Columbia will not hold campuswide commencement
Columbia University announced Monday it will not hold a campuswide commencement ceremony on May 15 as originally scheduled.
Columbia will focus on the smaller, school-based ceremonies instead based on "input and feedback from student leaders," the school said.
"Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families," the school said in a statement. "They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers."
![PHOTO: Police stand guard at Columbia University, where a building occupation and protest encampment had been set up in support of Palestinians, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in New York City, April 30, 2024.](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/54939477-cf48-43c3-8b81-d097cb9c857d/columbia-protest-mo_1715001224255_hpMain.jpg)
The smaller school ceremonies will begin on Friday. Columbia said it may hold "a festive event" on May 15 instead. Security concerns were among the reasons the larger ceremony was canceled.
One of the reasons Columbia said it had called in the New York Police Department last Tuesday was in order to make room for the schoolwide ceremony in the same location as the encampment.