Demonstrations at Columbia University last week, with many protesters creating a “Gaza solidarity neighborhood” on campus, have spread to other campuses, including MIT and others.
Several Jewish students at Columbia reported bullying and anti-Semitism during days of protests calling on the prestigious New York institution to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
“Today, there are too many examples of bullying and harassment in our university,” he said.
“To minimize the risk and give us all a chance to consider our next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held on Monday for the most part.”
Last week, more than 100 protesters were arrested after university officials called police to the private campus on Thursday.
Detained social work student Mimi Elias told AFP on Monday: “We will stay until they speak to us and listen to our demands.
“We don’t want anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. “We came to free us all.”
Joseph Hawley, an associate professor of classics at Columbia, said the university had “the wrong tools” with the police, which attracted “a more radical element that was not part of our student protests.”
“You can’t discipline your way out of misunderstandings and social misunderstandings,” Howley told AFP.
Rule of law
As Passover began Monday evening, social media images appeared to show Palestinian Jewish students holding a traditional meal at protest sites on several campuses, including Columbia.
The school began arresting protesters who camped out at New York University after calling the behavior “unruly, disorganized and hostile,” according to the New York Times.
Demonstrations also took place at MIT, the University of Michigan and Yale, where at least 47 people were arrested on Monday after they refused to disperse.
“With the safety and security of the entire Alley community in mind, the University has decided to arrest those who will not leave the field,” the Ivy League said in a statement.
At Harvard, university officials suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee on Monday, a student group said on Instagram.
They were ordered to suspend “all organizational activities” until the end of the term or risk permanent expulsion after an unregistered demonstration last week, the Harvard Crimson student newspaper reported, citing an email to the group.
Since the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s strong military response, the university has become the focus of heated cultural debate in the United States, as the Palestinians continue to experience a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he condemned “anti-Semitic protests”.
“Also, I condemn those who do not understand what is happening to Palestine,” he said.
