City College of New York shifting to online classes as pro-Gaza protests continue
City College is shifting to online classes “until further notice,” administrators announced Tuesday as the campus continued to be roiled by a CUNY-wide pro-Gaza encampment.
Student protesters showed up at Monday’s City University of New York board of trustees financial committee meeting to read their demands and were removed by campus security, a clip on social media shows.
CUNY students had demanded Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez meet with them personally about their demands to divest from Israel and for amnesty for those facing student discipline from pro-Palestinian protests.
“We’re done negotiating. If we don’t see Chancellor Rodriguez here by Monday, we are absolutely done with the civil conversations at the table,” one of the protesters previously said.
In a memo sent out to protestors obtained by the Daily News, the college warned students the encampment “has to be dismantled by the beginning of classes on Wednesday.”
The notification offered a to-be-determined alternate location for campus protests that follow university policies, advising that “if that occurs, CUNY and City College will not pursue disciplinary or legal action.”
The memo claims that protestors on the campus have “tried to falsely present themselves as City College students” and that a flare gun was shot off twice from the encampment Sunday, with one of the flares landing and sparking a fire on a science building.
Encampments popped up at the Harlem campus last week as protests erupted across colleges and universities around the nation.
The student protesters at the campus have demanded divestment from Israel, a ban on partnerships and trips to the Middle Eastern country, reversal of disciplinary actions tied to pro-Palestinian activism and the removal of police from campus.
The call to move classes online comes just over a week after a similar decision at Columbia University, which has had protesters occupying its campus since early April.
Students at Columbia have voiced concern about safety and antisemitic rhetoric on the campus, but police have said there are no credible threats from the protests.
