Police cleared out an encampment at Virginia Tech late Sunday after protesters had set up tents on the lawn of the campus' Graduate Life Center.

"Those who gathered were advised by university officials to remove their possessions and to disperse voluntarily; those who failed to comply were then approached by Virginia Tech Police and were again asked to leave and advised that anyone who failed to comply would be charged with trespassing, in accordance with Virginia law," the school said in a statement.

The university added, "At approximately 10:15 p.m., police approached protesters to ask them to disperse within five minutes. Those who remained were subject to arrest."

Dozens of protesters were taken into custody, according to Lynchburg, Virginia, ABC affiliate WSET.

UCLA announced it is instituting additional security measures amid protests on campus over the Israel-Hamas war in a statement on Sunday.

"UCLA has a long history of peaceful protest and we are heartbroken to report that today, some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators on Royce Quad," Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications said.

"We have since instituted additional security measures and increased the numbers of our safety team members on site," Osako said.

"As an institution of higher education, we stand firmly for the idea that even when we disagree, we must still engage respectfully and recognize one another’s humanity," Osako continued.

Addressing the physical altercations during the protests, Osako said, "We are dismayed that certain individuals instead chose to jeopardize the physical safety of the community."

Last week, the University of California rejected calls to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

The White House said Sunday that President Joe Biden respects the right of demonstrators to make their voices heard -- peacefully -- and "we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process."

"The president knows that there are very strong feelings about the war in Gaza. He understands that, he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protest. People should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC News "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

Kirby did warn that some language heard during the demonstrations crossed a line with the administration.

"We absolutely condemn the antisemitism language that we've heard of late, and we certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there. These protests, we understand they're important, but they do need to be peaceful," he said.

"We'll leave it to local authorities to determine how these protests are managed," Kirby told Stephanopoulos, "but we want them to be peaceful protests and obviously we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process of peacefully protesting."

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod

The University of Southern California closed its main campus Saturday evening "due to a disturbance," the university said on X.

Los Angeles Police Department issued a citywide tactical alert due to a protest on USC's campus, urging people to avoid the area.

A tactical alert allows LAPD to keep officers on past their shifts and to move officers between divisions if they need extra staffing in one area of the city.

NYPD officers entered the campus of the City College of New York late Tuesday night.

"As requested by the university, we are currently on campus to assist the university in dispersing those trespassing," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations, Kaz Daughtry, said in a post on X, sharing video of the police moving in.

In a note to the campus community, university president Vince Boudreau, said protests on campus presented "heightened challenges."

"Most importantly, this is not primarily a CCNY demonstration, and perhaps not primarily a CUNY demonstration. The significant inclusion of un-affiliated external individuals means that we don’t have established connections to them," Boudreau's letter read.

He continued: "Specifically, this demonstration has been more contentious and violent than anything we’ve seen on campus before. Today, we distributed a letter to members of the encampment detailing specific examples of threats to the safety of people within and outside the encampment, so that all of them understand the full scope of the activity. We also want all of them, and those of you reading this note, to understand that in no way does our response to this particular and extraordinary threat overwrite our more fundamental commitments to free speech, academic freedom, or the right to peacefully protest that comply with CCNY and CUNY regulations."

Boudreau said the encamped demonstrators were told to take down their encampment and follow CUNY guidelines for "future activities."

The university president also said classes would be remote on Wednesday due to the situation on campus.

-ABC News' Jolie Lash and Victoria Arancio