University leaders are facing scrutiny over whether they are doing enough to protect students, faculty and staff from allegations of anti-Semitism and other bias since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the war that followed – even as they face scathing criticism from those who say they deny students’ rights to express themselves and censor political protests.
At California State Polytechnic University in Humboldt, the campus will be closed until Wednesday after student protesters barricaded themselves inside a building, Siemens Hall, the university announced Monday evening. He urged people to stay away from the “dangerous and volatile situation” in the venue and said he was “deeply concerned about the safety of protesters,” urging them to “listen to the direction of law enforcement …and to peacefully leave the building.” .”
A photo job by National Students for Justice in Palestine showed the entrance blocked by piled-up furniture.
Barricades at the Cal Poly Humboldt occupation, where riot police recently arrived on scene pic.twitter.com/FHT0WLnH72
– National Students for Justice in Palestine (@NationalSJP) April 23, 2024
Humboldt for Palestine, an activist group, posted on social media that students had “taken over” Siemens Hall on campus, including demands that the university disengage from all ties with Israel. He released a video of police appearing to press against the barricaded students and a statement that arrests had been made. When called Monday evening, the university police department said it would answer questions “when the situation has deescalated.”
In New York, the NYPD cleared a protest encampment centered on New York University’s Gould Plaza on Monday evening, at the request of the university, the NYPD and a spokesperson said from New York University. Teachers were arrested as well as students, according to at NYU Palestine School of Justice.
Videos posted on social media showed dozens of police officers engaging in tense clashes with protesters. Some police threw down the tents and others fought against the demonstrators. Videos also showed police loading people, whose hands were tied behind their backs, onto correctional buses.
NYU spokesman John Beckman said the university blocked access to the square where about 50 demonstrators were demonstrating “without permission” Monday morning.
The barriers were breached early in the afternoon by other protesters, “many of whom we believe were not affiliated with NYU,” who exhibited “disorderly, disruptive, and antagonistic behavior” and refused to leave when told the protests would be disbanded, he said. said. The university then requested help from the New York Police Department, he said, adding that “several anti-Semitic incidents have been reported.”
At Columbia University, where the latest wave of campus unrest began, the university sent an email to staff and students Monday demanding that many classes on its main campus in Morningside be hybrid when it is possible for the rest of the semester. “Safety is our top priority as we work to support our students’ learning and all required academic operations,” the university added in the email seen by The Washington Post.
More than 100 protesters were arrested at Columbia when the university called in New York police on Thursday to evacuate a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, sparking solidarity demonstrations on other campuses.
Yale said 47 students were arrested Monday at Beinecke Plaza and will face disciplinary action, up to and including suspension. The school said it made repeated efforts over the weekend to talk to protesters, offered them meetings with administrators and warned of arrests ahead of Monday morning’s action. The police released the detained protesters.
“I was deeply saddened that my call for civil discourse and peaceful protest went unheeded,” Yale President Peter Salovey said in a message to the Yale community. campus.
Tacey Hutten, a student protester who was arrested Monday, said in an interview: “Not only are we not deterred, but we can even be more engaged now…we are determined.” I have been involved in this fight for a few months now and plan to stay involved for the rest of my life.
Meanwhile, other campuses are also grappling with increasingly aggressive activism on campus. A group of student protesters at Pomona College in California were arrested earlier this month after storming the president’s office. In February, at the University of California at Berkeley, protesters broke windows and a door while disrupting a speech given by an Israeli lawyer.
washingtonpost
