May 4, 2024 - Campus protest updates

Our coverage of the campus protests has moved here.

The University of Mississippi has opened a student conduct investigation after actions of “hostility and racist overtones” were portrayed during a demonstration on campus.

On Thursday, about 30 pro-Palestinian protesters were demonstrating on campus in a barricaded zone when they were surrounded by an estimated 200 counterprotesters, some holding American flags, several Trump flags and some dressed in red, white and blue.

While there are multiple videos circulating online showing the protest at varying times, one video in particular shows a group of mostly young White men in the counterprotest yelling at a Black woman, at least one counterprotester is seen on video making what appears to be monkey gestures at the woman — although CNN has not confirmed that is the case— as she records the group on her phone. 

Jaylin R. Smith, 24, confirmed to CNN she is the woman seen in the video. 

“One thing that will never break me is people taunting me or making monkey noises at me,” the journalism and new media graduate student told CNN on Friday. 

The video viewed by CNN shows a large group of counterprotesters yelling at Smith as she walks toward them while holding her phone. Law enforcement appeared to be telling her to “go back” to where other pro-Palestinian protesters were rallying. Smith is heard in the video saying, “I’m not so peaceful” repeatedly as police usher her away from the counterprotesters. 

CNN has been unable to identify any of the counterprotesters seen in the video.

At least 25 people were arrested for trespassing Saturday, the University of Virginia said, after police were called in to disperse a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

In a statement, UVA said those arrested were taken to the Albemarle County Regional Jail. The university said it is still waiting for confirmation regarding how many of the 25 arrested were affiliated with UVA.

The statement said the University of Virginia “responded today to a demonstration near the University Chapel following protesters’ multiple University police violations and subsequent violent conduct.”

CNN has reached out to the UVA Encampment for Gaza multiple times for comment.

When asked for examples of violent conduct from demonstrators, a university spokesperson referred CNN to its statement, which indicated during the police action Saturday, “authorities were again met with agitation, chanting and violent gestures such as swinging of objects.”

The campus was declared “stable” around 4 p.m., UVA said, after police were seen clearing protesters from the area.

Earlier this week, a group called UVA Encampment for Gaza posted a statement on Instagram calling for the university to divest from Israel.

In its statement, the university said protests earlier in the week were peaceful, with no disruptions to university activities. A request to remove tents near the UVA chapel Tuesday was honored and previous demonstrations complied with university policies, the statement said.

The statement said on Friday, UVA officials offered to continue discussions about university investments, adding, “The University agreed to the group’s final request to allow students, faculty and staff to express their support for Palestine without risking administrative discipline, provided that such expressive activity occurred within the limits of the laws and UVA policies.”

UVA said by Friday evening, “a crowd occupied the demonstration area for a vigil and began erecting several tents and canopies prohibited by University policy.”

Saturday morning, the university said its chief of police told the group they would be given 15 minutes to voluntarily remove the tents. After several further warnings throughout the day, UVA said, “Due to the demonstrators’ increasing resistance and refusal to comply with the declaration by promptly leaving the designated area, additional resources from Virginia State Police were requested to assist with enforcing the declaration of an unlawful assembly around 2:45 p.m.”

Virginia State Police referred CNN to the University and its police as the lead agency on campus. State Police were there in “an assist capacity” Saturday, a spokesperson said.

Approximately 50 people were arrested outside the Art Institute of Chicago during a demonstration on Saturday, according to the institute.

A demonstration, including some School of Art Institute of Chicago students, started on Saturday morning in the North Garden of the museum, according to an institute spokesperson.

As time went on, protesters “shoved a security officer and stole their keys to the museum, blocked emergency exits, and barricade gates,” according to the spokesperson.

Officers offered a new location to the group to continue their protest, but they refused. “During multiple rounds of negotiations, SAIC student protesters were promised amnesty from academic sanction and trespassing charges if they agreed to relocate,” the spokesperson said.

Negotiations continued for about five hours and an agreement was never reached.

Chicago Police decided to end the protest in “the safest way possible” and arrested approximately 50 people, according to the spokesperson.

CNN has reached out to the Chicago Police Department for additional information.

Graduation ceremonies are taking place at colleges and universities in the US this weekend after weeks of protests that saw more than 2,100 people arrested on more than 40 campuses across at least 25 states.

Here are headlines from Saturday that you should know:

Police have cleared out pro-Palestinian protesters and taken down tents near the center of University of Virginia’s campus.

A line of officers in riot gear approached the group of protesters Saturday afternoon, grabbing away umbrellas and tossing them aside before pushing forward to a line of tents and canopies, video from CNN affiliate WVIR showed. Officers could be seen pulling apart the structures and appeared to detain some of the demonstrators.

Around 4 p.m. ET, the university said on its website that the situation was “stable” and that “police remain on scene.”

The UVA Department of Safety and Security had earlier announced on X that the protest was declared an “unlawful assembly,” and urged students to avoid the area near the Rotunda and Chapel at the center of campus.

CNN has reached out to the university and local law enforcement for further comment.

Some context: Over the last several days, pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered for demonstrations at the Charlottesville campus in a “picnic-like environment,” without a significant number of tents or other temporary structures being assembled, CNN’s Polo Sandoval reports. The school had previously stated that tents would be in violation of campus policy and prompt a response from officials.

In the last 24 hours or so, there have been more signs that demonstrators could be assembling an encampment similar to those seen at other universities, according to Sandoval.

Earlier this week, a group called UVA Encampment for Gaza posted a statement on Instagram calling for the university to divest from Israel.

“UVA administration has militarized our campus. But what did they do when white supremacists attacked Charlottesville in 2017? Nothing. Call and email now. Flood the lines and tell them to stand down,” the statement reads.

This post has been updated with more details about the police activity at UVA.

The University of Southern California is increasing security and Los Angeles Police Department officers will remain on campus through commencement, USC Department of Public Safety told CNN on Saturday. 

“As we approach commencement, we have added more private security ambassadors, and we have stationed LAPD officers on campus. This will continue through commencement,” USC Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief David Carlisle said in an email.

CNN previously reported that USC will hold a “family graduate celebration” on Thursday, May 9 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

On April 25, USC canceled the main-stage graduation, which was scheduled for May 10, because it would take too much time to process the expected 65,000 attendees given their new safety measures. Those measures were implemented following dozens of arrests on campus in connection with the ongoing protests and the decision to rescind valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s invitation to speak at the ceremony.

Protests in solidarity with people facing war in Gaza continue across university campuses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with some schools witnessing encampments similar to those on campuses in the US over the past week. 

In Ireland, students at the prestigious Trinity College Dublin piled up benches to blockade access to a popular tourist attraction, the Book of Kells. Over 40 tents had also been set up, the president-elect of the university’s student union said on X Friday.

In light of the student protest, the college said it had decided to close the attraction from Saturday to Monday. 

In the UK, London’s Goldsmiths University has conceded to demands of its university students, who had protested in solidarity with people in Gaza for six months and briefly set up an encampment in the faculty’s library, the university’s student-led “Goldsmiths for Palestine” said in a post on X on Friday.

The group said its university had agreed to “a new ethical investment policy,” divesting from funding associated with Israel. Demands to divest have also been central to many of the US protests.

Students at other universities in the UK — namely Newcastle, Warwick, Leeds and Bristol — have also set up campus encampments in recent days.

Pro-Palestinian protesters were removed from University of Michigan’s main commencement ceremony after briefly interrupting the proceedings Saturday.

No one was arrested, according to Melissa Overton, the university’s deputy police chief and public information officer.

Carlos Del Toro, the 78th US secretary of the Navy, was addressing the crowd at the time of the interruption and emphasized the importance of the right to protest peacefully.

“I’m extremely proud as a Cuban-American who came to this country as an immigrant and who also chose to serve for 26 years in uniform to again protect the liberties of all Americans to protest peacefully in this country,” Del Toro said.

The protesters were removed shortly after.

Photos from the commencement show that planes also flew banners with opposing messages over the ceremony. One read, “Divest from Israel,” while the other said, “Stand with Israel.”

Some context: Commencements at the University of Michigan are ongoing with programs hosting separate ceremonies with distinguished speakers. Saturday’s massive event at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor was the spring graduation ceremony for the whole university.

There will be designated areas for protests outside ceremony venues throughout the weekend, 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.”

A ceremony for the university’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance was also interrupted Friday.

This post has been updated to reflect information from the university’s police department.

In a statement to the University of California, Irvine campus community on Friday, Chancellor Howard Gillman said the university will continue to negotiate with pro-Palestinians on campus over issues of divestment.

Gillman said discussions were ongoing last week, with the university presenting a proposal to student leaders on Wednesday and receiving a counterproposal Thursday. He expressed his concern over some of the requests included in the counterproposal, “which were not part of (the students’) initial demands.”

“The counterproposal calls for ending numerous external partnerships that support our students through scholarships and facilitate long-standing research collaborations,” Gillman said. “It also demands an end to a wide-range of academic and research collaborations with Israeli organizations and individuals. This would violate fundamental principles of academic freedom and would require us to discriminate based on a person’s nationality, which goes against our commitment to anti-discrimination and our principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.”

The majority of student protesters who oppose Israel’s military action in Gaza have demanded their universities sell investments in companies with financial ties to Israel, although the scope of the demands varies by school.

Gillman added that negotiations will continue on Monday, and thanked student protesters for ensuring that their encampment ” remains peaceful and minimally disruptive of university activities.”

President Joe Biden’s support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza mixed with student anger over police crackdowns on anti-war campus protests are complicating the work of Democratic youth groups trying to engage young voters ahead of this year’s election.

Last week, the College Democrats of America released a statement accusing the White House of employing a “cold shoulder strategy for its own base and all Americans who want to see an end to this war.”

Only 18% of young voters approved of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a Harvard/Institute of Politics poll conducted in March.

On Thursday, Biden condemned what he referred to as “disorder” in the anti-war demonstrations on college campuses across the United States. He said he supported “the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos.”

Asked if the protests had led him to change his thinking on the conflict, Biden answered, “No.”

Read more here.

To understand why so many colleges 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 police 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.

Academics are accustomed to seeing those tactics deployed, especially when students are days away from the end of the semester — a natural time for demonstrations to lose steam. But that didn’t happen at Columbia.

The shockingly aggressive intervention by police is also why, overnight, dozens of campuses across the country saw students stage their own encampments in solidarity.

When non-violent protesters are met with intense physical suppression, “that tends to create a kind of outrage effect that then generates more protests,” Jackson said.

Continue reading for the full analysis of Columbia’s response to protests.

Graduation ceremonies are set to take place at colleges and universities in the US this weekend after weeks of protests that saw more than 2,100 people arrested on more than 40 campuses across at least 25 states.

The wave of pro-Palestinian protests and college officials’ concern for safety have already started affecting commencements. In Michigan, protesters interrupted the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance commencement ceremony Friday, according to a video from a reporter with CNN affiliate Richmond Times-Dispatch.  

And, the University of Vermont’s president announced Friday that Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, will no longer deliver the commencement address. Some of the protesters on the campus had called on the university to rescind its invitation to Thomas-Greenfield.

All this comes weeks after the University of Southern California decided to rescind valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s invitation to speak at its ceremony. USC now plans hold a “family graduate celebration” on May 9, the school announced Friday, just over a week after canceling the main graduation ceremony.

Here are the latest headlines:

Updates from New York

Updates from California

Universities around the world

Updates in Illinois and Georgia

Protests impact on the 2024 election

Campus operations are expected to resume “in full” on Monday at the University of California, Los Angeles, according to a university release.

“A law enforcement presence continues to be stationed around campus to help promote safety,” the release said.

Campus operations will remain limited — and classes will be remote — through the weekend, the university said.

“Work, events and research activities are encouraged to remain remote or be rescheduled wherever possible during that period,” the release said.

Student affairs staff will be on campus “to support our students,” the school said, adding that people should avoid the Royce Quad area. The quad was the location of violence this week when several dozen men repeatedly attacked UCLA’s pro-Palestinian protest encampment late Tuesday with crude weapons, according to video provided to CNN.

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

UCLA classes were canceled Wednesday, and classes were remote starting Thursday.

Nearly all pro-Palestinian protests rocking college campuses across the US have called for universities to divest from Israel in some form.

What would divestment look like?

Divestment is the opposite of investment.

Many universities have an endowment, which is donated funds generally invested in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments to help the university earn money.

At Columbia, a group of students wants the college to divest its $13.6 billion endowment from any company linked to Israel, including Microsoft and Amazon.

Protesters at other schools, such as Cornell and Yale, want their universities to stop investing in weapons manufacturers.

What are university officials saying?

On Monday, Columbia’s administration reiterated that it would not divest from Israel. Last week, the University of California also said divestment wouldn’t happen.

But some colleges are willing to talk with protesters.

Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, sent a letter to demonstrators saying she would agree to hear a divestment proposal if the school’s encampment were disbanded, according to the student-run newspaper, the Brown Daily Herald.

They’ve been here before.

Columbia students protesting South Africa’s apartheid racial segregation policy in the 1980s called on the school to sever its financial ties with companies doing business in the country.

Columbia eventually voted to sell most of its stock in South Africa-connected companies. Other colleges followed suit.

Read more here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Protesters interrupted the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance 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.”

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.

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. 

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. 

After two weeks of tumult and calls for her resignation, the president of Columbia University says she is “committed” and will “rebuild the community on our campus.”

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.”

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.

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.

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.

From New York to Los Angeles, traditional university graduation ceremonies – many beginning this weekend – will take place on the heels of escalating confrontations over the war in Gaza, with police entering campuses to make mass arrests and rip apart encampments.

A time of sun-drenched pomp and circumstance, esteemed speakers, academic robes and decorated mortarboards arrives amid anxiety and exasperation for graduates, faculty and university officials.

An important personal milestone for many young adults will be reached against a backdrop of police barricades and heightened law enforcement presence, metal detectors and other security measures. Trained staffers will be on hand to manage disruptions.

US colleges have been using law enforcement – along with academic suspensions and expulsions – to quell student demonstrations since Hamas’ October attack on Israel left more than 1,200 dead and dozens taken hostage. Israel’s devastating response 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.

Read more about preparations universities are making as commencement ceremonies get underway.