In pictures: Pro-Palestinian protests spread at US colleges
Heads of Israeli universities concerned about ‘recent surge of severe violence, antisemitism, and anti-Israel sentiment’ at US universities
From CNN's Benjamin Brown
The heads of Israel's public universities have expressed "deep concern" over what they called a "recent surge of severe violence, antisemitism, and anti-Israel sentiment" at universities across the United States.
"Violent demonstrations" have led to a climate in which Jewish and Israeli students felt threatened, the Association of University Heads, Israel (VERA) said in a statement Friday.
Israeli and Jewish students and faculty members felt "compelled to hide their identities or avoid campuses altogether for fear of physical harm" due to the "disturbing events," the university presidents said.
VERA said that freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate were "vital to the health of any democracy" and "crucial in academic settings."
But, the university heads said, "These freedoms do not include the right to engage in violence, make threats against communities, or call for the destruction of the State of Israel.”
They added that they would assist Jewish and Israeli students who wished to join Israeli universities and "find a welcoming academic and personal home."
While the protests and some protesters’ social media posts have made some Jewish students feel unsafe, CNN reporting has found protesters acting in an unobtrusive, nonviolent manner in the vast majority of protests.
Jewish student at University of California, Santa Barbara says she feels uncomfortable going on campus amid protest
CNN’s Camila Bernal and Sarah Moon
A Jewish student at the University of California, Santa Barbara said she felt uncomfortable going on campus Thursday amid a protest that had formed at her school.
In a phone interview with CNN, Tessa Veksler, who is the student body president at UCSB,described a protest that has taken over the student resource building at the university.
“They've just taken over one building and they're doing it indoors,” she said.
Veksler said there are lectures given at the encampment, food being passed out and chants that mirror what is being said at other universities.
“It's not necessarily even a concern about what they're discussing, and I've already heard of the antisemitic things that are going down,” she said. “But it's about the fact that it's a university property and that students are being denied access because they're not able to be in that space and the fact that there are students that have to stay away from the whole area.”
Veksler lives off campus and did not go to the university Thursday because she said she is fearful and uncomfortable. She explained that fellow students and administrators have described the situation on campus to her.
“I asked the administration what they're going to do about it and they did not respond to me,” she said. “It's not only being tolerated, I believe it's being endorsed by, by those higher up, I believe that we've had so many opportunities to create clear boundaries and we haven't done that.”
Veksler said that since October 7, she’s been “getting personally targeted and harassed.” She added that she recently defeated impeachment efforts and indicated that she is not backing down.
CNN has reached out to the university for comment on the protest.
Why this campus turmoil story is so complex
From CNN's David Goldman and Ramishah Maruf
The nuance and history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains difficult to capture succinctly, particularly during escalating turmoil among groups with deep-held — and entrenched — views on the issue.
Students inside campus encampments that have spread across the United States over the past week are from a variety of backgrounds — including Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims, joined by students of other religious and ethnic backgrounds. They hold a spectrum of political and social views too: liberal and heterodox, progressive and absolutist. Many have been motivated by the reports and video coming out of Gaza that is often unbearable to watch. Many of these students see the actions of the Israeli military in Gaza as a continuation of a more than 70-year-long oppression of Palestinian rights, land and culture. Protesters say they want their schools to stand against what they believe is genocide in Gaza.
Read the full story.
Students carrying out pro-Palestinian blockade in Paris university campus as protests continue for a third day
CNN's Joseph Ataman, Melissa Bell and Mark Esplinoutside Sciences Po Parisand Niamh Kennedy in London
Dozens of students are currently carrying out a pro-Palestinian blockade in the main campus building of major French university Sciences Po in central Paris.
A CNN team on the ground saw students chanting pro-Palestinian slogans from the windows of the building on Rue Saint Guillame. Students have also erected a barricade blocking access to the street, which lies off the famous Boulevard Saint German in Paris' Left Bank.
CNN video showed students carrying placards calling for an end to "genocide" in Gaza and the boycott of Israeli universities. The group of students could be heard chanting slogans such as "Free Palestine."
Earlier this week, Paris police removed over 100 students who had camped out in one of the campus courtyards as part of their efforts to protest.
Sciences Po is one of France's most highly ranked universities and the alma mater of a slew of French presidents, including Emmanuel Macron.
The university has strong ties to Columbia University in New York, where students have been staging widespread pro-Palestinian protests. The two universities offer a dual BA program that affords students the opportunity to study in both institutions.
One student named Hicham told CNN that there is "a link" between the Paris protests and those being staged in Columbia.
"It reminds us of 1968 where anti war movements were growing in the United States and also in France...Seeing some friends and comrades doing this in Columbia University and all around the US and now in Australia also motivated us to continue the fight that we have been doing since October."
‘I don’t trust you,’ USC associate professor writes in open letter to university provost, president
CNN’s Paradise Afshar
A University of Southern California journalism professor says he no longer trusts key university leadersProvost Andrew Guzmanand President Carol Foltfollowing a series of decisions related to campus demonstrations.
“Lest you mistake silence for approval, I want you to hear that you are failing the University,”Mike Ananny, PhD, an associate professorof communications and journalism at the University of Southern Californiawrote in an openletter that appears in the student publicationDaily Trojan.
Ananny began with the recentdecision to cancel thevaledictorian commencement speech from Asna Tabassum, by citing safety concerns, asCNN has previously reported.
“You failed to invest in her address the same resources that the University has allocated to other challenging security contexts,”the letter said.
The university has sincecanceled its main stagecommencement ceremony, theschool announced in anupdate Thursday.
Tensions haverisenat the universitywith the presence of both protesters andtheLos Angeles Police Department on campus, and nearly 100 people have been arrested onsuspicion of trespassing, CNN has reported.
In his letter,Ananny addressed these developments, in part by saying: “You allowed — and encouraged — the campus to become a dangerous, militarized space. Your actions failed to secure student safety; theyendangeredstudent safety. Again, your judgment failed, and I do not trust it.”
Ananny, who said he is a tenured faculty member, went on to write that he is “embarrassed” by the communication, judgment and leadership of the provost and president.
“I have no confidence in your ability to repair the deep damage you have done to this institution,” the letter said.
What do pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses want?
From CNN's Matt Egan and Ramishah Maruf
A central demand of protesters on college campuses across the nation is that universities divest from Israel-linked companies that are profiting from the war in Gaza.
“Disclose, divest, we will not stop we will not rest,” students at Columbia University chanted on Wednesday as Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed them.
Other common threads include demanding universities disclose their investments, support a ceasefire in Gaza, and sever academic ties with Israeli universities.
“We are not going anywhere until our demands are met,” Khymani James, a student at Columbia University, said Wednesday.
At Princeton University, protesters are demanding the school end research on weapons of war “used to enable genocide,” according to a flyer at a demonstration.
At Columbia University, where the movement started last week, protesters want the university to sever ties with its center in Tel Aviv and a dual degree program with Tel Aviv University. New York University protesters also use the school’s Tel Aviv center as a rallying cry.
Amid hundreds of arrests at universities across the US, some call for officials to protect free speech and spare students from being punished for participating in the protests.
At the University of Southern California, protesters are demanding“full amnesty” for those brought into custody and “no policing on campus.”
Columbia protesters called for the university to “disclose and sever all ties” with the New York Police Department and askthat the university support low-income Harlem residents, according to Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
Student protesters say the demands to disclose and to divest are interconnected.
Protesters argue that many of the financial interests of universities are opaque and the links to Israel may be even greater than officials realize.
"We demand full financial transparency," graduate student Basil Rodriguez told CNN Wednesday.
White House unbowed on Israel support despite unrest on campuses
From CNN's Kayla Tausche and MJ Lee
US protests over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza are growing in number and intensity, most notably on college campuses, where protesters have decried the stance of “Genocide Joe.”
And thisweek’s rapid spread of collegecampus encampments has ratcheted up the pressure on the US over its support for Israel.
But where the domestic politics of the situation are concerned, the president and his administration remain unbowed.
Despite being just miles from Columbia and the most tense scenes of the protests, Biden will not be making a visit to campus as he holds events in the New York area Friday. Aides never seriously considered a visit by the president to campus, acknowledging the security situation and political calculus presented challenges too steep.
Biden, for months, has taken the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in stride – including at many of his public events – and advisers say there’s no plan to change course.
A lifelong politician, Biden understands there will always be some people who disagree with him, and those people have a right to voice their discontent.
Some senior advisers to the president — closely monitoring the growing unrest — are making the case that the protestors comprise a very small percentage of the student body and do not represent the majority's views.
But the optics of the situation remain challenging for Biden, who this week signed into law an aid package granting $16 billion in additional military funding for Israel as the protests raged on.
Read the full story.
Protests continue at campuses across the US as more arrests are announced. Here’s the latest
From CNN staff
A wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests is rippling across the US, with hundreds of people arrested at universities throughout the country this week.
At New York's Columbia University,the epicenter of the demonstrations,protesting students said they won’t disperse until the school agrees to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and disinvest its funds from entities connected to Israel, among other demands. Protesters at other campuses have similar demands.
The campus encampments spreading across the nation have brought together students from a variety of backgrounds — including Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims — to decry Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
Here are the latest developments:
Columbia University: The faculty senate is expected to vote on a resolution admonishing the school’s president, MinoucheShafik, on Friday overseveral of her decisions, according to The New York Times. Shafik has faced criticism for authorizing police to shut down student protests on campus.
University of Southern California: The university canceled its main commencement ceremonynext month, citing "new safety measures in place.” Nearly100 people have been arrestedon the campus.
Emory University: 28 people were arrested, including 20 Emory community members, during a protest at the school, Vice President for Public Safety Cheryl Elliott said.Troopers deployed pepper balls “to control the unruly crowd” during the protest, Georgie State Patrol said. A group of Democratic Georgia state lawmakers condemned the “excessive force used by Georgia State Patrol” during arrests at Emory.
Brown University: The university identified about 130 students who it alleges violated a school conduct code that forbids encampments on campus. Students found responsible will be disciplined depending on their behavior and other factors, including any prior conduct violations, the university said.
Emerson College: More than 100 people were arrested and four police officers injured during an encampment clearing at the Boston liberal arts college, according to the Boston Police Department. President Jay Bernhardt said he recognized andrespected "the civic activism and passion that sparked the protest" after dozens of arrests.
Indiana University: 33 people were detained on campus following encampment protests.
George Washington University: DC Metropolitan Police were asked to assist in relocating an “unauthorized protest encampment” on campus, university president Ellen M. Granberg said. The decision came "after multiple instructions made by GWPD to relocate to an alternative demonstration site on campus went unheeded by encampment participants," she said.
University of California, Los Angeles: A "demonstration with encampments" formed at UCLA on Thursday.
Northeastern University: An encampment formed at Northeastern University in Boston, where dozens of protesters were seen forming a human chain aroundseveral tents.
Other campuses: Since last Thursday, there have been protests at several campuses, including theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan,University of New Mexico, University of California, Berkeley, Yale University, Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus.
