Topline
More than 1,000 protesters across the country have been arrested at pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses over the course of the last week, including many students and faculty members, as universities and city police departments expand a controversial crackdown on a protest movement calling for divestment from Israel.
The arrests include hundreds of protesters at Columbia, UCLA and Emerson University.
Timeline
At least 12 people were arrested in Portland, Oregon after protesters occupied the Millar Library on Portland State University’s campus, The Oregonian confirmed.
At least 200 people were arrested in Los Angeles after police raided the encampment at UCLA early Thursday morning, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing the Los Angeles Police Department.
In Hanover, New Hampshire, about 90 people were arrested at Dartmouth University’s encampment, police in the city said in a statement, and will be charged with trespassing and resisting arrest.
Another 12 people were arrested overnight at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, including 10 students, the Portsmouth Herald reported.
Four people, including two students, were arrested after about 200 protesters surrounded the home of Yale president Peter Salovey on Wednesday night, The Yale Daily News reported—10 days after 47 protesters were arrested at the school’s encampment.
Fifteen people were arrested and charged with trespassing at Fordham University’s encampment, the college’s president Tania Tetlow confirmed in a letter obtained by NBC New York, which was set up only hours after the other New York City college encampments were destroyed.
Thirty-four protesters were arrested at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but protesters quickly erected a new encampment the same day, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.
At least 17 people were arrested at the University of Texas-Dallas after police moved to dismantle a protest encampment, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Fourteen people were arrested at Tulane’s campus encampment in New Orleans early Wednesday morning, including two students, the student newspaper The Tulane Hullabaloo reported, after the university declared the encampment an “unlawful occupation.”
Four people were arrested at the University of Arizona’s encampment in Tucson, including one who was charged with “aggravated assault against a peace officer,” the university confirmed, after police dispersed a crowd of more than 100 using tear gas and rubber bullets, the Arizona Republic reported.
Thirty-five people were arrested at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in northern California, the university confirmed, after protesters occupied two campus buildings.
Police detained 36 people at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill encampment, student newspaper The Daily Tar Heel reported, but only six were charged and jailed for trespassing.
One-hundred nine people were arrested on Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday night, including an estimated “40 to 50” who had previously occupied Hamilton Hall, who the NYPD said could face felony charges for burglary.
Another 173 people were arrested at City University of New York’s campus in Harlem the same night.
Five protesters were arrested at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida and received one-year bans from the campus, local station WTXL reported, and two graduating seniors will not walk at their commencement ceremony due to their alleged actions in the demonstration.
A total of 13 protesters were arrested after about 200 people occupied Clio Hall at Princeton University in New Jersey, The Daily Princetonian reported.
Seventy-nine people were arrested at University of Texas-Austin after police clashed with protesters Monday, the university said in a statement, noting that 45 of the people arrested had “no affiliation” with the college.
Seventy-two people were arrested at Arizona State University’s encampment in Tempe and will be charged with trespassing, but only 15 were students at the university, the college said in a statement.
One-hundred eighteen students were arrested at Emerson University after the Boston Police Department raided their encampment—although the university sent staff to bail students out of jail and said it would “not bring any campus disciplinary charges against the protestors and will encourage the district attorney not to pursue charges related to encampment violations.”
Twenty-eight people were arrested on Emory University’s campus, the school confirmed, including 20 students and faculty members—leading faculty members to call for a no-confidence vote in university president Gregory Fenves, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
Contra
Although many universities seem to be cracking down on the protests, some have successfully negotiated with protesters and ended the encampments. Northwestern University signed a deal with its student protesters Monday, agreeing to disclose the university’s direct investments and reestablish an “Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility,” which will include students. The university also agreed to establish a house for Middle Eastern/North African students and will pay for five Palestinian students to attend the university next fall, student newspaper The Daily Northwestern reported. In exchange, protesters agreed to dismantle all but one tent in the encampment—but the protest will remain permitted through June 1, the final day of classes. On Tuesday, Brown University’s encampment was also dismantled by protesters after the university agreed to meet with students on “divestment from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territory.”
Tangent
The New York Police Department said late Thursday one of its officers accidentally fired his gun inside Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall while removing protestors from inside the administrative building on Tuesday night. No one was injured in the incident, reported first by the City, and it is being reviewed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. The NYPD said it has submitted body camera footage of the incident to the DA’s office. While the footage has not been made public, the protest group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine on Tuesday shared a video on X showing an NYPD officer at Columbia University texting “thought we fucking shot someone.”
Big Number
2,200. That’s the number of people arrested at campus protests since April 18, according to the Associated Press. A total of 56 arrest incidents linked to the protests have been reported across 43 different U.S. colleges or universities in that period, the report added.
Key Background
The massive pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses began after students at Columbia University created their first Gaza Solidarity Encampment on April 17 on the college’s lawn. Authorities at Columbia responded by calling in the NYPD, which arrested over 100 people and forcibly dismantled the camp. However, students began setting up a new encampment the next day. Encampments began popping up on other college campuses across the country, which met resistance from administrators and police.
What To Watch For
Several encampments are still ongoing, with protesters standing off against police and school authorities. In New Brunswick, New Jersey, Rutgers University postponed finals Thursday morning as protests continued on the campus lawn. A large protest encampment continues at Harvard University, as well, as finals week drags on at the elite college. Another protest is ongoing at George Washington University. Although Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser previously declined to clear out the encampment, House Republicans, including Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., visited the protest Wednesday and vowed to use their “legislative jurisdiction” over the nation’s capital to clamp down on the protests.
Surprising Fact
Yemen’s Sanaa University criticized the police crackdown on students. The university is under the control of the Houthi militia, which was designated a terror group by the U.S. earlier this year. In a statement shared with Reuters, Sanaa University officials applauded the students for their “humanitarian” stance and even offered them admission. “We are serious about welcoming students that have been suspended from U.S. universities for supporting Palestinians...The board of the university condemns what academics and students of U.S. and European universities are being subjected to, suppression of freedom of expression,” a university official told Reuters.
Further Reading
