College protests keep spreading after Columbia crackdown

Student Gaza solidarity protests are engulfing some of the nation’s top colleges as university presidents, U.S. lawmakers and even President Joe Biden struggle to quell the growing unrest amid fierce partisan blowback.

The protests, which began against the backdrop of Columbia University’s prominent campus lawn last week but in the past two days began to extend into New York City and spread to colleges across the country, are upending the final weeks of the spring semester as leaders scramble to respond.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams was scheduled to meet with college administrators Tuesday to share best practices, including using security personnel to ensure individuals who don’t attend their schools do not enter campus, as Columbia and New York University students planned demonstrations outside their campus borders.

“We should address this when it is just a spark,” Adams told reporters during an unrelated press conference Tuesday. “Let’s not wait until it’s a blazing fire.”

The NYPD, he said, will only intervene if there’s an imminent threat, including destruction of property and placing an individual’s life “in imminent danger.”

Colleges in about a dozen states have now seen some kind of pro-Palestinian protest. Student groups say they are showing their support for Palestinians in Gaza, but they are also seeking to pressure their institutions to “divest all economic and academic stakes in Israel.” Within the past week, local police have arrested more than 100 students and faculty for demonstrations at Columbia University, 120 protesters at New York University and dozens of students at Yale University in Connecticut.

At Columbia, the chaos peaked Monday when a flurry of lawmakers and droves of NYPD officers descended around the campus. As all classes at the school’s main campus went hybrid, protesters remained in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which had swelled to include over 100 tents.

On Tuesday afternoon, about 200 protesters picketed outside campus across the street from the school’s fraternity and sorority houses while about 50 police officers in riot gear lined up facing them. Protesters inside the campus led chants, and the picketers outside responded.

At one point, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani drove past. “Stop being so stupid,” Giuliani told reporters when asked what he hoped to tell the protesters. “They’re being completely used by a terrorist, murderous group of people.” When the protesters realized who was in the car, they started chanting, “Giuliani you will see, Palestine will be free.”

Earlier Tuesday ahead of the planned protest, Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang told reporters that college administrators are in “constant contact with the NYPD.” The campus has seen “acts of vandalism on our campus since the protest began, reports of harassment and discrimination,” he said during a Zoom media briefing.

After NYPD officers cleared out the pro-Palestinian encampment at NYU overnight Monday, hundreds of students continued the protest nearby in Washington Square Park on Tuesday afternoon.

A sea of students and faculty could be seen holding pro-Palestinian flags and posters with slogans like “Free Palestine” and “Zionist donors and trustees, hands off our universities.”

“The students united will never be defeated!” students chanted repeatedly.

College leaders say they’re worried about campus security and are disavowing harassing behavior and antisemitic language that have been used at some of the protests.

“We witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that interfered with the safety and security of our community, and that illustrated how quickly a demonstration can get out of control, raising the possibility of people getting hurt,” NYU President Linda Mills said in a statement, acknowledging the arrests made on her campus Monday.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik has faced calls for her resignation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. After she faced the House education panel and sat for more than three hours worth of questioning on rising antisemitism at the school last week, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) issued a statement Sunday that Shafik “must immediately resign.”

Jewish students and faculty held a protest outside Shafik’s house Tuesday afternoon, accusing Columbia of ignoring their involvement in the encampment and Islamophobic incidents on campus.

Marianne Hirsch, a Jewish professor at Columbia and a member of the American Association of University Professors — also the daughter of Holocaust survivors — accused the university of squashing peaceful protest. “This is not what the university is about,” Hirsch said, adding that the protest is against the state of Israel as opposed to any identity.

All New York House Republicans have called for Shafik’s resignation along with several Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.).

Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Dan Goldman of New York and Kathy Manning of North Carolina visited Columbia’s campus on Monday and urged Shafik to protect its students. Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Josh Hawley of Missouri on Monday called on Biden to send the National Guard to Columbia due to the unrest on campus and to “break up” the “mobs.”

Meanwhile, the White House announced Tuesday that Biden would deliver commencement speeches at Morehouse College in Georgia and at the United States Military Academy at West Point next month — a prime platform to address young voters that comes as the president has attempted to manage a precarious balance between supporting Israel, the U.S.’ main ally in the Middle East, and pushing for humanitarian protections for Palestinians facing a deadly siege in Gaza.

Biden on Monday condemned the actions of demonstrators who he deemed as “antisemitic” while also condemning “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”

When asked by a reporter if the Columbia president should resign, Biden said he wasn’t sure. “I will have to find out more about that,” he said.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday also weighed in, saying he is “deeply concerned by what is happening at Columbia University.”

“Antisemitic hate on college campuses is unacceptable,” Cardona wrote on X.

Former President Donald Trump condemned the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia’s campus on Tuesday, saying it’s a “disgrace to our country.”

“What’s going on at the college level and the colleges – Columbia, NYU and others – is a disgrace,” Trump said Tuesday while arriving at the courthouse for his hush money trial. “And it’s really on Biden. He has the wrong signal. He’s got the wrong tone. He’s got the wrong words. He doesn’t know who he’s backing and it’s a mess.”

Jeff Coltin contributed to this report. 

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misstated who is facing calls to resign from U.S. lawmakers. Columbia University President Minouche Shafik is facing calls for her resignation.