Northeastern University in Boston said it will "take action accordingly" against pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating on its Centennial Quad on Thursday.

"The quads on Northeastern's Boston campus are reserved by the division of Student Life for scheduled university events," a university spokesperson said in a statement. "Students currently demonstrating on Centennial Quad do not have authorization and are in violation of the Code of Student Conduct. Those who are not affiliated with Northeastern are trespassing. The university will take action accordingly."

The University of Southern California has canceled its main graduation ceremony, the school announced Thursday.

"With the new safety measures in place this year, the time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially," the school said in a statement. "As a result, we will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus all at the same time and during a short window from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m."

The individual school commencement ceremonies will continue as planned, it said.

The decision comes after USC had previously canceled this year's valedictorian speech while citing potential threats regarding the selection of the valedictorian, who expressed pro-Palestinian views on social media. It subsequently canceled all commencement speakers.

Law enforcement cleared a quad at Emory University where students had erected an encampment, the Atlanta university said.

A "couple of dozen people" were taken into custody, the university said. It did not have information on exactly how many people were taken into custody or what charges, if any, have been filed.

Emory previously said that dozens of protesters who were not part of the school community had trespassed onto the campus early Thursday morning and erected tents on the quad. Some members of the school community later joined, it said.

"Emory Police issued multiple warnings asking the crowd to disperse. When those requests were ignored, Atlanta Police and Georgia State Patrol assisted Emory Police with clearing the Quad," the university said.

Footage showed officers escorting detained protesters off campus, including in one case appearing to deploy a stun gun on an individual handcuffed on the ground.

The University of California, Los Angeles said it is "actively monitoring" a demonstration after students erected an encampment Thursday morning.

"Our top priority is always the safety and wellbeing of our entire Bruin community," Mary Osako, a UCLA spokesperson, said in a statement. "We're actively monitoring this situation to support a peaceful campus environment that respects our community's right to free expression while minimizing disruption to our teaching and learning mission."

Access to the campus' Royce Hall and Powell Library has been restricted to students who present ID, the university said.

Students for Justice in Palestine, University of California Los Angeles, one of the organizers of the encampment, called on the university to divest of funds from Israeli military operations and said in a social media post that they are "staying until our demands are met."

Andrew T. Guzman, the provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Southern California, sent a letter to the school's students, faculty and other members with an update on the situation taking place on campus.

Guzman reiterated the university "values freedom of expression and protects the right of every member of our community to express themselves," but added, "We have well-established policies regarding limits on the time, place, and manner of free expression."

Guzman said the call to shut down the campus stemmed from a confrontation between protesters outside the Doheny Library and security. Security members asked the protesters, many of whom Guzman said weren't affiliated with USC, to leave and remove tents they set up, but the protesters refused, according to the school.

"Their actions have escalated to the point of confrontation and have threatened the safety of our officers and campus community," Guzman said.

Until further notice, only people with "USC identification or verifiable business purpose will be able to access campus, attend classes, and participate in activities" will be allowed on campus, according to Guzman.

"In these challenging times, we call on the Trojan Family to remember that every member of our community is deserving of respect, has the right to be safe on campus, take classes, and participate in other campus activities without fear of harassment or bullying. It should be everyone’s priority to treat each other with kindness and care," he said.

-ABC News' Jenna Harrison