College protests updates: Police begin dismantling University of Chicago encampment
Police entered the campus encampment early Tuesday, WLS reported.
Protests have broken out at colleges and universities across the country in connection with the war in Gaza.
Many pro-Palestinian protesters are calling for their colleges to divest of funds from Israeli military operations, while some Jewish students on the campuses have called the protests antisemitic and said they are scared for their safety.
The student protests -- some of which have turned into around-the-clock encampments -- have erupted throughout the nation following arrests and student removals at Columbia University in New York City. Students at schools including Yale University, New York University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California and more have launched protests.
Latest headlines:
- Over 300 Harvard professors sign letter urging Harvard to negotiate with protesters
- Police begin dismantling encampment at University of Chicago
- MIT students ordered to leave campus encampment
- More than 60 arrests made at UC San Diego
- Harvard president threatens 'involuntary leave' for students who continue encampment
Northwestern reaches deal with students, faculty to end encampment, reveal investments
Northwestern University announced it has reached a deal with pro-Palestinian protesters, ending an encampment of students and faculty, but allowing peaceful demonstrations to continue through June 1.
The university said it would "answer questions from any internal stakeholder about holdings, held currently or within the last quarter, to the best of its knowledge and to the extent legally possible" -- meeting a key call from divestment protesters and students around the country who are seeking more transparency over universities' investments.
Northwestern will also reestablish an Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility in the fall, which will include representatives from students, faculty and staff.
The university also pledged more inclusivity, funding two Palestinian faculty members and the full cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduate students annually, as well as a commitment to raising funds to sustain the program beyond this commitment.
Under the agreement, Northwestern says tents will be removed immediately but one aid tent will be allowed to remain. Protesters will need to suspend the use of "non-approved" amplified sound." Protesters who refuse to follow the agreement will be suspended and non-affiliated individuals must leave campus.
UConn removes encampment, makes arrests after protesters refuse to leave
The University of Connecticut cleared an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters early Tuesday after they refused orders to disperse. UConn has not yet revealed the number of arrests and charges.
UConn said that protests were permitted but setting up tents violated university guidelines.
"The group was warned multiple times over a period of days that while they were free to be in the space and exercise their free speech rights, the guidelines needed to be followed and the tents needed to be taken down. This was ignored," UConn said in a statement.
"UConn Police directed them four times on Tuesday morning to remove the tents and disperse, and they again repeatedly ignored the directives. Officers then entered the site to remove the tents and tarps, and to arrest those who refused compliance," UConn said in a statement.
-ABC News' Mark Osborne
Reporter detained while covering protest on Cal Poly campus
Adelmi Ruiz, a reporter for Redding, California, ABC affiliate KRCR, was detained at Cal Poly Humboldt while filming police approaching an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters.
A livestream showed Ruiz filming police in riot gear approaching protesters, who could be heard chanting, when an officer asks her to come over and tells her they need her out of the way.
An officer then tells Ruiz to put her phone away and put her hands behind her back because he is going to put her in flex cuffs -- plastic handcuffs used by police for protesters. Ruiz identifies herself as a reporter multiple times but is still arrested.
"You had an opportunity to leave. You were told multiple times to leave otherwise you were gonna be arrested," the officer says, according to a livestream which continued after Ruiz placed her phone in her pocket.
She responded that she was on assignment covering the protest.
"Find a different job if this causes you to break the law," the officer says.
As she is escorted away, Ruiz can be heard asking for help.
The Humboldt County sheriff has confirmed Ruiz will not face any charges.
17 protesters arrested at University of Utah, encampment cleared
The University of Utah has removed an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters and arrested 17 people after the university said protesters do not have a right to set up encampments on campus property and threatened to disperse them.
About a dozen tents, stashes of water, food and toilet paper were removed from the encampment.
The university had issued warnings to students, staff and faculty members telling them to remove their encampments, or face consequences, including arrests.
The university had threatened criminal trespass and disorderly conduct charges, termination for faculty and staff and discipline for students ranging from probation to suspension against those who refused to leave the encampment.
Harvard president threatens 'involuntary leave' for students who continue encampment
Harvard University students who continue to take part in the pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the school will be “referred for involuntary leave,” the university’s interim president, Alan M. Garber, said Monday.
In a letter to the student body, Garber called on protesters “to end the occupation of Harvard Yard,” arguing that the encampment “favors the voices of a few over the rights of many who have experienced disruption in how they learn and work at a critical time of the semester.”
Students placed on involuntary leave “may not be able to sit for exams, may not continue to reside in Harvard housing, and must cease to be present on campus until reinstated,” he wrote.
“As an academic institution, we do not shy away from hard and important questions,” Garber wrote. “There are many ways for our community to engage constructively in reasoned discussion of complex issues, but initiating these difficult and crucial conversations does not require, or justify, interfering with the educational environment and Harvard’s academic mission.”
-ABC News' Julia Reinstein