Encampment raid at NYU, hunger strike at Princeton as campus battles rage across US: Live updates
Editor's Note: This page is a summary of news on campus protests for Friday, May 3. For the latest news, view our live updates file for Saturday, May 4.
NEW YORK - Arrests piled up at several colleges, 14 Princeton University students launched a hunger strike, and police raided an NYU encampment Friday in the latest battles on college campuses that have pitted university officials against their own students over the war in Gaza.
The protests calling for a cease-fire and for universities to divest from Israel and Israeli companies have spread from coast to coast since police arrested over 100 students at an encampment outside Columbia University's main library on April 18. Since then, thousands of people have been arrested during protests on college campuses.
The hunger strike at Princeton comes a week after students launched a Gaza Solidary Encampment and after 15 protesters were arrested — two while setting up tents and 13 who took over Clio Hall on Monday in a sit-in that lasted about 90 minutes before police shut it down. Students said administrators have ignored their repeated requests for meetings and have been accused of "abusive" actions.
"Millions of Gazans continue to suffer due to ongoing siege by the State of Israel. Two million residents now face a man-made famine. Join us as we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people," organizers said in a statement.
Outside New York University’s John A. Paulson Center, students scrambled Friday morning to fill trash bags with their supplies and bedding after being awoken by an early morning raid. Workers surrounded by NYPD officers cleared the remains of their encampment. The NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition said in a statement that 14 students were arrested during the raid. A spokesperson for the NYPD said officers arrested 13 people at New York University but did not specify what charges they faced.
At The New School, a private research university in New York City, 43 people were taken into custody and at New York University, 13 people were arrested, according to a spokesperson from the NYPD.
Adam Young, a freshman at the New School, got emotional as he recounted waking up surrounded by police officers Friday morning.
“I’m feeling distraught – as a student representative, I was crying the entire morning. I just stopped like 20 minutes ago,” he said. “I saw my friends walk out in handcuffs and (with) bruises. I’m 18 years old, I should not have to watch my friends do that.”
Israel supporters rally near MIT pro-Palestinian encampment
Pro-Israel protesters gathered a short distance from a pro-Palestinian encampment at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Friday afternoon.
Massachusetts Avenue, which runs in front of MIT, was closed off, diverting city buses on one of busiest local routes between Boston and Cambridge around the protest. A small number of pro-Palestinian counter-protesters wearing keffiyehs and handing out flyers stood on the other side of the street, outnumbered by a large police presence.
Students remained encamped a short distance away, enclosed in a fence set up overnight by the administration, and now decorated with Israeli and American flags and signs representing Jews against Genocide and others.
– Karen Weintraub
Pro-Palestinian students at Princeton launch hunger strike
Fourteen Princeton University students launched a hunger strike on Friday announcing they wanted to call attention to the suffering of people in Gaza and to demand the university divest from companies tied to Israel's military campaign.
Students said in a video posted to social media they were outraged by Israel's actions to block food, fuel, clean water and electricity into the Gaza Strip, where over 30 people have died from dehydration and malnutrition, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The hunger strike, students said, was "in response to the administration's refusal to engage with our demands."
The students said they plan to strike until the administration meets with students to discuss disclosure about their investments, as well as divestment and cultural and academic boycott of Israel. They also called for amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for participants of the sit-in, and to reverse campus bans and evictions of students from housing.
– Hannan Adely, Bergen Record
NYPD says sergeant accidentally fired gun during Columbia's Hamilton Hall raid
An NYPD sergeant accidentally discharged his firearm while trying to break into a locked empty office in Columbia University's Hamilton Hall "to make sure there was no one hiding inside" as police cleared out protesters who occupied the building Tuesday night, NYPD Assistant Chief Carlos Valdez said at a news conference on Friday.
Valdez said the weapon accidentally went off when the sergeant transferred it from his right to his left hand as he reached inside a broken window to unlock the office door. The bullet landed on the floor, and no one was injured.
"He was clearing the room," Valdez said. "We have to prepare for anything that may be in that room that could possibly be of harm to the officers or to civilians."
The sergeant, who has served on the force for eight years "with an impeccable record," will receive retraining and reevaluation, Valdez said.
Questioned why NYPD did not release information about the incident at an earlier news conference, Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard said the department doesn't normally release information about accidental discharges. "I think we could have talked about it, but I don't recall it coming up organically," Sheppard said.
"I knew it would come up eventually because it always does, so it was no rush for us to talk about this," he added.
Sheppard said the NYPD also won't release body camera footage of the incident because police protocol does not require it in accidental discharge incidents.
More: President Biden breaks silence on campus unrest: 'Violent protest is not protected'
More than 70 arrested at SUNY Purchase protest encampment
More than 70 students and faculty members at SUNY Purchase were arrested on Thursday night at a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, the Rockland/Westchester Journal News, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
Officers detained the protesters when they refused to disperse after quiet hours began at 10 p.m., Betsy Aldredge, assistant director of public relations for the college, wrote in a statement released Friday morning. The protest started around five hours earlier.
"Those who didn’t disperse after multiple warnings of consequences were arrested for trespass violations, most without incident," Aldredge said.
Westchester County Police and New York State Police joined campus police to disband the protest, according to Aldredge. Those arrested were taken to local police precincts because campus police had limited capacity to hold them.
Aldredge said student protesters would go through a student code of conduct process. "As the investigation continues, a few individuals may face additional charges," she added.
According to the WESPAC Foundation, a local organization that announced the encampment at the Purchase campus, organizers launched the protest "in response to the college administration’s refusal to listen to students’ concerns about the state school’s financial ties to and complicity in the Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.”
SUNY Purchase is located in Harrison, New York, around 30 miles north of downtown New York City.
New York University protesters arrested in early morning raid
Outside New York University’s John A. Paulson Center, students scrambled Friday morning to fill trash bags with their supplies and bedding after being awoken by an early morning raid. Workers surrounded by NYPD officers cleared the remains of their encampment.
The NYU Palestine Solidarity Coalition said in a statement that 14 students were arrested during the early morning raid. A spokesperson for the NYPD said officers arrested 13 people at NYU on disorderly conduct and trespassing charges. Last week, more than 130 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested on campus at NYU, about half of whom were unaffiliated with the institution, according to a statement from university president Linda Mills.
City police were called to NYU Friday morning after the private university "requested our assistance to disperse the illegal encampment on their property," Kaz Daughtry, NYPD deputy commissioner said on X, formerly Twitter.
The post included a video in which police walked through an outdoor encampment, telling the demonstrators in and outside of their tents, "You have the opportunity to leave," and, "Grab your stuff and go."
Students planned to return to the area later Friday for a rally.
“Arrest will not deter us from our steadfast solidarity with our Palestinian siblings,” the coalition said in a statement.
NYU faculty picket outside president's office in support of protesters
Outside NYU's Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, dozens of people joined a faculty and staff picket line in support of student protesters hours after police cleared an encampment on the Manhattan campus.
Elisabeth Fay, a clinical associate professor, said picketers chose the location because the building houses President Linda Mills’ office and they hoped to put pressure on Mills and the administration to communicate with students.
Fay, who has worked at the university for 10 years, said faculty members are “angry and troubled” at the decision of university leadership to allow the NYPD to arrest students last week and early Friday morning. She said the presence of the NYPD on campus has been distracting and distressing, particularly for marginalized students.
“We want cops off our campus now, we want NYU to negotiate with student activists, and we’re demanding amnesty for all students, faculty and staff who are facing discipline, sanctions or criminal charges related to peaceful protests,” Fay said.
NYU protest carries on after encampment cleared
A large group of protestors gathered outside NYU’s Paulson Center Friday evening where NYPD cleared an encampment of demonstrators in the same location about 12 hours earlier.
At the center of the protest a leader recounted the events of the morning as the crowd shouted “shame.” Signs throughout the crowd read “Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism” and “Cops off campus now.”
“We are the voice of many Jewish communities around the world who stand in opposition to the existence of the Jewish state” said Rabbi Joseph Cohen, who stood at the edge of the crowd with several other men dressed in religious garb. “What’s happening in Palestine is a catastrophe not only for Palestinians but also for Jews, because our religion is being misused to perpetrate a crime and a genocide on the Palestinian people living in Gaza right now."
– Anna Kaufman
Chaos at The New School as police converge on student protesters
Adam Young said a student yelled for everyone to wake up early Friday as police vehicles unexpectedly surrounded the University Center at The New School. He said officers, some of whom were carrying batons, vastly outnumbered the protesters and quickly surrounded the group.
Police gave protesters a chance to leave before making arrests, but in the chaos, Young said, one person with diabetes had to leave medication behind and another who uses a cane could not get out fast enough. The NYPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these allegations.
“This is not okay and it is disgusting,” Young said.
NYU students scramble to leave encampment ahead of raid
After spending the night at the encampment, Ryna Workman, a third-year law student at NYU, woke up early to go to the bathroom when security at the Paulson Center told her the building was on lockdown. Seconds later, she said, security pushed aside the barricades at the encampment to make room for the NYPD.
Workman said she rushed to wake up students at the encampment and gather books and electronics before police began making arrests.
“I was mostly worried because I didn’t know how many people were still asleep and which tents to check,” she said. “It was very scary.”
Workman, who spoke to USA TODAY from 1 Police Plaza, said none of the people taken into custody have been released, as of Friday morning.
UC Riverside admin, students reach deal to take down encampment
The University of California, Riverside administration and student protesters reached an agreement to disassemble a pro-Palestinian encampment on Friday, joining a small group of colleges to announce deals amid the wave of demonstrations across campuses.
UC Riverside students agreed to take down the encampment by midnight Friday in exchange for disclosure and review of the university’s investments, and modification of the approval process for study abroad programs to ensure it aligns with the university’s anti-discriminatory policies. The agreement also said the business school has discontinued its global programs in several countries including Israel.
“This agreement does not change the realities of the war in Gaza, or the need to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination; however, I am grateful that we can have constructive and peaceful conversations on how to address these complex issues,” said Chancellor Kim Wilcox.
Northwestern University became the first major university to publicly announce a deal on Monday. Brown University and Rutgers University have also announced agreements with students to end encampments.
Vermont school says U.N. ambassador will no longer be commencement speaker
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield will not be speaking at this year's commencement ceremony, the University of Vermont announced Friday evening, six days after pro-Palestinian student protesters pitched tents on the campus green outside Andrew Harris Commons.
Thomas-Greenfield has vetoed three resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, infuriating pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Her removal as commencement speaker is the second of five demands to which the university has agreed.
"After their years of hard work and commitment to success, they deserve a weekend of ceremony and celebration befitting their accomplishment," said UVM President Suresh Garimella. "It is with regret that I share that our planned speaker, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will not be joining us to deliver the Commencement address."
UVM's first concession was agreeing to disclose all financial investments in the university's $800 million endowment by the end of the week but has yet to do so. The protesters' other three demands include cutting ties with weapon manufacturers, Israeli companies and all companies "involved in the occupation of historic Palestine," agreeing to an academic boycott of Israeli institutions, and providing amnesty to all protesters. UVM protesters say that until the administration meets all their demands, the encampment will continue.
– Megan Stewart, Burlington Free Press
Tensions rising at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Campus police at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology erected a green fence around a student encampment overnight and closed most campus buildings to those without IDs on Friday morning in anticipation of a midday rally.
Protesters not affiliated with MIT registered with the city of Cambridge to hold a rally in support of Israeli and Jewish students in front of the school's main entrance on Massachusetts Avenue, across the street from the encampment. Counter-protesters are also expected.
In an early morning letter to the MIT community, university President Sally Kornbluth said the school is "making every appropriate preparation for these rallies, with strong support from local police."
The letter reiterated concerns for the safety of students in the encampment and on campus which she also shared in a video released Saturday. "I ask that members of the community join us in doing everything possible to keep the peace," she said.
– Karen Weintraub
More: Amid arrests and chaos, Columbia's student radio station stayed on air. America listened.
Civil rights investigation opened into Columbia treatment of Palestinian students, lawyers say
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Thursday opened an investigation into Columbia University for how it's treated Palestinian students and allies, lawyers said.
The civil rights complaint, filed on April 25, alleges unequal treatment by Columbia administrators, including President Minouche Shafik. Four students and the student organization, Students for Justice in Palestine, told federal officials they experienced harassment, death threats and doxing on campus since the start of the war, according to the complaint filed by Palestine Legal, a legal aid organization.
“For months, Columbia has not only failed to take action to protect Palestinian students and their allies speaking out for Palestinian freedom from racist harassment and discrimination, but actively engaged in differential treatment,” Radhika Sainath, a senior staff attorney for Palestine Legal, said in a statement. “This investigation could not have come at a better time, as we just saw Columbia escalate its crackdown against Palestinian students and their allies by bringing in the NYPD to brutally arrest student protesters for the second time in less than two weeks.”
USA TODAY obtained a copy of the Department of Education letter announcing the investigation. The Department of Education didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The university said it doesn’t comment on pending investigations.
During a news conference Wednesday night, Layla Saliba, a Columbia student in the complaint, described how the university disregarded her and other Palestinian Americans who have lost countless loved ones killed by Israeli forces. Saliba has lost 15 relatives, including a cousin killed last week. Other students have lost even more family members, she told hundreds gathered.
“We are all grieving and the university does not care,” she said. “They want to appease their donors and trustees so bad that they are willing to use systematic violence against us, and they think it's OK. This is not OK.”
More than 30 people arrested at Portland State University
More than 30 people were arrested at Portland State University on Thursday after demonstrators twice occupied the school's main library.
Beginning around 6 a.m. on Thursday, officers began working to clear the library where protesters barricaded themselves, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Multiple demonstrators were arrested, including one person accused of blasting an officer with a fire extinguisher. Around 9:30 a.m. police reported that the building was cleared, adding that "a hostile crowd remained on scene."
Portland State University officials "secured the library with plywood and erected a fence" as Portland police officers left the scene. However, a short time later, "trespassers had torn down the fence and broken back into the library," police said. An additional eight people were arrested. Seven officers suffered injuries, the most serious being a knee injury that required ambulance transport to the hospital, police said.
The police have not said how many of those arrested were students, faculty, or staff at the university. In a statement, the Portland Police Bureau said it would soon release the identities of those arrested.
Earlier this week the school asked police to help remove dozens of protesters occupying the building. Last week the university paused seeking or accepting gifts or grants from Boeing pending a review of weapons sales to Israel.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunger strike, raids, arrests across US as campus protests rage: Live
