U.S. NEWS
Student anti-war protesters dig in as faculty condemn universities’ leadership over calling police
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George Washington University police officer scan the area as students demonstrate on campus during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment is seen at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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Members of negotiation team speak during a press conference near pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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Qais Dana protests as a person puts a scarf on a Ben Franklin statue on Penn’s campus during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
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Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside the main gate at Columbia University, in New York, early Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Morrison)
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Israel supporters show up at George Washington University where students protest, during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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George Washington University students pray on the street after police close the students plaza during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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People gather for the “Solidarity Jummah” outside the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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Signs are displayed outside a tent encampment at Northwestern University on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Evanston, Illinois. Students want the university to divest from funds connected to Israel or that profit from its war in Gaza. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
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People take part in a pro-Palestinian protest on Penn’s campus in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
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Pro-Palestinian protesters cheer while listening to speaker Maryam Imam during a demonstration in support of Palestine at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., Friday, April 26, 2024. A crowd estimated at about 200 rallied and marched on campus in opposition to Israel’s response in the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
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Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen next to the statue of John Harvard, the first major benefactor of Harvard College, draped in the Palestinian flag, at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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Counter-demonstrators supporting Israel march near a Pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., Friday, April 26, 2024. Pro-Palestine protesters were estimated at about 200, with the Israel group being less than a dozen. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
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Pro-Israeli demonstrators gather near a Pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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Pro-Israel demonstrators chant during the “Bring Them Home Now” rally outside the Columbia University , Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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People lock arms during a Pro-Palestinian protest on Penn’s campus in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
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Demonstrators gather on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, Thursday, April 25, 2024, to protest the war in Gaza, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP)
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People prepare to camp out for the night during a pro-Palestinian protest at the College Green in the heart of the University of Pennsylvania campus in the in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment is seen at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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George Washington University police close a student encampment as students demonstrate during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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George Washington University police close the student encampment as students protest on the street during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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Students protesting against the war in Gaza stand next to a Palestinian flag and tents at an encampment in Harvard Yard, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
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Pro-Palestinian supporters hold up a sign and flag inside an encampment on the UCLA campus Friday, April 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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UCLA campus police cycle around the perimeter of a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus Friday, April 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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A UCLA student poses for graduation pictures outside Royce Hall across a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus Friday, April 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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A group of pro-Israel supporters hold arms as they sing and dance outside a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus Friday, April 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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Israel supporters conter-protest outside a makeshift camp with a Pro-Palestinian theme staged on the UCLA campus, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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A statue of George Washington draped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh is seen at George Washington University as students demonstrate on campus during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
BY
JAMES POLLARD,
NOREEN NASIR AND NICK PERRY
Updated 2:48 PM MESZ, April 27, 2024
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NEW YORK (AP) — Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war
at universities across U.S., some of whom have clashed with police in riot gear, dug in Saturday and vowed to keep their demonstrations going as faculty at several schools condemned university presidents who have called in law enforcement to remove protesters.
As Columbia University continues negotiations with those at a
pro-Palestinian student encampment on the New York school’s campus, the university’s senate passed a resolution Friday that created a task force to examine the administration’s leadership, which last week called in police in an attempt to clear the protest, resulting in scuffles and more than 100 arrests.
Pro-Israeli demonstrators gather near a Pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Though the university has repeatedly set and then pushed back deadlines for the removal of the encampment, the school sent an email to students Friday night saying that bringing back police “at this time” would be counterproductive.
As the death toll mounts in
the war in Gaza, protesters nationwide are demanding that
schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
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Class of 2024 reflects on college years marked by COVID-19, protests and life’s lost milestones
US postpones decision on aid to Israeli army battalion accused of abuses against Palestinians
Early Saturday, police in riot gear cleared an encampment on the campus of Northeastern University in Boston. Several dozen students shouted and booed at them from a distance, but the scene was otherwise nonconfrontational.
The school said that the demonstration, which began two days ago, had become “infiltrated by professional organizers” with no affiliation to the school.
Antisemitic slurs, including “Kill the Jews,” were used, the school said in a statement.
“We cannot tolerate this kind of hate on our campus,” said the statement, which was posted on the social media platform X.
The decisions to call in law enforcement, leading to hundreds of arrests nationwide, have prompted school faculty members at universities in California, Georgia and Texas to initiate or pass votes of no confidence in their leadership. They are largely symbolic rebukes, without the power to remove their presidents.
But the tensions pile pressure on school officials, who are already scrambling to resolve the protests as May
graduation ceremonies near.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, gave protestors who have barricaded themselves inside a building since Monday until 5 p.m. Friday to leave and “not be immediately arrested.” The deadline came and went. Only some of the protesters left, others doubled down. After protesters rebuffed police earlier in the week, the campus was closed for the rest of the semester.
In Colorado, police swept through an encampment Friday at Denver’s Auraria Campus, which hosts three universities and colleges, arresting around 40 protesters on trespassing charges.
Members of negotiation team speak during a press conference near pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Students representing the Columbia encampment,
which inspired the wave of protests across the country, said Friday that they reached an impasse with administrators and intend to continue their protest.
After meetings Thursday and Friday, student negotiators said the university had not met their primary demand for divestment, although there was progress on a push for more transparent financial disclosures.
“We will not rest until Columbia divests,” said Jonathan Ben-Menachem, a fourth-year doctoral student.
In the letter sent to Columbia students Friday night, the university’s leadership said “we support the conversations that are ongoing with student leaders of the encampment.”
Columbia’s president,
Minouche Shafik, faced significant criticism from faculty Friday, but retained the support of trustees.
UCLA campus police cycle around the perimeter of a pro-Palestinian encampment on the UCLA campus Friday, April 26, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
A report by the university senate’s executive committee, which represents faculty, found Shafik and her administration took “many actions and decisions that have harmed Columbia University.” Those included calling in police and allowing students to be arrested without consulting faculty, misrepresenting and suspending student protest groups and hiring private investigators.
“The faculty have completely lost confidence in President Shafik’s ability to lead this organization,” said Ege Yumusak, a philosophy lecturer who is part of a faculty team protecting the encampment.
In response, university spokesperson Ben Chang said in the evening that “we are committed to an ongoing dialogue and appreciate the Senate’s constructive engagement in finding a pathway forward.”
Also Friday, Columbia student protester Khymani James walked back comments made in an online video in January that recently received new attention. James said in the video that “Zionists don’t deserve to live” and people should be grateful James wasn’t killing them.
A statue of George Washington draped in a Palestinian flag and a keffiyeh is seen at George Washington University as students demonstrate on campus during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war on Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
“What I said was wrong,” James said in a statement. “Every member of our community deserves to feel safe without qualification.”
James, who served as a spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian encampment as a member of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, was banned from campus Friday, according to a Columbia spokesperson.
Protest organizers said James’ comments didn’t reflect their values. They declined to describe James’ level of involvement with the demonstration.
In France, students at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, which counts President Emmanuel Macron among its many famous alumni, students
blocked access to a campus building and classes went online as the wave of protests reached overseas.
Police clashed with protesters Thursday at Indiana University, Bloomington, where 34 were arrested; Ohio State University, where about 36 were arrested; and at the University of Connecticut, where one person was arrested.
The University of Southern California canceled its
May 10 graduation ceremony Thursday, a day after more than 90 protesters were arrested on campus. The university said it will still host dozens of commencement events, including all the traditional individual school ceremonies.
George Washington University students pray on the street after police close the students plaza during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war, Friday, April 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Universities where faculty members have initiated or passed votes of no confidence in their presidents include Cal Poly Humboldt, University of Texas at Austin and Emory University.
___
Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists in various locations contributed, including Aaron Morrison, Stefanie Dazio, Kathy McCormack, Jim Vertuno, Acacia Coronado, Sudhin Thanawala, Jeff Amy, Jeff Martin, Mike Stewart, Collin Binkley, Carolyn Thompson, Jake Offenhartz, Jesse Bedayn and Sophia Tareen.
JAMES POLLARD
Pollard covers philanthropy for The Associated Press with a focus on Gen Z’s giving habits and technology’s uses in charitable work. He is based in New York.
https://twitter.com/jam3spollard
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