As some universities negotiate with pro-Palestinian protesters, others quickly call the police
The students at a Columbia University encampment that inspired a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country dug in for a 10th day Friday, as administrators and police on college campuses from California to Connecticut grapple with how to to tackle protests that have led to clashes. police and hundreds of arrests.
Officials at Columbia and some other schools have negotiated with student protesters who have rejected police and redoubled their efforts. Other schools have quickly turned to police to quell demonstrations before they can take hold. After a tent camp showed up at Indiana University Bloomington on Thursday, police pressed into protesters with shields and batons, arresting 33. Hours later, police at the University of Connecticut tore down tents and arrested one person.
The clock is ticking as May commencement ceremonies approach, putting extra pressure on schools to clear demonstrations. In Columbia, protesters have defiantly set up a tent camp where many will graduate in a few weeks in the presence of families.
Columbia officials said negotiations showed progress as they neared the school’s early Friday deadline to reach an agreement to dismantle the encampment. Nevertheless, two police vans were parked nearby and there was a noticeable presence of private security and police at the entrances to the campus.
“We have our demands; they have theirs,” said Ben Chang, a spokesman for Columbia University, adding that if the talks fail, the university will have to consider other options.
Just after midnight, a group of about three dozen pro-Palestinian protesters handed out signs and began chanting outside the locked gates of Columbia University. They then marched away as at least forty police officers gathered nearby.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, is negotiating with students who have been barricaded in a campus building since Monday, rebuffing a police attempt to evict them. Faculty members met with protesters Thursday to try to find a solution as the campus remains closed through at least the weekend.
The protesters setting up camps at universities across the country are demanding that schools cut financial ties with Israel and divest companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have turned into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus, partly fueling calls for police intervention.
A dean at Cal Poly Humboldt, Jeff Crane, suggested at the meeting with protesters that the university form a committee that would include students to take a deep dive into the school’s investments. Crane also suggested that teachers and students continue to meet every 24 hours to maintain an open line of communication. The parties have not yet announced an agreement.
The school’s senate of faculty and staff demanded the resignation of the university’s president in a vote of no confidence on Thursday, citing the decision to call in police to remove the barricaded students on Monday.
On the other side of the state, the University of Southern California announced the cancellation of the school’s May 10 graduation ceremony. The announcement was made a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said dozens of commencement events will still take place, including all traditional individual school commencement ceremonies.
Tensions were already high after USC canceled a planned commencement speech of the school’s pro-Palestinian farewell address, citing security concerns.
At the City College of New York, hundreds of students erupted Thursday on the lawn beneath the Harlem campus’s famous Gothic buildings after a small contingent of police officers withdrew from the scene. In a corner of the quad, a ‘safety training’ was held among students.
Los Angeles police said 93 people were arrested Wednesday evening during an on-campus protest for alleged trespassing. One person was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
At Boston’s Emerson College, 108 people were arrested early Thursday in an alley encampment. Video shows the first time police warn students in an alley to leave. Students link arms to resist officers, who forcefully move through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground.
“As the night progressed, it became more and more exciting. There were just more cops on all sides. It felt like we were slowly being pushed in and crushed,” said Ocean Muir, a sophomore.
Muir said police lifted her by her arms and legs and carried her away. Along with other students, Muir was charged Thursday with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
Leaders at Emerson College had warned students that the alley was a public road and the city government had threatened to take action if the protesters did not leave. Emerson canceled classes Thursday and Boston police said four officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening during the confrontation.
The University of Texas at Austin campus was much calmer Thursday after 57 people were jailed and charged with criminal trespass a day earlier. University officials pulled back the barricades and allowed demonstrators into the main square beneath the school’s iconic bell tower.
The gathering of students and some teachers on Thursday protested both the war and Wednesday’s arrests, when state troops in riot gear and on horseback clashed with demonstrators and drove hundreds of students from the school’s main field.
At Emory University in Atlanta, local and state police moved in to dismantle a camp. Some officers carried semiautomatic weapons, and video showed officers using a stun gun on a protester they had pinned to the ground. The university said in a statement late Thursday that objects were thrown at officers and that they deployed “chemical irritants” as a crowd control measure.
Jail records showed that 22 people arrested by Emory police were charged with disorderly conduct. Emory said it had been notified that 28 people had been arrested, including 20 members of the university community, and some had been released overnight.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the U.S. Department of Education has launched civil rights investigations into dozens of universities and schools in response to complaints of anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. The students surveyed include many colleges facing protests, including Harvard and Columbia.
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Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists in various locations contributed to this report, including Aaron Morrison, Stefanie Dazio, Kathy McCormack, Jim Vertuno, Acacia Coronado, Sudhin Thanawala, Jeff Amy, Mike Stewart, Collin Binkley, Carolyn Thompson, Jake Offenhartz and Sophia Tareen.