Dozens arrested at NYU protest as intensifying tensions force Columbia to go remote

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested after defying a deadline by New York University to leave the area Monday evening, hours after the president of Columbia University moved all classes remote for Monday, citing ongoing protests at the Ivy League school.

Students had gathered on university property in front of the Stern School of Business, setting up dozens of tents and speaking out. NYU said in a statement about 50 protesters launched a demonstration on the plaza in front of the business school without notice. There were also some picketers on the public sidewalk. Plaza access was closed and classes continued.

"We are young. We are in college. We have the ability and we are being educated on all of these things," one of the protesters said. "We take social science classes, we take classes that are supposed to illicit the humanity in us. This is the time we have to act. Saying that something is wrong or objecting to it in hindsight isn’t enough."

The student who did not want to be identified spoke about the importance of students publicly standing together for Palestinians. 

"It goes beyond Columbia it goes beyond NYU, it’s for the people in Gaza," the person continued. "It’s for the people in Palestine. It’s for their struggle. It’s for their liberation.”

Police repeatedly warned the group to leave campus at the request of NYU. Hundreds of officers donning helmets held the line before moving in, more than four hours after a 4 p.m. deadline was announced by the school for people to leave and not face consequences.

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The school ordered the protesters to disperse after "a breach in the barriers set up at Gould Plaza" which allowed addition protesters to join in the demonstration, breaking what the school called a safety requirement. The school said it believed many of the protesters who joined were not affiliated with NYU.

"With the breach of the barricades this afternoon, that requirement was violated, and we witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community...At one point, we explained to the protesters that they needed to disband in an hour, and there would be no adverse consequences." NYU said in a statement. “Nevertheless, many refused to leave. We also learned that there were intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents reported. Given the foregoing and the safety issues raised by the breach, we asked for assistance from the NYPD. The police urged those on the plaza to leave peacefully, but ultimately made a number of arrests."

Cops pushed their way through the crowd, using zip ties to make arrests. In their statement, NYU said "today's events did not need to lead to this outcome."

After the NYPD moved in, a massive line of those in custody was left waiting to load onto buses near the Greenwich Village school.

Across from the unsanctioned NYU encampment, a smaller crowd of pro-Israel supporters pushed back. Overall, voices from both sides have remained peaceful.

Meanwhile, up in Morningside Heights, protests spilled into a sixth day Monday at Columbia. The demonstrations have been marred by blanket antisemitism, threats and outsiders descending on the embattled campus to promote their own agendas, President Minouche Shafik wrote in a letter to the collegiate community. Demonstrators initially set up an encampment on the South Lawn ahead of Shafik's testimony before Congress about campus antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The students had been opposing Israeli military action in Gaza and demanding the school divest from companies they claim "profit from Israeli apartheid." They also were asking for amnesty for all students and faculty previously suspended during the protests.

By Thursday, Shafik reported to police that their presence was problematic and asked for NYPD help clearing the crowd. More than 100 protesters were arrested that afternoon.

On Monday, demonstrators again gathered outside the entrance, while tents were reestablished in the "Gaza Solidarity" encampment on the South Lawn. There was a large faculty walkout to rally in support of students in the camp.

In her letter to the campus community Monday, Shafik said she was "deeply saddened" by the goings-on on campus, noting increasing reports of student fear in calling for a "reset."

"Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm. Students across an array of communities have conveyed fears for their safety and we have announced additional actions we are taking to address security concerns," Shafik wrote. "The decibel of our disagreements has only increased in recent days. These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas. We need a reset."

Acknowledging the heartache over the devastation in the Middle East, Shafik said "we should be having serious conversations" and will have those conversations about how Columbia can contribute. But, she noted, "we cannot have one group dictate terms and attempt to disrupt important milestones like graduation to advance their point of view."

Shafik urged for a sitdown -- and compromise.

In the meantime, Shafik wrote, "to deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday. Faculty and staff who can work remotely should do so; essential personnel should report to work according to university policy. Our preference is that students who do not live on campus will not come to campus."

Those next steps are expected to include convening a working group of deans, university administrators and faculty members to try to bring the protest crisis to a solution. Shafik called for continued peaceful discussion and engagement. She also said that while she understands the hesitancy to use NYPD to manage campus protests, she also said she knows that listening to the rules will go a long way in getting voices heard.

"We should be able to do this ourselves," Shafik acknowledged. It's not clear how long classes might stay remote.

The move caused frustration for many students.

"I have a right to my education, it's not okay," a student in her junior year said Monday. "If [Shafik] is saying all classes need to virtual, she is acknowledging and recognizing that their is a safety risk not just for Jewish students, not just for Palestinian students."

The NYPD held a press briefing at Columbia just before lunchtime to address the concerns, including why the department hasn't done more to address what Jewish students are calling an environment of intimidation at school.

The NYPD brass explained that unless a crime is being committed, its officers can't lawfully enter private property, which Columbia is, without being requested by a specific person on a 911 call or if the university itself decides there is a need for them to keep people safe, which Shafik did by letter last week. If a student who is being harassed called for police, though, the NYPD says its officers could "absolutely respond."

As far as the department knows, they have received no reports of physical violence against anyone on campus. NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard said there we "no credible threats to any particular group or individual."

That said, Shafik admitted "there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus" in recent days.

"Antisemitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken," she continued. "We urge those affected to report these incidents through university channels. We also want to remind everyone of the support available for anyone adversely affected by current events."

No significant injuries have been reported amid the demonstrations, though the tensions are heightening.

Mayor Eric Adams said Sunday evening that he was "horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University campus."

In a post on X, the Democrat said he had instructed the NYPD to look into any illegal activity and arrest anyone found to be breaking the law. Adams also insisted "hate has no place in our city."

Multiple non-students involved at the Columbia encampment have been arrested for trespassing. Another man was being escorted outside of campus on Monday. Campus gates were locked to anyone without a school ID.

Following the Columbia arrests last week, pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up encampments on other campuses around the country, including at the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina.

Earlier in the day, police arrested several dozen protesters at Yale University on Monday morning after officials at the New Haven, Connecticut, school said they defied warnings over the weekend to leave.

Antisemitism on college campuses

Protests have roiled many college campuses since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. In response, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women.

The demonstrations on U.S. campuses have tested the line between free speech and inclusivity. They've also stoked friction, with some Muslim students and their allies calling for schools to condemn the Israeli assault on Gaza and some Jewish students saying they no longer feel supported or safe on campus, with antisemitic sentiment running high.

Prahlad Iyengar, an MIT graduate student studying electrical engineering, was among about two dozen students who set up an encampment of more than a dozen tents on campus Sunday evening to call for a ceasefire and to protest what they describe as MIT’s “complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

“MIT has not even called for a ceasefire, and that’s a demand we have for sure,” he said.

Iyengar also said the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school has been sending out confusing rules about protests.

“We’re out here to demonstrate that we reserve the right to protest. It’s an essential part of living on a college campus,” he said, adding that they have received support from both graduate and undergraduate students.

On Sunday, Elie Buechler, a rabbi for the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Learning Initiative at Columbia, sent a WhatsApp message to nearly 300 Jewish students recommending they go home until it’s more safe for them on campus.

Nicholas Baum, a 19-year-old Jewish freshman who lives in a Jewish theological seminary building two blocks from Columbia's Morningside Heights campus, said protesters over the weekend were "calling for Hamas to blow away Tel Aviv and Israel.” He said some of the protesters shouting antisemitic slurs were not students.

“Jews are scared at Columbia. It’s as simple as that. There’s been so much vilification of Zionism, and it has spilled over into the vilification of Judaism,” he said.

Several students at Columbia and Barnard College said they were suspended for taking part in last week's protests, including Barnard student Isra Hirsi, the daughter of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar.