The Columbia University Student Camp was Suspended for the Campfire and Disappearance of Israeli Investment in Health and Education: A statement on Monday

The 50 students suspended for their involvement in the original campsite had been doing it for a long time. That doesn’t deter protesters from setting up a larger camp.

Protesters began climbing into open windows at John Jay Hall, a dormitory, and students entered Hamilton Hall, an academic building and began moving furniture to a balcony, reported WKCR, the university radio station.

University officials were not immediately available for comment. Though its public safety department was actively responding. In a statement, it urged people to avoid coming to the Morningside campus on Tuesday if they could.

The New York Police Department said at about 2:15 a.m. that it had officers stationed outside the university, but not on school grounds, in case the situation escalated. It did not specify the number of officers in the area.

A notice was given out on Monday warning the students about the protesters and creating an unwelcoming environment.

“[Academic leaders and student organizers] in these discussions put forward robust and thoughtful offers and worked in good faith to reach common ground,” Columbia President Minouche Shafik said Monday. We wish they had reached a different outcome for the work they did.

Faculty members are taking part in protests of their own, calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the Divestment from companies that do business with Israel.

Columbia’s Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing would begin to review new proposals from students, but the school said Monday that it wouldn’t do that. It’s going to provide resources to health and education in Gaza and make a list of its investments available to students.

However, the parties did agree that protests will be paused until after reading day, exams and commencement, as Shafik urged the Columbia community to consider that the class of 2024 did not get to have their high school commencement ceremonies in person due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The students will need to submit an application in order to hold a protest which will be held in designated areas.

Students, faculty, and the campus: How police respond to protests in Austin, UT-Austin, and other universities against free speech

Title VI of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 outlaws discrimination at schools that receive federal funding, and she states that the encampment created an “unwelcoming environment” and “hostile environment” for Jewish students.

“Antisemitic language and actions are unacceptable and calls for violence are simply abhorrent,” she said. “I know many of our Jewish students are upset about the recent atmosphere in the place they call home.” Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy. I want to assure those students and their families that they are valued parts of the Columbia community. This is your campus too.”

Although she has been criticized for the way she handled the protests, she said that she wants to keep community members safe and shielding them from discrimination while allowing them to speak.

For the second time in a week, police arrested dozens of demonstrators at the University of Texas at Austin protesting Israel’s war against Hamas. Protesters said that they were peaceful, and then shouted for the police to leave.

The scene at UT-Austin grew tense as campus police and state troopers deployed a chemical irritant to control the crowd. While some students dispersed, others were seen blocking police vans and resisting arrest. University officials said in a statement that the university took swift action to preserve a safe learning environment.

Some universities have made a more hands off approach. A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told NPR demonstrations there have been peaceful, though police are monitoring and MIT’s president has urged an end to its encampment.

At Princeton, where two graduate students were arrested and suspended from campus for setting up tents, faculty members signed a letter condemning their punishment and demanding their reinstatement. Over 300 Yale professors signed a similar letter pressing university leaders to call on authorities to drop charges against all 48 protesters arrested and take no further disciplinary action against them.

There are vastly different approaches to when and how police should be involved in incidents of free speech that concern a college.

Alex Morey, director of campus rights advocacy at Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, says that the responses vary in part due to how colleges regulate speech on campus. They outline where students can post flyers, or what time of day protests need to end. As long as the rules apply to any student group, then they are allowed.

“If I were a college administrator and there was an encampment on my campus and it was not causing disruption, you may as well let it lie if you’re going to cause more disruption by removing it. But they do have the right to remove it if they choose to do so,” she says.

At the University of California, Berkeley, for instance, Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof says their policy is to avoid police involvement unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Sometimes the reaction to the action is not in line with your goals. Law enforcement is an important resource, but it can also have unintended consequences,” he says.

University of California, Los Angeles, Northeastern, Vanderbilt, and Southwestern University are recognizing the university’s commitment to free speech

Mogulof says Berkeley’s protests have been peaceful so far. He says the school is committed to free speech and to keeping the school safe.

He says there can be a tension between the objectives. The right to express your perspective should be managed, as well as the right to pursue your academic interests.

“This agreement represents a sustainable and de-escalated path forward, enhanced the safety of all members of the Northwestern community, and provides space for free expression that complies with University rules and policies,” university officials wrote in a statement.

It’s one of several schools around the country where professors are getting arrested at demonstrations, circulating letters in support of arrested protesters and holding no-confidence votes in their administrations.

On Sunday, demonstrators at the University of California, Los Angeles breached a barrier set up to separate pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters, resulting in “physical altercations,” according to a university spokesperson. Campus police eventually separated the two groups.

Professors at Northeastern University, where over 100 people were arrested on Saturday, sent university leaders a letter urging them to drop charges against protesters and issue a public apology and retraction of false allegations of antisemitism, among other demands. At least 144 Vanderbilt University professors signed a letter expressing support for student protesters and criticizing its “excessive and punitive” response.

“All of these factors, taken together, left university leaders with no choice but to act,” Chancellor Ken Henderson and Provost David Madigan wrote. Northeastern faced a dilemma over the weekend that was common among colleges and universities.

Pro-Palestinian protesters at other universities have expressed their safety concerns, saying they’ve been harassed. They say universities are bad at free speech.

Schools might face pressure from politicians and donors. Hundreds of alumni signed a statement this week demanding that Columbia discipline students who engage in threats, hate speech, and illegal camping.

Columbia University switched to hybrid classes at the end of the semester. The University of Michigan is enlisting volunteers to be part of “protest and disruptions response” teams to work during May commencement ceremonies, and the University of Southern California recently announced it is canceling its main commencement ceremony altogether.

According to the university, only the students who remained in the encampment after its deadline of 2 p.m. Monday would face immediate suspension, not the hundreds of others who came during the afternoon to encircle the camp to protect it and show their support.

“We called on N.Y.P.D. to clear an encampment once,” Nemat Shafik, Columbia’s president, wrote in a statement to the community last Friday co-signed by the co-chairs of Columbia’s board of trustees. “But we all share the view, based on discussions within our community and with outside experts, that to bring back the N.Y.P.D. at this time would be counterproductive, further inflaming what is happening on campus.”

Protesters occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia after midnight as they marched around campus to chants of free Palestine. The Hamilton building was seized by protesters within 20 minutes. A spokesman for Columbia wasn’t immediately available.

Palestine will be around forever. Go away. It is a free Palestine. Palestine is free and free. “Shut it down.” Palestine will be free. We will not rest, we will not stop.

Demonstration in Portland, the site of the pro-Palestinian protest, kicked out of a neoclassical building

Outside the neoclassical building, protesters, many wearing helmets, safety glasses, gloves and masks, barricaded the entrance. Those inside stacked chairs and tables at the entrance. A protester struck the glass door with a hammer. The protesters seemed to have total control over the building.

The Columbia campus in Manhattan is likely to be tense Tuesday as students await the outcome of administrators’ decision to suspend demonstrators who remained at the site of the pro-Palestinian protest.

In Portland demonstrators on Monday seized control of the library at Portland State University, where some had spray-painted words such as “Free Gaza,” a sign declared “Glory to Our Martyrs,” and activists called for the university to cut all ties with Boeing, which has supplied weaponry to Israel’s military.

Bob Day, the chief of the Portland Police Bureau, estimated on Monday night that perhaps 50 to 75 protesters were inside the building. Officials urged protesters to leave the area and warned that those involved could face criminal charges.

Students in the encampment, along with hundreds of supporters, had spent a tense afternoon rallying around the site in a show of force meant to deter the removal of its tents. But with no sign of police action, most of the protesters had begun to disperse by the end of the afternoon, leaving what appeared to be several dozen students and about 80 tents inside the encampment.

Just outside, about a dozen faculty in yellow and orange safety vests also stayed behind, with several saying that they planned to remain overnight to make sure their students’ right to protest was respected.

Ben Chang, a spokesman for the university said that students have been suspended as part of the next phase of efforts to make the campus safe.

She said that it was against the will of the students to break up. “We do not abide by university pressures. We act according to the instructions of the students.

Elga Castro, a Spanish lecturer at the school, was one of the staff and faculty who were guarding the tents. I have opinions on Palestine and Gaza, but I am more focused on protecting my students.

Keeping Propagating on Campuses Alive and Well: What Do We Need to Know About Prohibiting Free Speech Rights? Dr. Sarah Phillips, a Media Professor at Indiana University, tells NPR

She says that if you don’t uphold it when it’s needed, it’s meaningless. “The first thing is going to have to be a rebuilding of trust. It will take a long time to build and repair that trust.

She says most schools already have mechanisms — like faculty senates and academic councils — through which faculty members and administrators can engage with each other over what’s happening and how to respond. But at many schools, she says, administrations are currently ignoring that structure.

The principle of shared governance is key in helping campuses move forward, Mulvey says.

Faculty members at several schools are saying they don’t trust the presidents after they responded to campus protests.

The professors at Yale wrote about how the use of policing and punishment to avoid protest and dialogue with students is not a model for an educational institution.

The professors wrote that they strongly disagreed with the acts of anti-democratic acts, which they said they were charged with teaching their students about.

“If higher education faculty are beholden to saying what powerful people want them to say, and if they stray out of the line they’re going to get fired, we are living in an authoritarian society,” she said.

Some are speaking up based on their subject matter expertise, like history professors at the University of Southern California and media school professors at Indiana University.

Sarah Phillips was on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington for meetings Saturday when she saw social media posts calling for help protecting students’ free speech rights.

Some of the IU students stood face to face with heavily armed riot police, when Phillips arrived at the protest site. Reflexively, she started walking toward them.

“My instincts just kicked in,” she told NPR on Monday. A few moments later, I was on the ground and handcuffed as some students and faculty boarded a bus that would take us to the jail.

The students were protesting at a university-designated assembly area since 1969 and the site of a camp out the school administration banned in a last-minute change.

33 people were arrested by the state and university police on Thursday as they tried to break up the crowd. Protesters quickly regrouped, and Phillips was alarmed to hear on Saturday that armed police were once again gathering at the park.

Hundreds of students have been arrested at campus protests within the last week. There are no exact number of professors that have been arrested, but the numbers are increasing according to news stories.

Source: How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words

University Protests, Faculty Arrests, and No-Confidence Votes: How Faculty Members are defending Student protesters, in actions and in words

In many other states, demonstrators are calling for cease-fire in Gaza and an end to the university’s partnership with a nearby Navy installation.

Most of the people arrested on Saturday, including Phillips, were hit with the misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass. All of them were taken away by the police from school property for a year, with the exception of one person who was banned for five years.

The administration later said that students and faculty who were arrested can appeal their trespass warnings with university police, and will be allowed on campus to finish the semester while that process is underway.

Phillips plans to do so. But, she says, this last week of classes is especially important for professors in terms of meeting with students and administering finals — and that experience has already been disrupted. Her students presented their final projects on Monday on Zoom in their classroom.

“I know we’re all being very careful to not violate the terms of that trespass ban, because we’ve been informed that, should we do so, that the consequences could ramp up and be even worse than they are right now,” she said.

The protests at Indiana have continued, with demonstrators now demanding that the school’s president and provost step down. A number of current and retired faculty have signed an open letter demanding they be removed from the school.

Faculty in orange vests formed a barricade at the entrance of students’ campsite as police moved in to break it up on Monday. On the same day as Professors staged a campus walk out at Emory University, other professors staged a similar walk out.

The president of the American Association of University Professors thinks that faculty are in a state of disarray. “They’re helping the students, putting their bodies on the line … they’re dealing with the administration with no-confidence votes, but also trying to deal with the administration directly to get them to back off and do the right thing.”

Source: How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words

Campus-protests professors are defending student protesters in actions and words: Steven T. Tamari, a St. Louis professor charged with battery against a police officer

Steve Tamari, a history professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, was among the protesters arrested at a campus demonstration on Saturday at Washington University in St. Louis, with video showing several officers slamming him to the ground.

In a statement read by a student on Tuesday, Tamari said he was “body slammed and crushed by the weight of several St. Louis County Police officers and then dragged across campus by the police,” and remains hospitalized with broken ribs and a broken hand.

Two professors were among the 28 people arrested at Emory University on Thursday, after the administration called in city and state police to disperse a protest. Both high-profile arrests were captured on bystander videos.

In one instance, economics professor Caroline Fohlin asked police officers what they were doing as they wrestled a protester to the ground. As she approaches, one officer grabs her by the wrist and flips her onto the sidewalk. The woman protests that she’s a professor as another helps her zip her hands behind her back.

Fohlin was later charged with battery against a police officer. Her lawyer, Gregory Clement, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the arrest was misguided.

Clement said that Fohlin was not a protester on April 25. She walked out of her office concerned about the treatment of students.

The chair of the philosophy department was captured on video urging people to report her arrest as she was led away in handcuffs.

McAfee later told 11Alive News that she was passing through the area of the protest when she came across cops “pummeling” a young protester, and stood nearby asking them to stop. She was charged with disorderly conduct and refused to leave the police station.

Source: How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words

The Campus-Protests Faculty Arrests Letters No Confidence Votes: How Some Faculty Members Are defending Student Protesters, in Action and in Words

A professor at the Medill School at the University of Northwestern has been involved in the support of students at the Illinois campus.

When the encampment started last week, he and other members of the group Educators for Justice in Palestine mobilized to make sure there would be faculty members available for bail support, university negotiations and physically defending student protesters, including by signing up for four-hour shifts on site.

“We are trying to make sure that the students are aware that we are there and that we have four of us who are there,” he said. We didn’t think we’d be in a barricade position in the first 10 minutes.

At protests, Thrasher identifies himself as someone who is willing to be arrested. He hopes that doesn’t happen, but he feels like he will put his body in that area if there is violence between the students and the administration.

“I would think that if I saw students who disagreed with me politically … He said that he would intervene on their behalf. I’m supporting them in a way that I think is righteous for them, and I’m very proud of them.

Faculty members say in speeches and social media posts that they fear losing their jobs if they speak out.

It’s riskier for non-tenured professors to take a stand than it is for tenured ones, according to Mulvey. She said those dynamics are damaging not only to higher education institutions but also to democracy.

Source: How some faculty members are defending student protesters, in actions and in words

From Wall Street to Black Lives Matter: A Viewpoint from a Black-Lives-Matter Viewpoint of the University and Beyond

Thrasher, who has reported on various Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter protests over the years, says these sorts of encampments are “really amazing pedagogical spaces” where lots of valuable learning can happen, from interfaith prayers to lending libraries.

Like Thrasher, she says the best thing to come out of this turmoil is the deepening of solidarities within the community — she says she’s spent time with colleagues in ways she hasn’t in her more than two decades at the university, and seeing many newly emboldened to stand up for their beliefs.

She says there is no more business as usual. “We have really come together in a way that has shown how fragile community can be, but also how important community is.”

“My feeling is that the vast majority of faculty will bend over backwards to fulfill their academic obligations to their students,” she said.