The Columbia High School Students’ No-confidence Vote on Monday: Implications for the Israel-Hamas War and Public Safety Training Center
An FAQ on Emory’s commencement webpage also outlines the school’s expression-related protocols for commencement, which it says are “similar to events that are held on campus.”
According to the website of the Gas South District, there are various requirements for security screening, event safety, and guest conduct.
The faculty blocked the path of the police trying to break up the protest and arrest participants, a factor that made their attempt to break up the protest unsuccessful.
Students are holding a vote on their own Monday, and the Emory arts and science faculty passed a vote of no confidence in Fenves.
The announcement came after more than a week of student protests against the Israel-Hamas war and the construction of a controversial public safety training center.
Columbia is the second school to cancel part of its graduation ceremony. The University of Southern California announced in late April that it would cancel its main graduation ceremony, several days and considerable backlash after it scrapped its valedictorian speech over security concerns.
Officials at the New York City institution said in their Monday announcement that based on feedback from students, they will prioritize Class Days and school-level ceremonies, “where students are honored individually alongside their peers,” rather than the universitywide ceremony that had been scheduled for May 15.
And they said they are continuing to solicit student feedback about the possibility of a “festive event on May 15 to take the place of a large, formal ceremony.”
Protests against Palestinians: Columbia, Indiana, and other universities in the wake of the Columbia-Baker Athletics Encampment
Protesters set up an encampment on Deering Meadow on Northwestern’s Evanston, Ill., campus on April 25, to show support for Palestinians and urge the university to disclose — and cut — its financial ties to Israeli companies they say are complicit in the war in Gaza.
The Baker Athletics Complex is Columbia’s main outdoor sports venue. The events will run from May 10-16, with tickets required. Columbia College will hold its ceremony on the morning of May 14, followed by the affiliated Barnard College the next day.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik had previously requested a New York Police Department presence on campus through at least May 17, “to maintain order and ensure encampments are not reestablished.”
Dozens of students were arrested earlier this year in pro-Palestinian, pro-divestment actions, including an eight-day hunger strike, but no protesters were arrested as a result of that demonstration.
On April 29, after negotiations stalled, Columbia began suspending students who did not heed its warning to leave the encampment by 2 p.m. The next day, dozens of students began occupying Hamilton Hall — in an echo of the school’s 1968 protests — and barricading themselves inside.
Columbia’s board of trustees maintains the backing of her, even after she was slammed for her handling of the protest.
Other schools are forging ahead with graduation as planned, but expecting — and for some, already experiencing — protests during the day. The University of Michigan held a graduation ceremony that was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, while Indiana University’s graduation ceremony was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
The change applies to the universitywide ceremony on May 13, as well as the diploma ceremonies for each of its nine schools. Graduation events will begin on May 10, according to a revised calendar.
High-School Commencement in the Gas South District: Students and University Officials vowed not to Disassociate with Israel
The Gas South District is located in the vicinity of an arena and a convention center. It is about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta and 30 miles northwest of Oxford, according to the university.
He said that the decision was not taken lightly. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors, and other agencies — each of which advised against holding Commencement events on our campuses.”
He also congratulated the “like no other” Class of 2024, noting the pandemic interrupted may of their high school graduations and forced them to begin college online.
As the latest wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at U.S. colleges stretches into a third week, some campuses are seeing rising tensions while others have gone relatively quiet.
The administration at several schools have reached agreements with student protesters and agreed to take certain steps in exchange for the dismantling of their camps as graduation approaches.
Protesters’ demands vary by school, though they generally call for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, disclosures of institutional investments and divestment from companies with ties to Israel or that otherwise profit from its military operation in Gaza.
The first deals were announced last week by the University of Minnesota, the University of California, and Rutgers.
Columbia University and UCLA called in the police to take down the student campsites. But others were able to clear their lawns without police intervention through negotiations with student organizers.
Announcing the deal later that day, university officials credited “constructive dialogue between the protesting students and our leadership teams,” saying it opened the door for ongoing dialogue to address the needs of its sizable Arab, Muslim and Palestinian student body.
The demands were made by a coalition of student groups. The school decided not to disassociate from companies doing business in Israel, but did not end its partnership with Tel Aviv University.
Not all activists are satisfied with the terms of their deals, but many are celebrating the agreements as incremental steps in a long-running fight for divestment that, at many schools, far predates Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing response.
“When it comes to the actual momentum that this agreement gives us, I cannot emphasize enough how huge it is,” said Lucas, a Northwestern student who asked to only use his first name because of concerns about online harassment.
That’s the case at Wesleyan University, where President Michael Roth — who previously said the school’s encampment could continue as long as it remained peaceful — warned Thursday that vandalism and reports of harassment could result in legal and disciplinary consequences.
“We do not want to move in this direction unless necessary and much prefer to talk with protesters about things we can do as an institution to address the war in Gaza,” Roth wrote. Some recent agreements could show the way.
The agreement permits peaceful demonstrations on Deering Meadow through June 1, limited to Northwestern community members and no sound amplification devices or tents except for one aid tent. The university also pledged to reestablish its Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility this fall, with representation from students, faculty and staff.
It will also fund the cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates (and fundraise for more), provide “immediate temporary space for MENA/Muslim students” and engage students in a process to ensure additional support for Jewish and Muslim community members.
Some Jewish groups have taken issue with the terms of the agreement, which they say leaves Jewish students feeling unsafe. Northwestern is now facing two lawsuits, one from students and one from an outside anti-affirmative affirmative action group.
Seven members of the President’s Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate stepped down after the agreement was announced, citing Schill’s decision not to consult it during negotiations.
A coalition of outside groups issued a statement calling for Schill’s resignation in response to the “reprehensible and dangerous agreement.” Separately, the American Jewish Committee accused Northwestern of “succumbing to the demands of a mob which has intimidated Jewish students, espoused antisemitic, hate-filled speech, and whose members have celebrated Hamas terrorists.”
Schill, who is Jewish, defended the agreement in an April 30 video in which he acknowledged and condemned incidents of antisemitism at the encampment, including a poster showing him with devil horns, an antisemitic trope. And he told Here & Now that the ban on tents and megaphones aims to make Jewish students feel more safe on campus.
“I do take issue with calling our students a mob,” he added. The best way to engage and achieve our education mission is for us to dialogue with them, because they’re kids and sometimes nave.
A number of groups involved in the protest have released statements of support for the agreement, and vow to keep fighting.
They’ve followed up on one promise of the agreement, which has been to email Northwestern more information about the investments they’ve made in companies with ties to Israel.
On April 30, the president of Brown University, Christina Paxson, made a public announcement of an agreement between the administration and student protesters.
The agreement says that students taking part in the encampments must go through the conduct proceedings of the university, but doesn’t guarantee that they won’t be suspended or expelled.
There are two demands for the university that the students with the Brown Divest Coalition have. She was one of the six students involved in negotiations with two administrators.
The university corporation was to vote on the 2020 advisory committee report recommendation for the Divestment from Israeli Occupation. The second was to drop charges against the 41 students arrested at a December sit-in.
The students were to leave their camp by 5 pm that day. The 2020 report will be the subject of discussion by a group of five of Brown University’s members during the May meeting of the investment committee.
It will not add divestment to its May agenda. But separately, Paxson will request an advisory committee provide her with advice on divestment by Sept. 30 and put it on the agenda for the corporation’s October meeting.
“I feel strongly that a vote in October, either for or against divestment, will bring clarity to an issue that is of long-standing interest to many members of our community,” Paxson said in the announcement.
“Some people are just relieved that there’s finally movement in this campaign,” she said. “Some people never liked the protests in the first place and are simply relieved the encampment is gone. Some people expressed disappointment that they didn’t get to see divestment.
The next step for student activists, she said, is mobilizing in the lead-up to the October corporation. She doesn’t know what it will look like, she won’t be on the school’s campus in the fall to help.
The school was forced to delay final exams more than two dozen times after a rally on the morning of April 29.
But within an hour of the deadline, the administration offered up a revised proposal — and student organizers accepted it. Their tents were cleared in time.
What we can learn from 4 schools that have reached agreements with Gaza protesters] [http://www.npr.org/articles/article/4254745] “Disruption of a Rutgers
“These decisions are outside of our administrative scope,” wrote Chancellor Bernard Conway in a letter. We have established university policies and the divestment request is under review.
Rutgers agreed to accept 10 displaced Palestinian students for scholarship, develop a plan for an Arab Cultural Center on campus, explore scholarly exchanges with the University of Ramallah, and even create a Department of Middle East Studies.
The agreement doesn’t have unequivocal support: The New Jersey regional director of the American Jewish Committee condemned it as “short-sighted” and a “capitulation.”
The Endowment Justice Collective said in a statement it was proud of what it had achieved without student arrests or suspensions and that it was determined to keep working towards its goals.
“Our decision to end our encampment without achieving these demands reflects our strategic logic regarding building power on campus by laying structural groundwork to not only grow our ranks but shift the political climate across Rutgers,” they wrote.
University officials announced that day that some campus buildings would remain closed amidst protests. A dozen buildings remained closed the following day as university officials offered to meet with leaders of the student groups involved in the protests.
On the last day before final exams began, organizers met with administrators, and said the conversations were productive. Before the night ended, they had reached an agreement.
The following day, Interim President Jeff Ettinger said that the campus buildings would reopen at lunchtime, student organizers would not disrupt finals and graduations, andrepresentatives would have an opportunity to speak to the Board of regents.
Among them: The administration said it would consider setting up program affiliations with Palestinian universities and make a good faith effort to provide information about the university’s holding in public companies by May 7, to be supplemented by May 17.
UMN Divest Coalition and the Planned Meeting for “Fractional Discussion of the Implications for New Physics and Nuclear Resonances”
He stated that they were scheduled for 30 minutes, but they ended up lasting more than 90 minutes and discussion of the proposed agreements began two more times.
We regret these meetings did not happen sooner and have committed to regular meetings moving forward to discuss this coalition’s concerns.
He said there’s more work to be done and he was happy with the initial progress. The UMN Divest Coalition made a similar vow on their IG page after the agreement was announced.