‘Divest’: US students demand universities to cut Israel ties
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NEW YORK: The students at Columbia University who inspired pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country dug in at their encampment for the 10th day Friday as administrators and police at campuses from California to Massachusetts wrestled with how to address protests that have seen scuffles with police and hundreds of arrests. Officials at Columbia and some other schools have been negotiating with students who have rebuffed police and doubled down.Other schools have quickly turned to law enforcement to douse demonstrations before they can take hold.
As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. “Disclose! Divest!” marchers have been shouting, calling on universities to cease investing in suppliers of Israeli weapons.
Universities have so far rebuffed exhortations to divest.
Defenders of Israel say these calls are unfair to a country that is under threat of attack, and anti-Semitic because they target the only Jewish-majority nation in the world. But pr-Palestinian university students say they won’t stop protesting against Israel until that demand is met. “We’re willing to risk suspension, expulsion and arrest, and I think that that will put pressure,” said Malak Afaneh, a law student at University of California, Berkeley, and a protest organiser.
After a tent encampment popped up Thursday at Indiana University, police with shields and batons shoved into protesters and arrested 33. Hours later at the University of Connecticut, police tore down tents and arrested one person. And at Ohio State University, police clashed with protesters just hours after they gathered Thursday. Those who refused to leave were arrested and charged with criminal trespass.
The clock is ticking as May commencement ceremonies near, putting added pressure on schools to clear demonstrations. At Columbia University, protesters defiantly erected a tent encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks. Columbia officials said that negotiations were showing progress as the school’s self-imposed early Friday deadline to reach an agreement on dismantling the encampment came and went. Nevertheless, two police buses were parked nearby. “We have our demands; they have theirs,” said a spokesperson for Columbia, adding that if the talks fail the university will have to consider other options.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, has been negotiating with students who have been barricaded inside a campus building since Monday, rebuffing an attempt by the police to clear them out. The school’s senate of faculty and staff demanded the university’s prez resign in a nonbinding vote of no confidence Thursday, citing the decision to call police in to remove the barricaded students Monday.
On the other end of the state, the University of Southern California cancelled the school’s May 10 graduation ceremony. The announcement was made a day after over 90 student protesters were arrested.
At the City College of New York Thursday, hundreds of students who were gathered on the lawn beneath the Harlem campus’ famed gothic buildings erupted in cheers after a small contingent of police officers retreated from the scene.
Protesters also stayed overnight at the encampment at George Washington University. In a statement after the Thursday deadline to disperse, the university in Washington said the encampment violated its policies and the administration and police were figuring out how to address the matter.
As the death toll mounts in the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the country are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. “Disclose! Divest!” marchers have been shouting, calling on universities to cease investing in suppliers of Israeli weapons.
Universities have so far rebuffed exhortations to divest.
Defenders of Israel say these calls are unfair to a country that is under threat of attack, and anti-Semitic because they target the only Jewish-majority nation in the world. But pr-Palestinian university students say they won’t stop protesting against Israel until that demand is met. “We’re willing to risk suspension, expulsion and arrest, and I think that that will put pressure,” said Malak Afaneh, a law student at University of California, Berkeley, and a protest organiser.
After a tent encampment popped up Thursday at Indiana University, police with shields and batons shoved into protesters and arrested 33. Hours later at the University of Connecticut, police tore down tents and arrested one person. And at Ohio State University, police clashed with protesters just hours after they gathered Thursday. Those who refused to leave were arrested and charged with criminal trespass.
The clock is ticking as May commencement ceremonies near, putting added pressure on schools to clear demonstrations. At Columbia University, protesters defiantly erected a tent encampment where many are set to graduate in front of families in just a few weeks. Columbia officials said that negotiations were showing progress as the school’s self-imposed early Friday deadline to reach an agreement on dismantling the encampment came and went. Nevertheless, two police buses were parked nearby. “We have our demands; they have theirs,” said a spokesperson for Columbia, adding that if the talks fail the university will have to consider other options.
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, has been negotiating with students who have been barricaded inside a campus building since Monday, rebuffing an attempt by the police to clear them out. The school’s senate of faculty and staff demanded the university’s prez resign in a nonbinding vote of no confidence Thursday, citing the decision to call police in to remove the barricaded students Monday.
On the other end of the state, the University of Southern California cancelled the school’s May 10 graduation ceremony. The announcement was made a day after over 90 student protesters were arrested.
At the City College of New York Thursday, hundreds of students who were gathered on the lawn beneath the Harlem campus’ famed gothic buildings erupted in cheers after a small contingent of police officers retreated from the scene.
Protesters also stayed overnight at the encampment at George Washington University. In a statement after the Thursday deadline to disperse, the university in Washington said the encampment violated its policies and the administration and police were figuring out how to address the matter.
