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
Dozens of protesters detained at UCLA
Several dozen protesters were detained on UCLA’s campus Monday morning, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
University officials said all classes would be held remotely Monday “due to ongoing disruptions,” and police would be stationed around campus.
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
Emory to move commencement ceremony off campus
Emory University in Atlanta announced Monday they will be moving commencement activities off campus, citing "concerns about safety and security."
"Please know that this 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," Emory President Gregory Fenves wrote in a message to the university.
The commencement ceremonies will now be held in Duluth, about a half hour from campus, the university said.
On April 25, there were 28 people arrested, including 20 affiliated with Emory University, during a protest on campus, according to the school.
-ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway
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."
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.
University of Texas at Austin says it took action to 'preserve a safe, conducive learning environment' for students
After police and protesters clashed on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin following a dispersal order, leading to some arrests on Monday, the school issued a statement, saying it "took swift action to preserve a safe, conducive learning environment for our 53,000 students as they prepare for final exams."
"UT Austin requested backup assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety to protect the safety of the campus community and enforce our Institutional Rules, such as the rule that prohibits encampments on campus. Because of the encampments and other violations of the University’s Institutional Rules related to protests, protestors were told repeatedly to disperse. When they refused to disperse, some arrests were made for trespassing. Others were arrested for disorderly conduct," the university's statement read.
UTA said protests since the start of the Israel-Hamas war have happened "largely without incident."
"The University strongly supports the free speech and assembly rights of our community and we want students and others on campus to know that protests on campus are fully permissible, provided that they do not violate Institutional Rules or threaten the safety of our campus community," the statement concluded.
-ABC News' Marilyn Heck