VIDEO Arrests and clashes at University of Texas, students suspended at Columbia: US schools reject pro-Palestinian demonstrations

As pro-Palestinian demonstrations have spread across US college campuses, school leaders have begun cracking down on them, with Monday’s decisions at the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia University in New York, write Reuters and BBC.​

Police arrested at least 40 people on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin on Monday as they dismantled a camp set up by people demonstrating against Israel’s war in Gaza and demanding the severance of any ties between their school and Israel.

According to eyewitnesses, campus police, accompanied by state troopers, some of them in riot gear, surrounded the camp of about 100 people and led the protesters out one by one, despite the protests.

There were also clashes, an escalation of tensions on campus where more than 50 protesters had been arrested last week.

The university issued a statement late Monday saying many of Monday’s protesters were not affiliated with the school and that encampments are prohibited on campus. The university also said some protesters were “physically and verbally combative” with university staff, prompting officials to call law enforcement.

In parallel, Columbia University on Monday began suspending pro-Palestinian student activists who refused to dismantle a protest camp on the New York campus.

The president of the university, Nemat Minouche Shafik, said that days of negotiations between student representatives and those of the school management failed to convince the demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up.

“We have begun suspending students as part of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” said Ben Chang, a university spokesman.

“The camp has created an unwelcoming environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with teaching, learning and preparation for final exams,” Chang said.

Earlier, Shafik said Colombia would not abandon investments in companies linked to Israel, a key demand of the protesters. In return, she offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and make Colombia’s direct investment holdings more transparent.

Political pressure

Pressure on the leadership of Columbia University, an elite Ivy League university in Upper Manhattan, had increased significantly.

Politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, called on the leadership to resign or take action.

“What continues to happen in Columbia is an absolute disgrace,” tweeted former US House Speaker Mike Johnson on X. “The campus is overrun by anti-Semitic students and faculty alike,” he said.

Tuition and annual fees for Columbia amount to about $90,000 for undergraduate students, making it one of the most expensive universities in the US, writes the BBC.

Its campus has become the focus of US debate over the Gaza war and US support for Israel, as well as fears that anti-Semitism is endangering Jewish students.

On April 18, police had already raided a pro-Palestinian camp in the center of campus, arresting more than 100 students. But activists stepped up their efforts, regrouping in another camp and pushing the university’s leadership to switch to hybrid education.

On Monday, representatives of the protesters said they would continue the movement.

“These tactics are nothing compared to the deaths of over 34,000 Palestinians. We will not move until Columbia meets our demands or we are forcibly removed,” leaders of the Columbia Student Apartheid Divest coalition said in a statement read at a news conference following the deadline.

An intense and divisive debate

The pro-Palestinian rallies have sparked intense debate on campuses about where school officials should draw the line between free speech and hate speech.

Students protesting Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, including some Jewish peace activists, have said they are being censored as anti-Semitic simply for criticizing the Israeli government or expressing support for Palestinian rights.

Other Jewish groups, however, argue that anti-Israel rhetoric frequently turns into, or fuels, overt forms of anti-Jewish hatred and calls for violence, and therefore should not be tolerated.

Such reasoning was invoked by the groups that pressured the University of Southern California two weeks ago to cancel the commencement address of commencement speaker Asna Tabassum, a Muslim student, because of her views deemed pro – Palestinian.

The Los Angeles university later announced it was canceling the entire graduation ceremony on the main stage for the May 10 graduation.

Clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli camps

Across town at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where rival camps clashed over the weekend, pro-Israel activists set up a large screen and speakers to loop footage of the Hamas attack in October 7 on Israel.

The clip seemed intended to counter the pro-Hamas chants that have infiltrated campus protests in support of Palestinian civilians besieged in Gaza.

UCLA also increased security around the pro-Palestinian camp there, consisting of more than 50 tents surrounded by metal fences near the main campus administration building.

Civil rights organizations have criticized law enforcement tactics at some campuses, such as Emory University in Atlanta and the University of Texas at Austin.

At Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, police and protesters clashed as officers moved in after nightfall to break up an encampment.

More than 200 kilometers to the west, Virginia Tech officials said Monday that 91 protesters arrested Sunday night at a student-run encampment were charged with trespassing.