NEW YORK.- Columbia University is canceling its main graduation ceremony amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests, but will hold smaller school ceremonies this week and next, university officials announced Monday.
“Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-wide graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually along with their peers, and forgo the university ceremony scheduled for May 15. “Officials from the Ivy League school in Upper Manhattan detailed in a statement.
Noting that the last few weeks have been “incredibly difficult” for the community, the school said in its announcement that it made the decision after discussing it with students.
“Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale school celebrations are more meaningful to them and their families,” according to officials. “They are eager to walk across the stage to applause and family pride and hear guest speakers from their school.”
Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters who had camped in Columbia Park were arrested last month, and similar camps have sprung up at universities across the country as schools struggle to determine where to draw the line between allowing free expression and maintaining college campuses. safe and inclusive.
Protesters evacuate camp at USC
Students protesting against the war in Gaza left a camp at the University of Southern California (USC) on Sunday after police surrounded the site and warned of arrests. Meanwhile, the end-of-course ceremony at the Universidad Northeastern had an uneventful start at Fenway Park in Boston.
The events in both places were closely followed after a large number of people were arrested last month: 94 on the USC campus in Los Angeles and about 100 at Northeastern in Boston.
Dozens of Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at USC around 4 a.m. to assist campus security. The university had warned, online and in person, that protesters would be arrested. Video showed some protesters gathering their belongings and leaving the scene, while officers formed lines to keep others away from the camp as it emptied. The academic institution said there were no reports of people detained.
USC President Carol Folt said it was time to draw the line because “the occupation was moving in a dangerous direction” in which areas of the campus had been blocked off and people were harassed.
“The operation was peaceful,” Folt wrote in an update. “The campus will open, students are returning to prepare for final (exams), and the organization of the end-of-course ceremony is underway.”
USC previously canceled its main graduation event, although it allowed other end-of-course activities to continue.
Across town, on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, officials announced the creation of a new security director position to oversee security operations on campus. Sunday’s announcement came after the school came under fire for its handling of the protests, which culminated last week in a mass attack on a camp of students demonstrating for Palestinians.
At Northeastern’s end-of-term ceremony Sunday, some students waved small Palestinian and Israeli flags, but they were outnumbered by those waving flags of India and the United States, among other countries. Student speaker Rebecca Bamidele was briefly applauded when she called for peace in Gaza.
The Associated Press has counted about 2,500 arrests at about 50 U.S. campuses since April 18, based on reports and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.
Source: With information from AP
