Columbia Protesters Face Expulsion
Columbia University ramped up discipline on Tuesday afternoon, announcing that students occupying Hamilton Hall will “face expulsion.”
“We regret that students have chosen to escalate the situation through their actions,” read a statement from administrators. “We made it clear yesterday that the work of the university cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules. Continuing to do so will be met with clear consequences.”
The statement listed actions such as vandalism, breaking windows and blocking building entrances as “untenable.” Officials said the decision to expel students in Hamilton Hall as well as suspend those in the encampment were made in response “to the actions of the protesters, not their causes.”
—Jessica Blake1:45 p.m
***
An Agreement at Johns Hopkins
On Tuesday, administrators at Johns Hopkins University announced an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters to dismantle an encampment students had set up on the Baltimore campus Monday, local CBS affiliate WJZ News reported.
According to a statement from the university, students met with President Ron Daniels and Provost Ray Jayawardhana for several hours and agreed that the students would remove the encampment but be allowed to continue protesting from 10 am to 8 pm
The statement highlighted the university’s long-standing policies in support of free expression.
“These guidelines were developed collaboratively with our students and reflect a mutual commitment to the flow of open, vibrant expression that is so essential to our academic community, and to prevent harassment, discrimination or intimidation,” it said. “Our priority today was to accommodate a protest while maintaining a safe environment for our community; the peaceful resolution of today’s events speaks to the value of these principles.”
—Susan H. Greenberg1:30 pm
***
Despite Pause on Boeing, Portland State Students Occupy Library
Like their peers in Morningside Heights, student protesters at Portland State University in Oregon broke into and occupied a campus facility Monday night. And like Columbia’s administrators. Portland State’s leaders closed campus Tuesday morning, noting an ongoing “incident” at the Branford Price Millar Library.
Early signs of the occupation began Sunday as protesters who had previously led smaller demonstrations across campus attempted to block a library entrance using orange construction fencing, trash cans and other debris, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
City and university officials held a press conference late Monday, calling for the occupation to end. What were once free speech demonstrations had elevated to “criminal behavior,” they said.
“We will prosecute,” said Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.
The tensions escalated even after Portland State officials announced Friday that the university would pause its philanthropic relationship with Boeing, an aerospace giant that has provided Israel with fighter jets for years, vowing to reassess its ties again in May. But protesters said that’s not enough, and insisted that university officials call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict as well.
—Jessica Blake12:20 pm
***
White House Condemns Takeover of Columbia Building
At a press briefing Tuesday morning, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby conveyed President Biden’s criticism of the Columbia University who took protesters over Hamilton Hall.
“The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach, that is not an example of peaceful protests,” he said. “Hate speech and hate symbols also have no place in this country. A small percentage of students shouldn’t be able to disrupt the academic experience, the legitimate study, for the rest of the student body.”
When asked about the president’s views on potentially sending in the National Guard to restore order, Kirby said there was no active effort underway, TheHill reported.
—Susan H. Greenberg12:00 pm
***
Arrests at UConn
Police arrested an undetermined number of students at the University of Connecticut early Tuesday as part of a crackdown on the flagship campus in Storrs. Students told the Hartford Courant that police officers encircled and then dismantled their encampment, which was first established at the flagship university last Wednesday.
UConn administrators issued a statement Friday prohibiting tents on campus and declaring a 24/7 quiet period for the rest of the semester. It also warned students that their encampment violated both policies and could be cleared out with force. But the protesters didn’t budget, saying they would maintain the demonstration until their demands for divestment were met.
The official number of students arrested is not yet known, but encampment organizers estimate that 23 were detained and charged with disorderly conduct. In addition to the judgment, each student faces a potential $1,000 fine.
—Jessica Blake
***
Students Occupy Building at Columbia
Anti-war demonstrations at Columbia University escalated further early Tuesday as a group of dozens of student protesters occupied Hamilton Hall, barricading themselves inside. They say they will not leave until “Columbia meets every one of our demands,” which include divestment from companies that do business with Israel and amnesty for students and faculty involved in the protests. In response, university administrators have indefinitely restricted access to Columbia’s main Morningside Heights campus.
Within minutes of storming the building, the students had blocked all entrances, zip-tying the doors and barricading them with heavy metal gates they brought in from the lawn, as well as wooden tables and chairs from inside. About an hour after their initial entry the protesters unfurled a banner painted with the words “Hind’s Hall,” unofficially renaming the building after Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
According to a statement from Columbia University Apartheid Divest—the organization behind the main encampment—the students behind the barricade are an “autonomous group.”
The only individuals allowed on campus grounds are students residing in on-campus dorms and essential personnel, according to a Tuesday morning statement from the Emergency Management Operations Team. This will be the case “until circumstances allow otherwise.”
Columbia University has limited access to its campus to residential students and essential personnel.
—Jessica Blake
***
Heavy Police Presence at VCU
At Virginia Commonwealth University, police officers filed out of unmarked buses Monday night and lined the edge of a student encampment just outside the Richmond campus’s library. Soon after, the university issued a campus-wide alert: “Violent Protest Monroe Park. Go inside.”
Brandishing riot shields, the police charged the demonstrators’ makeshift barricade of shipping pallets. Students threw water bottles and other objects from behind the wall but were far outmatched by the chemical agents thrown right back at them, according to The Daily Progress. Emergency tornado sirens were activated, filling the air with their high-low wails. More than 80 arrests were made and the tents were torn down quickly, The Progress added.
Like college leaders on other campuses, VCU administrators said in a statement that many of the protesters were not students, but they did not clarify how they knew that.
The day before the clash broke out, Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Virginia would protect peaceful gatherings but not tolerate intimidation or hate speech.
“Freedom of expression and peaceful demonstration is at the heart of our First Amendment, and we must protect it,” Youngkin said. “But that does not go to, in fact, intimidating Jewish students and preventing them from attending class and using annihilation speech to express deeply anti-Semitic views.”
“We’re not going to have encampments and tents put up,” he added.
—Jessica Blake
***
Princeton Hall Briefly Occupied
Thirteen people were arrested at Princeton University on Monday evening after “briefly” occupying Clio Hall, where the Graduate School is based, according to a statement from university officials.
The group included five undergraduates, six graduate students, one postdoctoral researcher and one person unaffiliated with the university, the statement said. But other accounts say there were 15 people involved, including Ruha Benjamin, a Princeton professor of African American studies.
The protesters entered the building at about 4:30 pm Monday and put up barricades, calling for university officials to meet with them, according to NorthJersey.com. But their calls went unanswered and the hall was cleared around 6 pm
Hundreds of students and faculty rallied outside the building throughout the short sit-in, chanting in support of their peers inside and calling for the university to divest from companies linked to Israel’s military campaigns. They swarmed the university police officers who escorted demonstrators out of the hall, and surrounded the bus they were loaded into.
The students involved were barred from campus and will face disciplinary proceedings, which the university said may include suspension or expulsion. The occupation is a drastic escalation of pro-Palestinian protests at Princeton since students established an encampment in McCosh Courtyard last Thursday.
“This incident was and remains deeply upsetting to many people,” the statement said. “It is also completely unacceptable … We will continue to work to ensure that this campus is one where all members of the community feel welcome and can thrive.”
—Jessica Blake
***
Faculty Protecting Students
At Rutgers University, the American Association of University Professors and Adjunct Faculty Union released a public statement Monday saying that it not only supported pro-Palestinian student protesters but would also “establish a faculty committee to monitor the situation and—if the administration makes it necessary —protect them from arrest and repression.”
Students at the flagship campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, had established an encampment on Voorhees Mall earlier in the day. Although few police have been seen at what students are calling the “Liberated Zone” so far, faculty seem prepared to support them if armed forces are called in.
“As educators and researchers at Rutgers University, members of our union have varying positions on the wider issues in the Palestine-Israel conflict,” the statement read. “But regardless of our differences, we are overwhelmingly united in defending the rights of our members and our students to speak, assemble, and protest, especially in the face of the threats and repression students face today on campuses across this nation.”
—Jessica Blake
***
100 Arrests at UT-Austin
About 100 people were arrested at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday, according to the Austin American Statesman. It was the second round of mass arrests in the Lone Star state capital, following an initial roundup of protesters last Wednesday. Seventy-eight of those arrested were charged with criminal trespass, and one person received an additional charge of obstructing a highway or passageway, said Kristen Dark, public information officer of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
This time, protesters, many of whom were students, had set up tents on the campus’s South Mall. They yelled chants of “Free Palestine” and “Whose lawn? Our lawn!” and created a barrier around the encampment using foldable tables, some of which appeared to be chained together.
University and Austin police as well as state troopers warned the protesters that they must vacate the premises several times before advancing. Reporters from the Statesman say officers could be seen using bolt cutters to break the chains and charge through the wall of tables surrounding the encampment. Images capture pepper spray flying through the air as the dense crowd of protesters duck their heads and shield their eyes in an attempt to try to avoid contact with the substance.
Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, continues to voice support for the heavy involvement of law enforcement, tweeting “No encampments will be allowed. Instead, arrests are being made,” along with a video of state troopers donned in riot gear and batons in hand.
—Jessica Blake
