Columbia University cancels main commencement ceremony

Schools

Most of the ceremonies planned on the South Lawn of the main campus, where encampments were dismantled last week, will take place about 5 miles north of the Columbia Sports Complex, officials said.

By Karen Matthews, Associated Press

May 6, 2024 | 9:39 a.m.

NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University is canceling its university-wide grand commencement ceremony amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests, but will hold smaller ceremonies at schools this week and next , the university announced Monday.

“Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus our attention on our school-level school days and graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forgo university-wide ceremony scheduled for May 15.” ” officials at the Ivy League school in northern Manhattan said in a statement.

Noting that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult” for the community, the school said in its statement that it made the decision after discussions with students. “Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale celebrations, held in schools, are more meaningful to them and their families,” officials said. “They can’t wait to walk across the stage to the applause and pride of their family and hear their school’s guest speakers.”

Most of the ceremonies planned on the South Lawn of the main campus, where encampments were dismantled last week, will take place about 5 miles north of the Columbia Sports Complex, officials said.

Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters camped on the Columbia Green were arrested last month, and similar encampments have sprung up at universities across the country as schools struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free speech and maintain safe and inclusive campuses.

The University of Southern California previously canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other graduation activities to continue. The students abandoned their camp at USC early Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.

The protests follow the conflict that began on October 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its residents.