Columbia students suspended for refusing to clear out pro-Palestine encampment
The Columbia University has begun suspending students who held pro-Palestinian protests.
As they refused to disperse from the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’, defying a deadline given by the Ivy League institution. This comes after talks between the US university and protesters broke down on Monday.
While the university said that they asked the protesting students to remove the encampment to make sure that its commencement ceremony can continue as planned, Columbia student and lead negotiator Mahmoud Khalil stated that the institute is pushing an “anti-Palestinian narrative”.
Cornell University also said that they are suspending students after they refused the offer to move the encampment to an alternate location.
Hundreds of Columbia students continued to stay in the pro-Palestine protest encampments on the New York campus beyond the 2 pm deadline on Monday (local time) set by the university.
Several faculty members also stayed outside the encampments as students announced their decision to continue the protest after talks with the university failed.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik stated that the University will not divest from Israel, a key demand by the demonstrators. “While the University will not divest from Israel, the University offered to develop an expedited timeline for review of new proposals from the students,” he said in a statement after the talks failed.
A legal group representing pro-Palestinian students urged the US Department of Education’s civil rights office to investigate Columbia’s compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for how they have been treated, news agency AP reported.
At the University of Texas, police and student protesters clashed and over 40 people were arrested on Monday. The police used zip ties, pepper spray, and a stun grenade against the protesters, leading to a tense situation inside the campus.
The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) saw a confrontation between pro-Palestine protesters and Israel supporters. Some demonstrators broke through a barrier that was placed to separate the two factions, and they shoved one another and shouted slogans and insults, and in some cases traded punches.
Yale University students set up a new camp with dozens of tents, nearly a week after police arrested nearly 50 and cleared a similar one nearby. Subsequently, the authorities warned them they could face discipline, including suspension, and possible arrest if they continued.
Meanwhile, Northwestern University on Monday announced an agreement with student demonstrators to limit the scope of the campus protest and end the encampment.
Over 20 campuses across various US states are witnessing pro-Palestine protests, and more than 800 students have been arrested this month alone in the Gaza solidarity protests.
The protests started spreading to Europe, and dozens of students from the Sorbonne university in France were detained after they occupied the main courtyard for a pro-Palestine protest. In Canada, student protest camps have popped up at the University of Ottawa, McGill University in Montreal and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, according to local media.