Reuters
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Columbia University on Monday canceled its main, university-wide commencement ceremony scheduled for May 15 in favor of smaller, school-based events, a decision that follows weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that roiled the Ivy League School. "We have decided to make the centerpiece of our commencement activities our Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15," Columbia said in a statement, calling the past few weeks "incredibly difficult for our community." The protests at Columbia, which drew national attention, have inspired similar demonstrations at dozens of universities around the U.S. Students have called for a ceasefire in Gaza and have demanded their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel.