Columbia says encampments will scale down; scores of protesters arrested at USC: Updates
Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on the college campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war for Wednesday, April 24. For the latest news on the protests view our live updates file for Thursday, April 25.
NEW YORK ? Columbia University announced Wednesday that students had agreed to scale down their encampment as protesters across the nation pressed their demands for an end to the civilian casualties in Gaza that have tested the American public's historically ironclad support for Israel.
Meanwhile, police arrested protesters Wednesday at the University of Southern California campus, which closed to the public Wednesday amid clashes between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and authorities at the school and nationwide.
Arrests were actively being made on the USC campus Wednesday night, a Los Angeles police spokesperson told USA TODAY. The spokesperson said he could not provide an estimate on how many people were detained.
Columbia student protesters earlier in the day issued a statement saying the school had made a "a written commitment and concession not to call the NYPD or the National Guard," calling the progress "an important victory for students.”
The university closed the main campus due to the "significant activity on campus," USC's Department of Public Safety said in an alert to students. Everyone on the campus could still leave but students were required to enter through pedestrian gates using their school IDs.
Rallies and encampments have sprung up on campuses from California to Massachusetts this week, sometimes prompting police intervention, as was the case Wednesday at the University of Texas in Austin and at the University of Southern California. The protesters are calling for an end to U.S. military support for Israel and for eliminating Israeli investments.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights organization, called on political leaders and university officials to stop “endangering” Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and other students who conducting peaceful protests. "Students should not have to risk their reputation, livelihoods or their safety to speak out against a genocide or their university’s complicity in genocide," CAIR-NY’s Executive Director Afaf Nasher said in a statement.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a controversial aid package bill that provides billions of dollars for the Israeli military. Lawmakers who supported the aid have been among targets of the protesters. In Brooklyn, police made arrests for disorderly conduct late Tuesday during a street protest near the residence of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader.
Developments:
? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the largely pro-Palestinian protests at U.S. campuses, calling them "horrific'' and saying, "Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities.''
? Hamas also put out a statement about the demonstrations, as Izzat Al-Risheq, a member of the militant group's Political Bureau, said the Biden administration is "violating the individual rights and the right to expression through arresting university students and faculty members'' who are protesting.
? At the University of Minnesota campus in St. Paul, police made nine arrests and cleared an encampment after the school asked them to take action, citing violations of university policy and trespassing law.
? In the Boston area, encampments have been erected at multiple schools including Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Emerson College.
? California's Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata will be closed Wednesday after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a campus building, the school announced.
Protests in New York flare: US campuses brace for more unrest over Gaza war
Protesters met by police at UT Austin, USC
At least 20 people were arrested after a large number of law enforcement officers in riot gear descended upon the University of Texas' Austin campus Wednesday and broke up a peaceful antiwar protest, the Austin American-Statesman reported. At least nine of those arrested were handcuffed and loaded into police vehicles.
Officers wearing helmets, some of them on horseback, ordered the demonstrators to disperse after they had been marching for about 45 minutes, the newspaper said. The crowd spread out but then gathered again, leading to the detainments.
The protest, which featured chants of "Free Palestine,'' was organized by a student group in solidarity with demonstrations in other college campuses demanding schools sever ties with corporations linked to the Israeli military and for the U.S. to stop funding Israel's war effort.
In Los Angeles, the University of Southern California closed off its campus Wednesday after police clashed with protesters trying to set up an encampment at the school's Alumni Park.
"There is still significant activity at the center of the UPC campus due to a demonstration,'' USC said in a social media posting around 12:20 p.m. PT. "The gates are closed, so anyone coming to campus should be prepared to show an ID at the gates for class or for business.''
House Speaker Johnson booed at Columbia speech
House Speaker Mike Johnson called for Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign during his visit to the school Wednesday. In his remarks, Johnson shamed students and faculty involved in the protests, as well as administrators for not doing enough to prevent them.
“It's detestable. As Columbia has allowed these lawless agitators and radicals to take over, the virus of antisemitism has spread across other campus,” Johnson said. “Anti-Israel encampments are popping up in universities all across this country. The madness has to stop.”
When Johnson described instances of antisemitism, called for Shafik’s resignation, and said students perpetrating violence should be arrested, protesters nearby booed and chanted, “We can’t hear you.”
“Enjoy your free speech,” he told them in response.
-- Rachel Barber
Columbia students say they have won some concessions
Columbia student protest organizers said Wednesday the university has conceded to some demands but is still putting students at risk of attacks. The statement ? issued in response to the university’s campus update on progress in negotiations with student organizers ? referenced historic actions of American universities against student demonstrators at Jackson State and Kent State, where authorities fatally shot several students more than 50 years ago.
“Columbia’s reliance on the threat of state violence against peaceful protesters has created an unstable ground for the negotiations process which will continue over the next 48 hours,” the statement said, referring to the deadline the university has issued. “However, Columbia’s written commitment and concession not to call the NYPD or the National Guard signifies an important victory for students.”
Biden signs off on $17 billion in aid for Israel
Biden signed a controversial aid package bill Wednesday that provides, among other things, $17 billion for Israel. The bill also supplies $9 billion for humanitarian aid, some of it for Palestinians in Gaza, but that's a little over half the amount assigned for military aid to Israel. Such funding has been a driving force for the encampments and other protests at universities and elsewhere in the U.S.
In comments at the White House, Biden focused on the humanitarian aid and the threat Israel faces from Iran.
"My commitment to Israel ... is ironclad," he said, adding that more than $1 billion in aid is for Palestinians facing a humanitarian crisis because of "the war Hamas started."
"Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay," Biden said.
Columbia students agree to remove some tents, university says
At Columbia, student protesters gathered on campus early Wednesday for another day of demonstrations while just outside the gates protesters were chanting in support of the students. Earlier, the school issued a statement saying protesters had agreed to remove a "significant" number of tents, would allow only students to take part in the encampment, would follow city fire safety rules and would "make the encampment welcome to all and (prohibit) discriminatory or harassing language."
"In light of this constructive dialogue, the University will continue conversations for the next 48 hours," the statement said.
Lead student negotiator Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student who is Palestinian, disputed that an agreement was in place. "We are doing our best to work with the university to actually meet our demands, because this encampment is for specific demands,” he told USA TODAY. “If it takes 48 hours, takes more than that, the students are here to stay until their demands are met.”
Before the school issued the statement, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said administrators threatened to bring in police and the National Guard if protesters did not comply with their demands. "We remain steadfast in our convictions and will not be intimidated by the University's disturbing threat of an escalation of violence," the group said in a statement.
Harvard students start their own tent city
Harvard students set up a ring of tents in Harvard Yard midday Wednesday and said they plan to stay put until the school’s administration responds to their demands to divest from funds that support Israel’s military. Students sang and danced in a circle in front of the statue of John Harvard, the school’s namesake, draped with a keffiyeh (scarf), as dozens of others looked on.
“We resist the fact that our tuition money is going toward bankrolling Israel’s genocide,” said Violet Barron, a sophomore from Los Angeles and member of the Harvard Out of Occupied Palestinian Coalition.
She said the school’s administration has consistently suppressed student support for Palestinians and now, after more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the students decided to take more public action. “We tried countless times to go through institutional channels,” Barron said.
A sophomore majoring in social studies, Barron said her own activism is both a reflection of what she’s learning in her history classes as well as her Jewish upbringing, which taught her to try to “repair the world.”
? Karen Weintraub
Author Lis Harris defends students impacted by a 'nasty situation'
Longtime author and critic Lis Harris, a Columbia writing professor, defended the students' right to form the encampment she called a "tent city,'' and said police should not have taken it down and arrested protesters last week.
“I mean, how could the young people not feel as they do? It’s a nasty situation,” said Harris, who authored the 2019 book, “In Jerusalem: Three Generations of an Israeli Family and a Palestinian Family.”
The book examines the impacts of the intractable Israelis-Palestinian conflict, which have been felt for decades and are particularly acute now.
“When you read about history happening by the leaders, that’s one thing,” she said. “It’s quite another to see the effect of all this violence and fear on the generations that keep coming and going.”
Brown students protest despite threat of disciplinary action
Students at Brown University in Rhode Island established an encampment Wednesday. Large signs announcing "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" and "Brown invests in the Palestinian genocide" were prominently displayed.
The encampment was set up hours after Provost Francis Doyle sent an email to all students warning that encampments are a violation of university police and and that participants could face disciplinary action "up to and including separation from the institution,” The Brown Daily Herald reported. University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald protest becomes unacceptable when it violates safety policies or interferes with "regular operations of the university."
“We have been troubled by reports of violence, harassment and intimidation at some encampments on other campuses, but we have not seen that kind of behavior at Brown," Clark said. "Any such behavior would not be tolerated.”
Scores arrested in Brooklyn protests
In Brooklyn, police made scores of disorderly conduct arrests when a street protest reached a standoff Tuesday night. The protesters, organized by the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace, had gathered at Grand Army Plaza, near the home of Schumer, who has led the effort in Congress to provide funds for the Israeli military. The protesters conducted a Seder dinner and demanded a cease-fire in Gaza.
By nightfall, demonstrators sat in the street and led protest chants against Israel and U.S. foreign aid to the country. Police began pulling dozens of people, young and old, off the roadway. Officers handcuffed them with zip ties and loaded them on several buses that lined the street.
"We refuse to let our traditions be used to starve, displace, and massacre Palestinians," the Jewish Voice for Peace said in a tweet during the protest. "Taking seriously the mandate of the Jewish holiday of liberation requires us to show up with everything we have on the doorsteps of those still arming and funding these historic atrocities."
The New York Police Department said officers arrested 208 demonstrators who blocked traffic at Grand Army Plaza.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College protests: Cops in riot gear arrest demonstrators at USC
