Protests embroil Columbia, other campuses as tensions flare over war in Gaza: Live updates

NEW YORK – As tensions over the Israel-Hamas war continue to boil on campuses across the country, Columbia on Monday moved classes online while dozens of students were arrested in protests at Yale and Harvard officials closed Harvard Yard to the public.

Demonstrations at both Yale and Harvard were planned, in part, out of solidarity with protesters at Columbia who set up an encampment last week that led to the arrests of more than 100 students. The protests have raised concerns for the safety of Jewish students and fueled a national debate over student demonstrations as campuses grapple with growing unrest over the war in Gaza.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik said in a statement Monday that while online classes are being held, a working group of deans, university administrators and faculty members "will try to bring this crisis to a resolution" by, among other actions, speaking with student protesters.

Columbia is the latest U.S. school to be rocked by the Israel-Hamas war, which began with Hamas' brutal border attacks on Israeli communities Oct. 7. Israel's subsequent bombardment of Gaza has led to a dire humanitarian crisis there and fueled protests nationwide demanding a cease-fire.

Columbia students hold walkout

Just after a student walkout at Columbia at noon on Monday, a group of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters remained outside the university gates, banging drums and carrying signs and flags.

About a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters shouted: “Resistance is justified when people face genocide. Resistance is justified when people are colonized.”

After a few minutes, officers with the New York Police Department told the group not to bang the drum.

The NYPD told USA TODAY that as of 12:25 p.m., they had no record of arrests or people being taken into custody outside the school. The department said the last arrest that occurred was on Saturday.

Jewish Columbia faculty member says he was denied entry

Shai Davidai, an assistant professor of business at Columbia, spoke out against the school from its front gates after he said he was denied entry onto campus Monday morning.

“They have deactivated my card, they are not letting me, a Jewish professor at Columbia, they are not letting me on campus,” he said.

Davidai told a crowd gathered outside that he was given no prior notice that his card was deactivated and that the later university told him he would be allowed on the business campus to teach tomorrow.

On the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Davidai wrote: “Earlier today, @Columbia University refused to let me onto campus. Why? Because they cannot protect my safety as a Jewish professor. This is 1938.”

At a news conference, Michael Gerber, deputy commissioner of legal matters for the New York Police Department, said the city had nothing to do with the decision to deny Davidai entry onto campus. “They’re doing their own analysis, making their own decisions, making their own safety determinations,” he said. “That’s not us.”

The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Students are on 'the right side of history'

Outside of Columbia's gates near 115th street in New York, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on one side chanting with students inside the campus. Pro-Israeli protesters grouped up on the other.

One of the pro-Palestinian protesters is Tahia Islam, an organizer with Shut it Down For Palestine. The coalition has been working and communicating with the students in the encampment. The morale in the encampment is high, she said, and students have created a community of "safety and care."

"They are putting so much of their lives, their careers at risk because they know that the real struggle and the real school is in this moment, right now. It's not in what's getting (taught) in these ivory towers," she said. "They're part of a historical legacy of student movements ... they're absolutely on the right side of history and we'll be with them every step of the way."

Columbia student Hector Lionel took issue with the university's messaging that the students in the encampment were disrupting his studies. The closed gates with ID checkpoints are a bigger hassle than tents, he said. 

"It's just gotten too dystopian," Lionel said. "Now we need to defend the right to protest."

New York governor meets with Columbia University president

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, met with Columbia University President Minouche Shafik Monday morning to discuss the security situation on the school’s Manhattan campus. In a video posted on X, the governor underscored the need to ensure students and faculty have the right to peacefully protest while also upholding human rights laws. 

“The recent harassment and rhetoric is vile and abhorrent,” Hochul wrote in a social media post. “Every student deserves to be safe.”

The meeting came after New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, condemned the situation Sunday, and promised that any demonstrators around campus found to be in violation of laws would be arrested. 

“We will not be a city of lawlessness, and those professional agitators seeking to seize the ongoing conflict in the Middle East to sow chaos and division will not succeed,” he wrote on X, drawing praise from the Israeli consulate in New York.

– Zachary Schermele

President Biden responds to 'alarming surge of antisemitism'

Following days of escalating protests at several major universities across the country, President Joe Biden urged Americans to speak out against an “alarming surge of Antisemitism” in the U.S. 

"Silence is complicity," Biden said in a written statement Sunday night. "Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country. 

In the Sunday statement, Biden also wished the Jewish community a Happy Passover, which begins Monday evening. "This year, let us remember the central Passover theme that even in the darkest of times, the promise of God’s protection will give us strength to find hope, resilience, and redemption," Biden said. 

Biden also said his administration will continue work to implement its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism it announced last May. 

– Rachel Barber and Joey Garrison

Faculty, alumni gather outside Columbia campus

Alumni, faculty and parents gathered outside Columbia University on Monday, some out of concern for what they say is rising antisemitism on campus and others in support of the students protesting the war.

Amy Werman, a professor with Columbia’s School of Social Work, told USA TODAY, “We are here to show that we have a place on this campus and we belong here and we're not going to be intimidated."

Harriet Jackson, who works at the Columbia Teacher’s College, said she's worried about Jewish students, faculty and staff feeling protected, adding that she believes in protesting and would describe herself as "pro Palestinian and against any kind of oppression of any people."

Alumni support protesters with supplies

Among those trying to get inside of Columbia’s gates were alumni supporting the student encampment with supplies.

Olivia Baker, who graduated last year from Columbia, was trying to deliver food and electrolyte drinks to students. Baker, whose grandfather is a Holocaust survivor, was denied entry to campus despite having an ID.

Baker has been in contact with other alums who are supplying food to students as well.   “It's great to feel connected to this community,” Baker said. “Maybe not to the school and its policies and leadership, but to the alumni community and the kids who are showing out and changing things.”

House Republicans call for Columbia president’s resignation

Two conservative New York congresswomen called for Shafik’s resignation over the weekend, even as their colleagues in the House – as well as some local Republicans – stopped short of the same demand. 

Rep. Elise Stefanik, whose viral questioning of the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania ultimately helped spur their exits, said Sunday that Shafik has “clearly lost control,” putting the safety of Jewish students at risk. 

“It is crystal clear that Columbia University – previously a beacon of academic excellence founded by Alexander Hamilton – needs new leadership,” she wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The school was actually chartered by King George II. 

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican representing parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island, said Monday that the school’s abrupt pivot to virtual learning was proof that Shafik has been “unable to stop the antisemitic activity on her campus.” 

Congressional Democrats also condemned reports of antisemitic incidents and the souring campus climate, though many stopped short of calling for Shafik to step down. Several Jewish Democrats planned to visit the school Monday to speak with students.

– Zachary Schermele

Protesters arrested at Yale University

Dozens of students were arrested at Yale University on Monday as police cleared an encampment set up by students in protest of the war in Gaza.

A statement from the university said at least 47 students had been arrested as of 9:50 a.m. The latest police action against students protesting the war came as the Yale encampment, set up last week, grew to include several hundred people calling on the university to drop investments to military weapons manufacturers.

Negotiations between the protesters and university officials ended unsuccessfully late Sunday night, the university said. Early Monday morning, campus police asked the protesters to leave Beinecke Plaza, the university's main lawn, remove their belongings and show their IDs. When some refused, the arrests began.

"The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind and to allow access to university facilities by all members of our community," the statement said.

After the encampment was cleared, hundreds of protesters blocked nearby streets and were heard chanting “We will free Palestine within our lifetime,” according to the Yale Daily News.

Harvard University closes part of campus to the public

Harvard University has closed its main lawn to the public in anticipation of pro-Palestinian protests following the recent uproar at Columbia University.

A written announcement posted on the entrance gates said disciplinary actions would be taken against Harvard students who bring into the area unauthorized structures such as tents or tables, according to the Harvard Crimson. The closure was decided “out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our community as a priority," according to an email received by students.

On Friday, over 200 students and others took to Harvard Yard in solidarity with the protesters at Columbia University and demanded that the Ivy League school also divest from Israel-related investments, the student newspaper reported.

Why are students protesting at Columbia University?

Last week, more than 100 student protesters were arrested and suspended after Shafik called in the New York City Police Department to clear an encampment on the campus' South Lawn. The “Gaza Solidarity Encampment" was set up by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student organizations calling for the university "to divest all economic and academic stakes in Israel," according to its website.

Administrators closed campus to those without campus IDs, though protests continued both on the main lawn and outside the campus gates through the weekend. Several more people were arrested, multiple outlets reported. On Sunday, the school announced new safety measures including doubling the number of security personnel and improved identification checks at campus entry points. But tensions continued to boil.

Rabbi Elie Buechler, director of the Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus program at Columbia and the all-women’s Barnard, told students to "return home as soon as possible," saying the protests have endangered their safety, especially with Passover beginning on Monday.

In her decision to order all classes to be moved online, Shafik cited "intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus" and the use of antisemitic language. Videos of the protests have shown tense stand-offs between people holding Israeli flags and the pro-Palestinian protesters.

Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz