the campus encampment is celebrating the agreement, while also pointing out there’s more work to be done.

“While this is a victory, we know there is still a long road to full divestment and look forward to seeing how the students continue to organize and hold their administration accountable,” Students for Justice in Palestine UCR said in an Instagram post.

Wilcox thanked those involved who “navigated the complexities of this week’s events with patience, grace, and civility.”

“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination; however, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues,” Wilcox said.

Gregory L. Fenves is pictured at a press conference in 2015, when he was University of Texas at Austin president.

Emory University’s College of Arts and Sciences faculty senate overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence against university President Gregory L. Fenves on Friday. The vote is a condemnation of the choice to call in outside law enforcement officers who violently arrested both students and faculty during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus last week. 

The faculty voted on a motion of no confidence and demand for redress. The result was 358 votes in favor of the motion and 119 votes opposing the motion. About 75% of the College of Arts and Sciences faculty voiced displeasure against Fenves. 

The vote is a symbolic gesture and is not legally binding. The results of the vote will now go to the Board of Trustees, who have the discretion to remove Fenves.

The motion also called for all the charges against faculty and students to be dropped and for the Emory University to pay all legal expenses.

Philosophy Chair Noëlle McAfee, who was among the individuals detained during Thursday’s arrests, told CNN in a phone call, that she does not have confidence that the board of trustee will remove Fenves.

In the motion of no confidence, faculty wrote that Fenves’ words and actions “do not represent the values of ECAS Faculty and the College of Arts and Science.” 

“What was disruptive — profoundly so — was the conduct of the University administration that violated multiple College and University policies and is an affront to everything Emory stands for,” the motion said.

Police officers detain protesters during a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Emory University in Atlanta on April 25.

On the day of the protest, Fenves said in a statement, saying “several dozen protestors entered our Atlanta campus and set up an encampment on the Quad, These individuals are largely not affiliated with Emory and were disrupting the university,” suggesting the protest was organized by outside agitators.

Fenves later walked back the statement, apologizing for the “mischaracterization” that protesters were not students.

“Based on the information we had early Thursday morning, we determined that the individuals who constructed the encampment on our Quad were not members of our community. It is clear to us now that this information was not fully accurate, and I apologize for that mischaracterization,” Fenves’ later statement said.

There were 28 individuals arrested during the protest last Thursday. Of those, 20 were Emory community members the university said in a statement from Cheryl Elliott, Vice President for Public Safety. At least two faculty members were detained during the arrests.

As pro-Palestinian protests have erupted on college campuses nationwide, protesters — including students and faculty — continue to be arrested since the first demonstrators were detained at Columbia University two weeks ago. More than 250 protesters were arrested on May 2, after April 30 saw the largest number of arrests in a day since protests began with nearly 400 arrests, according to a CNN review of university and law enforcement statements.

More than 2,100 people have been arrested on college and university campuses since April 18 as schools prepare for spring commencement ceremonies, according to CNN’s review. 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 40 campuses across at least 25 states. Many other schools have experienced protests without arrests.

Protest demands vary from campus to campus, but a major focus is that universities divest from companies with financial ties to Israel amid its war with Hamas. There have also been counter-protests, resulting in clashes at UCLA.

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

The University of Southern California will hold a “family graduate celebration” on May 9, the school announced Friday, just over a week after cancelling the main graduation ceremony.

USC previously announced the cancellation of the main stage graduation, saying it would take too much time to process the expected 65,000 attendees given their new safety measures implemented. The new safety measures follow dozens of arrests on USC’s campus in connection with the ongoing protests and the decision to rescind valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s invitation to speak at the ceremony.

The new event will be held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, at 11:30 p.m. ET and is set to include drone shows, fireworks, surprise performances, and the Trojan Marching Band, according to the announcement posted on USC’s website.

“Please join us with your family and loved ones next Thursday to celebrate your accomplishments in a big way – and come together as a Trojan Family,” the announcement states.

Presentation of degrees will take place at commencement ceremonies of individual schools within the university.

The New York City Police Department revised its number of individuals arrested during protests at The New School from 44 to 43, a NYPD spokesperson said Friday.

The number however, is “subject to change because they are not finalized,” the spokesperson noted.

The arrests come after university officials asked police to assist after protesters trespassed into the lobby of the University Center building and a residence hall and set up an encampment blocking students from entering their dorms, CNN previously reported.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations New York chapter on Friday denounced school administrations at New York University, The New School, University of Buffalo and Stony Brook University over the arrests of student protesters.

“We stand in solidarity with the student protesters at these universities who are advocating for justice and an end to genocide,” Afaf Nasher, executive director of CAIR-NY, said in a statement. “It is deeply troubling to see this continuing trend of university administrations resorting to extreme punitive measures against their own students instead of engaging in dialogue and addressing their concerns.”

Nasher also called on district attorneys, including Alvin Bragg of Manhattan, to drop all charges against students who were arrested. 

Demonstrators barricade themselves inside Hamilton Hall at Colombia University on April 30 in New York.

Columbia University released a breakdown of those arrested in Hamilton Hall on Tuesday night. Of the 44 people who were arrested in Hamilton Hall:

The statement was published Thursday evening.  

NYPD officials said onThursday that they arrested 46 people at the university’s then-occupied Hamilton Hall. 

CNN requested additional details regarding individuals unaffiliated with the institution and sought clarification regarding the disparity in arrest figures compared to those provided by the NYPD.

“A significant portion of those who broke the law and occupied Hamilton Hall were outsiders,” a Columbia spokesperson said. “While 14 were Columbia undergraduate students, the majority were a mix of adults, including graduate students, two employees, and outsiders unaffiliated with Columbia University.”

The university said that it is still in the process of doling out disciplinary action saying “the occupiers violated various University policies, but more importantly, they broke the law. Actions have consequences.”

To understand why so many college campuses suddenly have students occupying parts of their campuses, you have to go back to two weeks ago, on April 18, when Columbia University called in the NYPD to bust up an encampment that pro-Palestinian protesters had set up just a day earlier.

In doing so, Columbia’s leadership threw out the playbook for managing protests that universities have honed for decades to keep students safe.

“There is a particular set of tactics that many of us in academia thought was an understood logic that university administrators have used to manage and control protesters,” said Sarah J. Jackson, a professor who studies the role of media and technology in movements for justice at the University of Pennsylvania.

Chief among those tactics: Delaying and distracting.

The administration might tell activists, in good faith, “OK, we hear you and we are going to set up a committee to investigate what it would take to accomplish some of your demands.” Officials might ask the student protest leaders to put together a case to present before the Board of Trustees.

“The protesters don’t necessarily appreciate these tactics, because they’re strategies of control,” Jackson says. “But from my perspective, they’re also strategies that largely have prevented the large-scale violence against protesters on college campuses that we saw in the 1960s.”

Read the full story here.

Police officers stand guard outside of The New School in New York on Friday.

The New School in New York City switched to online learning Friday following protests on campus that resulted in 43 arrests, according to University Spokesperson Amy Malsin in an email to CNN.

School officials requested police assistance after protesters trespassed into the lobby of the University Center building and a residence hall and set up an encampment blocking students from entering their dorms, CNN previously reported.

“We have been very tolerant of the students’ right to free speech as long as they did not interfere with the educational mission,” Donna Shalala, interim president of the school, said in a statement Friday. “Despite entreaties by the Dean of Students, members of the faculty, and student leaders, the protesters have refused to permit entry, which left the university no choice but to protect the rights of our students to access their residence hall, classrooms, library, and cafeteria.” 

According to the statement, the move to bring in the New York City Police Department was based on the protesters’ conduct. 

“As offensive as the protesters’ language and posters are to many of us, my decision is about their conduct, not speech. It is also about safety as well as the protesters’ irresponsible conduct,” Shalala wrote.

CNN has not independently verified when the photo was taken or if it's the specific image sent to the FBI by Stanford.

Stanford University officials have sent the FBI a photo of an individual at a campus encampment location who they say appears to be wearing a headband similar to those worn by Hamas members, school officials said this week.

“We have received many expressions of concern about a photo circulating on social media of an individual on White Plaza who appeared to be wearing a green headband similar to those worn by members of Hamas,” the school said in an online post.

The individual in the photo is masked and the headband is a variation of those worn by members of the Hamas military wing known as the al-Qassam Brigades. 

CNN is unable to independently verify the photo.

“We find this deeply disturbing, as Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the United States government. We have not been able to identify the individual but have forwarded the photo to the FBI,” the statement from the university said. The FBI field office in San Francisco declined CNN’s request to comment.

The university did not provide a photo of the demonstrator in their post but appears to be referencing a photo circulating online and made public by a group called Jews of Stanford, in a letter posted on the Action Network. The Action Network identifies itself as a progressive non-profit tech platform.

Stanford said it is “concerned about the involvement of non-student outsiders in these activities on our campus” but offered no specific information on the photo.

In its letter to the University Jews of Stanford said, “Individuals dressed openly as members of a terrorist organization is unacceptable and must be dealt with swiftly and harshly” warning that not doing so would set “a dangerous standard”

Commencements at the University of Michigan are under way with programs hosting separate ceremonies with distinguished speakers.

Michigan’s School of Public Health held its ceremony Thursday afternoon where alum, Jodi-Ann Burey, a cancer survivor, speaker, writer, creator and host of the podcast Black Cancer, working at the intersections of race, culture and health, used her speech addressing graduates to criticize the administration for refusing to divest from Israel.

“Leaders at this university have decided that divestment in solidarity with Ukraine is more moral and more urgent than divestment in solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza,” Burey said, who received her master’s in public health from the university.”

The remarks, reported by Inside Higher Ed and streamed on the university’s YouTube page, were met with over a dozen seconds of applause and cheering by audience members.

“We are witnessing the most well-documented genocide in human history on our cellphones,” she continued. “Every issue you came to (the School of Public Health) to dedicate your career towards, maternal health, infection disease prevention, noncommunicable illness, mental health, food security, health care systems, humanitarian aid, is at a point of crisis in Gaza.”

Spring graduation is scheduled for the whole university on Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. There will be a designated area for protests outside ceremony venues, the University of Michigan said on its website, noting all commencement events will include security screenings, prohibit banners and flags, and be monitored by volunteers who will immediately “respond to disruptions, beginning with warnings.”

Rep. James Clyburn speaks during an interview on Friday.

Rep. James Clyburn, Democratic congressman from South Carolina, expressed concerns about how the college campus protests across the country could impact President Joe Biden’s second-term presidential run, agreeing with Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who warned that Biden’s stance over Israel’s war on Gaza may have alienated young voters.

Both Democrats drew a parallel between the current protests and those that occurred during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson in the late 1960s when American students protested against the Vietnam War.

“I was around during the Vietnam War … All those things that made us a great society, (Johnson) was the engineer of, and all that went down the drain because of Vietnam,” Clyburn told CNN’s Sara Sidner. “These kinds of issues could very well be taking over, so I share that concern that we have got to be very careful that we do not stymie protests.”

Despite his concerns, Clyburn said he also acknowledges the president’s two-state solution stance, meaning having a Palestinian state: “Joe Biden believes in a two-state solution, Netanyahu does not. Joe Biden’s opponent in this election does not believe in a two-state solution.”

“I would say to people — who do you want to see in the White House, someone who supports a two-state solution or someone who does not?” Clyburn said. “That is the choice we’ve got here, and we have to be very, very careful that we do not go so far over the line.”

Clyburn, who is among those receiving the presidential medal of freedom, noted that he is where he’s at today because of protests, underscoring that these actions must be done non-violently.

“This great country was born out of a protest,” he said. “So, we must protect that, but we cannot condone lawlessness and when you use violence in order to manifest your protest, you have stepped over the line.”

Police officers stand guard outside the New York University campus, after protesters were removed from the area on May 3.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrested 43 people at the New School, a private university in the city, after the school requested assistance in dispersing illegal encampments, according to an NYPD spokesperson who spoke to CNN affiliate, WABC Friday. 

“We gave them options to leave multiple times,” the spokesperson said. “We gave them what the options were in terms of summons desk appearance ticket, and you saw they opted to take the investigators ticket, and what’s disturbing as usual, you can hear the complete anti-Israel hatred live right here.”

According to NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry who also spoke with WABC, the individuals had an encampment in the lobby of a residence hall preventing the students from going into their dorms. 

Daughtry told WABC police arrived on the scene and gave the individuals ample time to leave and those that stayed “wanted to be arrested for trespassing.”

According to the spokesperson, a total of 56 individuals were arrested Friday morning, including 13 people who were arrested at New York University. 

“Most of those there—about 30—chose to leave, and were permitted to do so; about a dozen who were unwilling to leave were arrested,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement Friday morning. “The process took about 20 minutes and involved minimal disruption and minimal confrontation.”

CNN has reached out to the NYPD for additional information about Friday’s arrests.

CNN’s Maria Sole Campinoti contributed to this report

More than 2,000 people have been arrested at colleges and universities since April 18 as a growing wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests spreads across not only the US but around the world.

During the weeks of demonstrations, protesters have mainly called for schools to divest from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza. The college protests, which captured global attention in recent days, have rippled on campuses in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Clashes and standoffs with police, and some counterprotesters, unfolded at Columbia University, Portland State and UCLA, as school officials and police continue large crackdowns on protesters. Nearly 200 people were arrested on May 1, after April 30 saw the largest number of arrests in a day since protests began with nearly 400 arrests, according to a CNN review.

President Joe Biden has delivered his most extensive remarks on the unrest. He drew a line between what he called peaceful and violent protests, repeated his support for Israel and dismissed calls for the National Guard to intervene.

While some colleges have either canceled or modified graduation ceremonies, others including universities across Florida are moving forward with commencement this weekend.

Here are the latest developments:

Biden administration weighs in: After President Joe Biden addressed the issue head-on Thursday, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sent a letter Friday to college and university presidents condemning “abhorrent” incidents of antisemitism on campus and offering schools available resources.

Florida universities: Universities across Florida are preparing for weekend commencement celebrations, which kick off Friday, after the State University System of Florida’s chancellor commended school presidents on their handling of a “difficult academic year” to keep Jewish students and faculty safe and noting that protests during the ceremonies will “not be tolerated.”

New York University: The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said it cleared at encampment at New York University (NYU) early Friday morning, following a request from the school. Nearby, the New School also requested assistance from NYPD to disperse the “illegal encampments” inside their university center building and residence hall, an NYPD statement said.

Portland State University: At least 30 people were arrested Thursday at the school, where law enforcement was working to clear a library that had been occupied by protesters since Monday, according to authorities. A man also drove his car toward a group of protesters on Thursday, stopping just short of the crowd and spraying them with “some kind of pepper spray,” police said.

Students in Paris: Students from universities across Paris are expected to rally Friday in support of Palestinian people in Gaza. Dozens of students started a sit-in inside Paris’ Sciences Po late Thursday, prompting the university to close its Paris campus Friday, according to a school spokesman.

The New School requested assistance from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to disperse the illegal encampments inside their university center building and residence hall, according to an NYPD statement Friday.

Students and individuals from outside of the university community trespassed into the lobby of the University Center building at 63 Fifth Avenue and the lobby of the Kerrey Hall residence hall at 65 Fifth Avenue, according to a letter from the university to police.

“The safety and security of The New School Community is our highest priority,” the letter said. “The actions and continuing escalation of these individuals are a substantial disruption of the educational environment and regular operation of the university.”

According to the letter, the students “have been informed numerous times” that their actions — setting up tents and structures within campus spaces and damaging university property — are in violation of the university’s rules and policies.

President Joe Biden speaks about student protests on May 2, in Washington DC.

The Biden administration is ramping up its direct response to the college protests over the Israel-Hamas war, with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sending a letter Friday to college and university presidents condemning “abhorrent” incidents of antisemitism on campus and highlighting available resources.

Cardona’s letter, sent via email, comes one day after President Joe Biden addressed the issue head-on Thursday, offering law-and-order-centric remarks at the White House stressing the need to peacefully protest without causing chaos. 

“As the 2023-24 school year comes to a close, I remain incredibly concerned by the reports of antisemitic hate directed at students on some campuses,” Cardona said in the letter, first obtained by CNN.

In recent days, he wrote, there has been a “sharp rise in reports of antisemitism targeting Jewish students on some college campuses.”

He cited reports from Jewish students of being physically assaulted or harassed while walking on campus, antisemitic statements, including that Jewish students should “go back to Poland,” verbal abuse, and swastikas found on dorm room doors.

Cardona told the higher education leaders that his department is “eager to provide further resources, training, technical assistance,” linking to a list of strategies and other federal campus safety resources, including guides from the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the Department of Justice.

Read the full story here.

Universities across Florida are preparing for weekend commencement celebrations, which kick off Friday, after the State University System of Florida’s chancellor commended school presidents on their handling of a “difficult academic year to ensure the safety of our Jewish students and faculty.”

“While we are witnessing a descent into chaos all over the country, under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida has maintained law and order,” Ray Rodrigues, Chancellor of the State University System of Florida wrote in a letter to State University System Presidents.
“As the academic year concludes, we must protect the integrity of our commencement ceremonies and ensure the safety of our students. No commencement ceremony should be canceled, or substantively modified, as a result of unruly demonstrators.”

Florida State University will hold six ceremonies across two days, with the University of Florida holding its on Friday night.

“You are authorized to take any steps necessary to ensure the safety of all attendees during the ceremony,” Rodrigues said. “Please promptly inform faculty, staff, students, and guests that protests, discrimination or harassment at commencement ceremonies will not be tolerated.”

Read more about preparations other colleges are taking ahead of commencement ceremonies.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) said it cleared at encampment at New York University (NYU) early Friday morning, following a request from the school.

NYU requested “assistance to disperse the illegal encampment on their property,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry.

“As per their request we are on site and our officers will be assisting with the unparalleled professionalism embodied by our police officers,” Daughtry said.

The clearing of the encampment comes shortly after the NYPD was used to help clear Columbia University’s encampment and Hamilton Hall — and at a time when protests on campuses across the country have hit a fever pitch with many students calling for colleges to divest from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza.

Chief Daughtry posted a redacted letter from NYU dated May 2, 2024, stating in part the individuals operating Green Street Walkway have persisted for six days and “their presence has created a continuing risk of violence due to the presence and behavior of hundreds of individuals not affiliated with NYU drawn to the encampment, including acts of vandalism.”

“Incidences of violence have been encouraged and have occurred with greater frequency and intensity at other campuses New York City and around the country, creating an unacceptable risk to our community,” the letter continues.

Police escort protesters during the evacuation of Sciences Po University in Paris, France, on May 3.

French police have cleared the main hall of Sciences Po University in Paris of pro-Palestinian protesters.

The evacuation was carried out calmly by riot police with protestors shouting “shame!” and “free Palestine!”

Dozens of students had began a sit-in inside the university late Thursday. The university closed its campus Friday, a school spokesman said.

Students from universities across Paris are expected to rally Friday afternoon in support of Palestinian people in Gaza. 

The protest is scheduled to be held outside the Pantheon, a French national Monument in a district housing some of Paris’ most prestigious universities, including the Sorbonne.

Dozens of students started a sit-in inside Paris’ Sciences Po late Thursday, prompting the university to close its Paris campus Friday, according to a school spokesman.

Paris riot police are expected to evacuate the university in the coming hours.

A key demand of some protesters has been the breaking of ties with universities in Israel, which has so far been resisted by university authorities. Students are also demanding that French universities condemn Israel.

The protests have not snowballed into a broader national movement, but pockets of protests have been seen at campuses across the country.

An attempted occupation at the Sorbonne University was ended by police this week.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal last Saturday described the occupation at Sciences Po as a “distressing and shocking spectacle.”

Here’s where other campus protests are happening around the world.

Protesters stand around a defaced car, after a man drove it toward a crowd at Portland State University on May 2.

A man drove his car toward a group of protesters at Portland State University on Thursday, stopping just short of the crowd and spraying them with “some kind of pepper spray,” police said.

In a video taken at the scene, a man can be seen driving toward a large crowd of protesters, stopping just short of them. Another man tries to stop the driver and reaches inside the car window before being sprayed with a brown-colored aerosol. Others then begin to hit and throw objects at the car. The driver then gets out and runs away, spraying others as he flees on foot.

“PSU Police located the driver of a car who stopped near the crowd and sprayed some kind of pepper spray earlier this afternoon,” the Portland Police Bureau said. “The adult male was transported to a local hospital on a police mental health hold.”

CNN has reached out to police about this incident.

Later on Thursday, police arrested at least 30 people at Portland State University as they worked to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters from a library that had been occupied this week.

The University of California, Los Angeles canceled its request for extra policing days before violent clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and pro-Israel counterprotesters on campus, the LA Times has reported.

University police canceled the request for additional police from other campuses five days before the clashes, the newspaper reports, citing internal communication that they reviewed.

Video from CNN affiliate KABC showed fireworks, objects being thrown, and physical violence among demonstrators during the clashes. 

CNN has reached out to UCLA for comment.

Joe Biden delivers remarks about student protests over the war in Gaza, from the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on May 2, in Washington.

President Joe Biden can ill afford a long, hot summer of protest that comes to a boil in time for the Democratic National Convention in August and then bleeds into the final weeks of an already venomous clash with Donald Trump.

After days of college campus demonstrations — triggered by outrage at the civilian carnage from Israel’s war in Gaza — the president’s reticence to throw himself into the politics of a perilous situation finally became unsustainable, resulting in his first on-camera comments on Thursday.

In a political sense, Biden’s speech was an act of fence sitting.

He needs to avoid further alienating young, progressive voters who are furious about his handling of the Gaza war and could doom his reelection hopes if they don’t show up in November. But he must also ensure that more middle-of-the-road voters aren’t convinced by Trump’s claims the country is on fire and spinning out of control.

Any time a sitting president looks like he’s observing rather than controlling inflammatory events, he’s taking a huge political risk. This is especially the case when a political opponent, in this case Trump, is lambasting him as weak and not up to the job.

Read the full analysis.

Mounted police officers walk past as pro-Palestinian activists at an encampment set up on McGill University's campus in Montreal, on May 2.

Protests in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza have spread across university and college campuses in the US and around the world.

While clashes and standoffs with police at Columbia University, Portland State, and UCLA have captured global attention, protests are also being held on campuses in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Although demands among protesters vary at each university, the majority have called for colleges to divest from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza.

Here’s a look at some of the pro-Palestinian campus protests around the world:

Australia: Pro-Palestinian protest camps have appeared in at least seven schools across the country, including the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney.

United Kingdom: Pro-Palestinian protests have been held at universities across the country since the early days of Israel’s war in Gaza, with some setting up encampments. Students in the English cities of Newcastle, Leeds, Bristol, and Warwick have set up tents outside their university buildings.

France: In Paris, pro-Palestinian protests erupted at Sciences Po, one of France’s most highly ranked universities, and the Sorbonne university.

India: Protests have been held at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi, in solidarity with students protesting at Columbia.

Canada: Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza have swept campuses across the nation, including at McGill University, the University of Toronto, and the University of British Columbia.

Lebanon: Hundreds of students gathered at campuses in Lebanon, waving Palestinian flags and demanding their universities boycott companies that do business in Israel.

Read the full story.

Columbia University plans to allow faculty based on its Morningside campus access to their offices and other spaces on Friday, a university official said in a memo — an easing of campus restrictions that have been in place because of days of tense protests.

Access to the Morningside campus is limited to Morningside faculty, students who live on campus and employees who provide essential services, according to the university’s public safety website.

“Please know that the safety and security of our students, faculty and staff is our top priority,” Columbia Chief Operating Officer Cas Holloway said. He added, “We are guarding against further disruptions to our academic mission and carefully weighing the risk that tensions and activities in the city and around the country could spill over onto our campus and threaten the safety of our community.”

“We are also concerned that Columbia remains a target for individuals and groups that do not have the best interests of our students in mind,” Holloway said.

The University of Southern California has told students arrested during on-campus protests on April 24 that they face disciplinary action, according to student newspaper the Daily Trojan.

At least 93 people were arrested during demonstrations on the private campus, according to police.

The newspaper said students received the email Thursday evening.

“Following our normal practice, the alleged conduct leading to your arrest is being referred to the university’s disciplinary process. You will have an opportunity to participate in the process and we will take every effort to resolve the case expeditiously and with care,” the email read, according to a screenshot posted online by the paper.

The school said that more violations of university policy would result in “further discipline up to expulsion as well as an immediate ban from campus.”

CNN has sought comment from USC on the email.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested at colleges and universities since April 18 as a growing wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests ripples across the US.

During the weeks of demonstrations, protesters have mainly called for schools to divest from companies that support Israel and the war in Gaza.

Recent days have seen large crackdowns on protesters: Nearly 200 people were arrested on May 1, after April 30 saw the largest number of arrests in a day since protests began with nearly 400 arrests, according to a CNN review.

President Joe Biden has delivered his most extensive remarks on the unrest. He drew a line between what he called peaceful and violent protests, repeated his support for Israel, and dismissed calls for the National Guard to intervene.

Portland police officers standby on the campus of Portland State University in Portland on Thursday.

Here are the latest developments on campuses nationwide:

Portland State University: At least 30 people were arrested Thursday at the school, where law enforcement was working to clear a library that had been occupied by protesters since Monday, according to authorities.

University of Pennsylvania: Eight days after a pro-Palestinian encampment was set up in the center of the university, the Ivy League school wrote a letter to the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office asking for more police resources, a school spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.

Columbia University: The district attorney’s office is reviewing an incident in which a New York City Police Department officer fired a gun in Hamilton Hall during Tuesday night’s police activity at the school, a Manhattan district attorney’s office spokesperson told CNN.

Emory University: The Department of Education’s civil rights office has opened a federal investigation into the university in Atlanta, according to a letter sent by the department to Palestine Legal and the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and shared with CNN. The probe comes after a pro-Palestinian protest at the university last week ended in arrests — but is based on allegations of incidents that the groups said came well before the demonstration.

University of California, Los Angeles: More than 200 people were arrested Thursday on suspicion of resisting orders to disperse from the now-dismantled encampment on the campus.

Police officers scuffle with protesters trying to block vehicles taking detained students, who had been occupying the Portland State University Library building on May 2.

At least 30 people were arrested Thursday at Portland State University, where law enforcement was working to clear a library that had been occupied by protesters since Monday, according to authorities.

Arrests were made in a park and at the library, where some people broke back into the building after police left, Portland police told CNN

The situation remained “active” as of about 8 p.m. local time, Portland police said.

“After a group of protesters departed from a peaceful First Amendment gathering and unlawfully entered the campus building on Monday, (Portland police have) been working in partnership with city leaders, other municipal bureaus, the Multnomah County district attorney’s office, and Portland State University to ensure a safe resolution.”

Police said they were monitoring the library and several groups that have “splintered off into small marches.”

Officers entered the library around 6 a.m. Thursday. Inside, officers found what appeared to be improvised weapons, hollow bamboo sticks, buckets full of ball bearings, unspecified tools, paint balloons, spray bottles filled with ink with a note that said they were meant to be deployed at officers and cups of paint, Portland police Sgt. Kevin Allen said. A soap or slick substance was on at least one floor of the building, making it difficult for the officers to walk, he said. 

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who oversees Portland police, said those arrested would be prosecuted. 

Over the past week, student journalists have been working around the clock from a makeshift newsroom inside Columbia University.

Due to the school’s strict lockdown, they were the only media allowed on campus on April 30 as police massed outside.

Palestinian journalist Samaa Khullar was one of them.

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Eight days after a pro-Palestinian encampment was set up in the center of the University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League school has written a letter to the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office asking for more police resources, a school spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.

“Protest activity began to escalate overnight and has steadily continued, with large crowds in and around College Green today,” the university said. “We have reached out to the City of Philadelphia to ensure we have the necessary resources to keep our community safe.”

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s office has requested more information from the university, which administrators are working to provide, the spokesperson said.

The university declined to provide a copy of the letter and CNN has sought comment from the mayor’s office.

Philadelphia police have an agreement with University of Pennsylvania police “to ensure effective cooperation in situations requiring a police presence,” according to Philadelphia police spokesperson Sgt. Eric Gripp.

Philadelphia police do not publicly share strategies related to ongoing situations, Gripp said.

The situation at the university since Wednesday night has been tense. The university said a pro-Palestinian rally at the encampment late Wednesday “escalated at multiple times” and resulted in “defacement of Penn property, an unauthorized drone, and threatening rhetoric and chants.”

On Thursday, CNN witnessed a minor confrontation between campus police and protesters when protesters jumped barriers and began chanting on and around a statue of Benjamin Franklin on the College Green. The incident did not result in any arrests but the police presence was heightened.

A New York City Police Department officer fired a gun in Hamilton Hall during Tuesday night’s police response at Columbia University, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office told CNN on Thursday.

The district attorney’s office is reviewing the incident, as it is part of the district attorney’s policy to do so, office spokesperson Doug Cohen said. No students and only police officers were immediately nearby the gunfire incident, and no one was injured, Cohen said.

An NYPD investigation determined the officer accidentally fired his gun while using the attached flashlight to search Hamilton Hall’s first floor, the police department said Thursday.

“The… officer has a firearm that is equipped with a flashlight, and he was illuminating the area to find the best way to navigate through the barricaded area. The officer accidentally discharged his firearm causing a single round to be discharged,” an NYPD statement reads.

The round hit a frame on a wall and no injuries were reported, police said, noting body camera footage of the incident has been given to the DA’s office

The NYPD will hold a briefing on the incident at 11:30 a.m. ET Friday.

At Columbia, dozens of protesters entered the university’s Hamilton Hall early Tuesday and barricaded themselves inside before the university asked for the NYPD’s assistance to clear the building.

Police entered the building late Tuesday. Authorities arrested 112 people in connection with protests and the building occupation late Tuesday and overnight, including 32 who were not affiliated with the university, according to an NYPD official.

Pro-Palestinian students demonstrate at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia on April 25.

The Department of Education’s civil rights office has opened a federal investigation into Emory University in Atlanta, according to a letter sent by the department to Palestine Legal and the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and shared with CNN.

The investigation comes after a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the university last week ended in arrests — but is based on allegations of incidents that the groups said came well before the protest.

A complaint, filed by Palestine Legal and CAIR-Georgia in early April, alleges that “the university discriminated against students on the basis of national origin (shared Palestinian, Muslim, and/or Arab ancestry) and/or race (Black) by failing to respond appropriately to incidents of harassment beginning on October 7, 2023,” the letter said. 

In a joint statement, CAIR-Georgia and Palestine Legal said the complaint was filed after the organizations sent Emory a letter “detailing the hostile Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian climate on campus and Emory refused to take tangible action.”

Among the allegations in the complaint: On October 10, a post announcing a vigil for Palestine was removed from the Emory Instagram account and never reposted, while “a vigil for Israeli clubs on campus” was reposted to the account, the Education Department’s civil rights office’s letter reads.

The complaint also alleges that on February 2, the university did not allow flags for a “memorial for Palestine” to be posted in the university quad, while other signs were allowed in the area, the letter reads. 

An Emory University spokesperson told CNN that the university received the complaint from the department and “will respond” but that the school was unable to publicly discuss an open investigation.

“Opening an investigation in no way implies that (the Education Department’s civil rights office) has made a determination with regard to the merits,” the letter from the civil rights office said.

Law enforcement officers stand guard during a protest at UCLA on May 2.

More than 200 people were arrested Thursday on suspicion of resisting orders to disperse from the now-dismantled encampment on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said Thursday.

Earlier Thursday, the California Highway Patrol indicated that 132 people were arrested during that morning’s move by law enforcement officers to remove the protest encampment. The move came after the university said the encampment and all unauthorized tents and structures on campus were unlawful.

“While many of the protesters at the encampment remained peaceful, ultimately, the site became a focal point for serious violence as well as a huge disruption to our campus,” Block said. “In the end, the encampment on Royce Quad was both unlawful and a breach of policy. It led to unsafe conditions on our campus and it damaged our ability to carry out our mission. It needed to come to an end.” 

Block said those who remained in the encampment Wednesday night were given several warnings to leave peacefully before officers arrived.  

“Ultimately, about 300 protesters voluntarily left, while more than 200 resisted orders to disperse and were arrested,” he said. 

The UCLA Police Department ultimately arrested a total of 210 people on suspicion of failure to disperse, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Dominic Choi said in a thread on X. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont speaks during an interview on Thursday.

The anti-war student protests unfolding across US campuses could be “Biden’s Vietnam” moment, US Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont told CNN on Thursday, warning that President Joe Biden’s stance over Israel’s war on Gaza may have alienated young voters.  

During an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Sanders drew a parallel between the current protests and those that occurred during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson in the late 1960s when American students protested against the Vietnam War.  

“In terms of his campaign, I am thinking back and other people are making this reference that this may be Biden’s Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson, in many respects, was a very, very good president. … He chose not to run in ’68 because of opposition to his views on Vietnam,” Sanders said. 

“I worry very much that President Biden is putting himself in a position where he has alienated not just young people but a lot of the Democratic base in terms of his views on Israel and this war,” Sanders added.  

The senator said people should note why students are demonstrating in huge numbers: “They are out there not because they are pro-Hamas. They are out there because they are outraged by what the Israeli government is now doing in Gaza.”  

Sanders said he believes students who are protesting against sustained US aid to a “right wing extremist Netanyahu government” are doing so “for the right reasons.”  

The politician told CNN that he hopes from both a “policy point of view and a moral point of view” that President Biden “stops giving a blank check to Netanyahu” and realizes that US support to Israel “has not been helpful.” 

When President Joe Biden returned to the White House on Wednesday evening from a campaign event at the nearby Mayflower Hotel, he asked his advisers to assemble a basic outline of remarks on the protests — if he were to deliver them.

Three White House officials say Biden and his closest aides went back and forth to incorporate Biden’s edits, with a final decision and final draft produced early Thursday morning. 

Biden later that morning made his first extensive remarks on the campus protests, attempting to balance the right to free speech and his desire for law and order, and insisting he has not changed his support for Israel.

Senior advisers had long been tracking the developments in the protests through official channels with local governments and law enforcement.

Behind the scenes, younger West Wing staffers — many recent graduates themselves or with contemporaries pursuing post-graduate degrees — also sought to raise awareness from firsthand accounts they were receiving from friends on campuses, with alerts that grew in intensity in recent days. 

In particular, the escalation at Columbia University and UCLA — and the increasing involvement of law enforcement on campuses nationwide — piqued the president’s desire to speak in public, beyond written statements and the commentary offered by spokespeople on his behalf.

Private security and NYPD police officers stand guard at the gates of Columbia University on May 2.

Authorities arrested 282 people at Tuesday’s pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University and The City College of New York, according to the New York Police Department.

Of the 112 people arrested at Columbia, 32 (or 29%) were not affiliated with the university, according to an NYPD official. At The City College of New York, 102 (or 60%) of the 170 people arrested were not affiliated with the college.

At Columbia, dozens of protesters entered the university’s Hamilton Hall on Tuesday and barricaded themselves inside before the university asked for the NYPD’s assistance.

These people could be charged with burglary in the third degree, criminal mischief and trespassing, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said. Protesters in the encampments outside could be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct, he said.

But on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said that 46 people arrested inside Hamilton Hall have so far only been charged with one count of trespassing.

Seventy-four people were arraigned Wednesday night and Thursday in connection to the Tuesday events at both schools, the Manhattan district attorney said. At least six people were arrested on burglary charges related to the protests, according to another NYPD official.

Read more about those arrested.

CNN’s Gloria Pazmino, John Miller and Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is zeroing in on the wave of pro-Palestinian protests that have rocked college campuses across the United States as he looks to unify his fractured House Republican conference, which has been bitterly splintered for months — all while exposing divisions within the House Democratic caucus.

Johnson, who is poised to face a referendum on his rookie speakership as soon as next week, has used the weight of the speaker’s office to launch a multi-faceted investigation into the clashes at American universities.

That includes tapping committee chairs to beef up oversight of federal funding for schools; hatching plans to haul in college presidents for hearings; exploring additional legislation to address antisemitism; and dispatching key Republicans to visit campus encampments and demonstrations.

With multiple committees involved in the effort, Johnson is coordinating the work behind the scenes and making the House-wide investigation a new focal point of the GOP agenda, which has largely been stalled over the past few months.

The effort could not only shore up much-needed support for Johnson inside his fractured conference — which has struggled to pass even basic procedural votes and messaging bills — but could also appeal to key voter constituencies, including moderates, independents and suburban parents, ahead of the November elections.

Read the full story.