Pro-Palestinian student protesters and officials at many US campuses clashed on Monday, resulting in the cancellation of in-person classes and the detention of activists.
The demonstrations started last week at Columbia University when a sizable contingent of protesters set up a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on campus. Since then, they have extended to Yale, MIT, and other universities.
Amidst the days-long protest demanding that the esteemed New York university withdraw from corporations with ties to Israel, some Jewish students at Columbia have reported feeling intimidated and targeted by anti-Semitic remarks.
Monday’s classes were conducted online, and in an open letter to the student body, university president Nemat Shafik called for a “reset.”
“Our campus has seen far too many instances of intimidating and harassing behavior in recent days,” the speaker stated.
Like any other language that is used to harm and intimidate people, anti-Semitic remarks are intolerable, and appropriate action will be taken.
“I’m announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday to defuse the tension and give us all a chance to think about what to do next,” she continued.
More than a hundred demonstrators were taken into custody last Thursday after university administration summoned the police to the private campus. This action appeared to inflame tensions and encouraged a larger turnout over the weekend.
We are going to stay until they talk to us and listen to our demands, Mimi Elias, a social work student who was jailed, told AFP on Monday.
“Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are not what we want. Elias declared, “Our goal is the liberation of everyone.”
Columbia institution associate professor of classics Joseph Howley claimed that by using the police, the institution had chosen the “wrong tool” and had drawn “more radical elements that are not part of our student protests.”
Howley told AFP, “You can’t discipline and punish your way out of prejudice and community disagreement.”
disciplinary measures
On Monday night, as the festival of Passover got underway, pictures on social media seemed to depict Jewish students who support Palestine having customary seder dinners inside the protest zones on a number of universities, including Columbia.
Around 8:30 p.m., police started holding demonstrators who had established their own camp at New York University farther downtown, according to the New York Times. The university described the students’ actions as “disorderly, disruptive, and antagonising.”
Additionally, there were protests at Yale, MIT, and the University of Michigan, where on Monday at least 47 people were jailed for defying orders to disperse.
The Ivy League school released a statement saying, “The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind.”
The Palestinian Solidarity Committee at Harvard was suspended on Monday, according to a post made on Instagram by the student organization.
After having an unregistered rally last week, they were told to “cease all organisational activities” for the remainder of the term, or face permanent expulsion, according to an email sent to the group, which was reported by the student publication the Harvard Crimson.
With a humanitarian crisis engulfing the Palestinian territory of Gaza and Israel’s overwhelming military response following Hamas’ October 7 attack, universities in the United States have become the center of intense cultural debate.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden declared his opposition to “the anti-Semitic protests.”
He said to reporters, “I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” without providing any other information.
