The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college campuses against the Israel-Hamas war has now topped 2,000. The Associated Press has tallied arrests at 35 schools since the protests began at Columbia University on April 18.
Student protests have popped up at many college and university campuses over the last two weeks. Some have led to agreements with administrators to consider the protesters demands. But more frequently they have led to arrests after demonstrators refused to disperse or vandalized campus property. More than 200 of the arrests were at the University of California, Los Angeles, where police finally cleared a large encampment early Thursday.
Currently:
— President Biden says ‘order must prevail’ to keep campus protests peaceful
— At least 2,000 arrested in campus protests around U.S., AP tally shows
— Eying campus protests, House passes bill to define criticism of Israel as antisemitic
— Timeline: How Columbia University’s protest launched campus demonstrations around the U.S.
Here’s the latest:
FORDHAM PRESIDENT SAYS STUDENTS CAN MAKE THEIR CASE ON DIVESTMENT
Fordham University’s president has explained why they had New York police arrest 15 anti-war protesters on Wednesday.
Tania Tetlow said in a message to the Fordham community that most of the people who pushed inside a building and set up tents agreed to leave after being threatened with sanctions. Those who didn’t were arrested for misdemeanor trespassing.
Previous protests had been peaceful, mostly teach-ins and prayer vigils, she said, and Fordham remains committed to allowing student leaders to present their case about divestment and transparency to the trustees.
The decision to make arrests “was not about parsing the difference between protected political speech and threats, nor was it about the Middle East. This was only about the physical protection of the campus,” she said. “It comes down to this: Fordham students have a right to feel safe and to finish their exams. Period.”
STUDENTS WANT U OF VERMONT TO CANCEL UN AMBASSADOR’S COMMENCEMENT SPEECH
Student protesters at the University of Vermont called Thursday for the school to cancel a commencement speech by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The protesters, some of whom have been camping out in tents on campus since Sunday, are also demanding that UVM divest from weapons manufacturers and Israeli companies.
UVM spokesman Adam White said university leaders have heard all the students’ concerns. He said the school plans to disclose investments in its endowment by week’s end, but not in response to the protesters.
OFFICERS CLEAR PORTLAND STATE LIBRARY, ARREST A DOZEN MOSTLY NON-STUDENTS
Police cleared a library at Portland State University in Oregon that pro-Palestinian demonstrators had occupied since Monday. Officers said they made a dozen arrests, four of them students.
They found extensive graffiti on the walls inside the library as well as furniture stacked in barricades and caches of tools and paint balloons. Portland Police say at least two of the arrests were made outside the library, where a crowd gathered. Protesters banged pots and pans and briefly blocked the entrance to a major freeway.
Now for the cleanup. Barricades made of soccer goal posts, overturned tables, chairs and other items continued to obstruct the library entrance, and walls inside have been spray-painted with graffiti.
CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS WANT UNIVERSITY LEADERS FIRED FOR ALLOWING PROTESTS TO ESCALATE
California Republican leaders blasted university administrations, saying they failed to protect Jewish students and should have prevented campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war from escalating into “lawlessness and violence.”
They now call for the firing of leaders at universities such as UCLA, where more than 200 people were arrested during a police sweep that ended early Thursday, and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, where more than 30 were arrested early Tuesday. They’re also pushing for a proposal that would cut pay for university administrations.
“We’ve got a whole lot of people in these universities drawing six-figure salaries and they stood by and did nothing,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher told reporters on Thursday. “There does need to be accountability.”
Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said students found responsible for violence should be disqualified from receiving state-funded financial aid. “You don’t have the right to spray paint buildings, break windows, damage the facilities and hold other students hostage,” Jones said.
Any such GOP proposals would need the approval of Democratic lawmakers, who hold supermajorities in both chambers at the state Capitol.
ARREST TALLY INCLUDES A COLLEGE PROFESSOR WHOSE BONES WERE BROKEN
At least 1,945 people have been arrested since the protests began at Columbia University in New York on April 18.
They include a college professor from Illinois who said he suffered multiple broken ribs and a broken hand Saturday during a demonstration supporting Palestinians at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Bystander video shows the arrest of Steve Tamari, a history professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He seemed to be moving in to take video or pictures of protesters being detained when multiple officers roughly took him down. The video also shows Tamari handcuffed with his arms behind him as officers dragged his limp body toward a van, then dropped him on the ground, face down.
Tamari said in a statement on Thursday that his ordeal was “a small price to pay for Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Campus police referred questions to the university’s communications department, which did not respond to a request for comment. Chancellor Andrew Martin said in a statement to the campus community on Tuesday that police made 100 arrests, and that three officers received “significant injuries” during Saturday’s protest.
ARRESTS CONTINUE AT U.S. CAMPUSES
In New York, Stony Brook University officials said 29 people were arrested early Thursday morning, including students, faculty members and others not affiliated with the school. School administrators said the protests began peacefully but escalated to include intimidation, harassment and an encampment.
The University of Texas said Thursday that 17 people were arrested on criminal trespass charges Wednesday after demonstrators refused to comply with orders to take down an encampment built on the main walkway of the Dallas campus.
At the University of Pennsylvania and at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, officers lined up to separate opposing camps of demonstrators waving Israeli and Palestinian flags.
And bulldozers were scooping up bags of trash and dismantled tents at the University of California, Los Angeles, where crowds swelled to more than 1,000 at a pro-Palestinian encampment before police finally cleared the area early Thursday. California Highway Patrol Sgt. Alejandro Rubio says at least 132 people were arrested at UCLA. They were taken for booking at the county jails complex and campus police will determine any charges.
NEW MEXICO PROTESTS MOVE FROM CAMPUS TO AIR FORCE BASE
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, about two dozen protesters sat in the middle of a roadway blocking access to one of the main gates at Kirtland Air Force Base Thursday morning, waving flags and vowing to “shut everything down” over U.S. military support for Israel in its war against Hamas.
Base spokesman Rob Smith said Kirtland supports citizens’ rights to peacefully assemble and protest and that base security would monitor the situation throughout the day. Meanwhile, the gate would remain closed indefinitely and people who work on the base were advised to use other routes.
The protest comes just days after 16 people — including five students — were arrested at the University of New Mexico just a few miles away after they occupied the campus’ student union building and caused damage inside.
FLORIDA CHANCELLOR ORDERS PRESIDENTS TO PREVENT DISRUPTION OF COMMENCEMENTS
Florida’s state university chancellor has ordered campus presidents to “take any necessary steps” to prevent disruption of graduation ceremonies by protestors.
The order covers the University of Florida, Florida State University, Central Florida University, Florida A&M University and eight others. Ten arrests were made at a pro-Palestinian rally at the University of South Florida on Tuesday after police deployed tear gas.
“We must protect the integrity of our commencement ceremonies and ensure the safety of our students,” Chancellor Ray Rodrigues wrote in a memo to presidents, adding that no ceremonies should be canceled or substantively modified. “These ceremonies are important milestones for our graduating students, and we owe it to our students to see to it that these ceremonies take place as planned. While we respect and honor the First Amendment, a commencement ceremony is not the time nor place to hold a political protest.”
BIDEN SAYS VIOLENCE, VANDALISM AND HATE SPEECH HAVE NO PART IN PEACEFUL PROTESTS
President Joe Biden defended the right to peacefully protest on college campuses but said vandalism, violence, hate speech and other “chaos” has no part in a peaceful protest. “Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House Thursday morning. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.” Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up at many college campuses following the arrest of demonstrators in April at Columbia University. The Democratic president said the U.S. is neither an authoritarian nation that squashes dissent, nor a lawless country. “We are a civil society and order must prevail,” Biden said. “We are a big, diverse, free-thinking and freedom-loving nation.” Tensions at colleges and universities have been building, with demonstrators refusing to remove encampments, administrators cancelling classes and events and police clearing some protests by force.
A CHAOTIC SCENE AT UCLA AS OFFICERS BREAK UP CROWDS
Police arrested pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses across the country overnight, most notably at the University of California, Los Angeles, where chaotic scenes played out early Thursday as officers in riot gear surged against a crowd of demonstrators and made arrests.
Police removed barricades and began dismantling demonstrators’ fortified encampment at UCLA after hundreds of protesters defied orders to leave, some forming human chains as police fired flash-bangs to break up the crowds. Police bound the hands of many protesters with zip ties behind their backs and escorted them onto buses to the county jails reception center near downtown Los Angeles. At least 132 people were arrested at UCLA, said Sgt. Alejandro Rubio, a spokesperson for the CHP Southern Division.
Officers moved in after spending hours threatening arrests over loudspeakers if people did not disperse. A crowd of more than 1,000 had gathered in support, both inside a barricaded tent encampment and outside it. Protesters and police shoved and scuffled as officers encountered resistance. Video showed police pulling off helmets and goggles worn by some protesters as they were being detained.
MINNESOTA AGREES TO LET STUDENTS ADDRESS REGENTS ABOUT DIVESTING FROM ISRAEL
The University of Minnesota officials announced an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday to end their encampment on the Minneapolis campus.
In exchange, representatives of the coalition of student organizations involved will get to address the university’s Board of Regents at their meeting next Friday, May 10, and the discussion will include their demands that the university divest its investments in Israel.
Interim President Jeff Ettinger announced the deal in an email to the campus community. It said nearby buildings that were closed as a precaution earlier this week would reopen at noon, and protesters agreed not to disrupt upcoming final exams or commencement ceremonies.
“While there is more work to do, and conversations are still planned with other student groups affected by the painful situation in Palestine, I am heartened by today’s progress,” Ettinger wrote. “It grew out of a desire among those involved to reach shared understanding. While we do not condone tactics that are outside of our policies, we appreciate student leaders’ willingness to engage in dialogue. I value the challenging and healthy conversations we’ve had.”
A few other schools also secured agreements with protesters to avoid disrupting campus events. Administrators at Brown University in Rhode Island agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand. And Northwestern University in Illinois agreed to reestablish an advisory committee on university investments and other commitments.
PULITZER PRIZE BOARD COMMENDS STUDENT JOURNALISTS COVERING PROTESTS
Journalism’s highest awards are administered by Columbia University, where the Pulitzer Prize Board is praising the work of student journalists in covering campus protests around the country.
The board specifically recognized “the extraordinary real-time reporting” of student journalists at Columbia, where the nationwide campus demonstrations began on April 17.
With other media blocked from entering the campus, these students became the eyes and ears for many as New York police arrested protesters.
“In the spirit of press freedom, these students worked to document a major national news event under difficult and dangerous circumstances at risk of arrest,” the board wrote.
TRUMP, AT HUSH MONEY TRIAL, PRAISES POLICE FOR CLEARING CAMPUS PROTESTS
Former President Donald Trump commended police who cleared pro-Palestinian protesters from college campuses as he arrived in court Thursday morning for another day of his criminal hush money trial.
“It’s a shame. I’m so proud of the New York’s finest. They’re great,” Trump told reporters after police cleared demonstrators who had taken over an academic building at Columbia University. “They did a job in Columbia and likewise in Los Angeles they did a really good job at UCLA.”
Trump, in his comments, blamed the protests on “the radical left,” which he has railed against for years.
“This is a movement from the left, not from the right. The right is not your problem, despite what like law enforcement likes to say,” Trump said. “These are radical left lunatics. And they’ve got to be stopped.”
VIDEO SHOWS YALE OFFICERS ARRESTING FOUR AMONG CROWD OF HUNDREDS
Yale police arrested four people Wednesday night after around 200 demonstrators had marched to the school president’s home and to the campus police department, Yale officials said. School officials said in a statement Thursday that protesters ignored repeated warnings that they were violating university policy on occupying parts of campus without permission. Two of those arrested were students, and the others were not, Yale said.
The protest group Occupy Yale said campus police were violent during the arrests and did not issue warnings beforehand. The group posted a video in Instagram showing officers bringing one arrestee to the ground and pinning another on a sidewalk.
“A peaceful protest,” Occupy Yale said. “Police officers seized, pushed, and brutalized people. Is this what you call keeping campus safe?”
Wednesday night’s protest at Yale came a day after a U.S. House of Representatives committee announced that the presidents of Yale, UCLA and Michigan will appear before the panel on May 23 to answer questions about campus protests.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PRESIDENT DEFENDS ARRESTS OF 90 PEOPLE AT PROTEST
Dartmouth College President Sian Leah Beilock defended the decision to arrest around 90 people Wednesday night, hours after an encampment had set up protesting the war.
“Last night, people felt so strongly about their beliefs that they were willing to face disciplinary action and arrest. While there is bravery in that, part of choosing to engage in this way is not just acknowledging — but accepting — that actions have consequences,” she said in a statement. She cited campus policies prohibiting demonstrations that interfere with Dartmouth’s academic mission or increase safety risks.
“When policies like these have been ignored on other campuses, hate and violence have thrived — events, like commencement, are canceled, instruction is forced to go remote, and, worst of all, abhorrent antisemitism and Islamophobia reign,” Beilock said.
