More than 100 arrested at NYU protest; Columbia president urged to resign over campus ‘anarchy’

A
plywood
wall
was
seen
being
erected
around
NYU’s
Gould
Plaza
early
Tuesday,
hours
after
more
than
100
pro-Palestinian
demonstrators,

in
solidarity
with
their
Columbia
colleagues,
were
arrested
for
defying
a
university
order
to
leave
the
area.

It
comes

amid
escalating
tensions
over
pro-Palestinian
protests
at
college
campuses
in
the
city
and
across
the
U.S.

Last
week,
students
set
up
an
encampment
on
Columbia’s
South
Lawn
in
Morningside
Heights,
a
demonstration
that
coincided
with
the
college
president’s
trip
to
Capitol
Hill
to
testify
on
campus
antisemitism
in
the
wake
of
the
Oct.
7
Hamas
attack
on
Israel.
The
group
opposes
Israel
military
action
in
Gaza
and
is
demanding
Columbia,
as
well
as
NYU
and
an
increasing
number
of
colleges
across
America,
divest
from
companies
they
claim
“profit
from
Israeli
apartheid.”

More
than
100
demonstrators
were
arrested
when
the
university
called
in
police
to
help
dispel
what
the
president
argued
had
become
an
unruly
and
disruptive
crowd.
Similar
encampments
have
since
sprouted
up
at
other
universities
in
Manhattan
and
nationwide
—
Yale
and
Harvard
universities
both
saw
classes
disrupted
by
protests
on
Monday.

Columbia,
still
mired
in
the
fallout
from
last
week,

moved
all
classes
remote
on
Monday
as
a
precaution.
It
intends
to
have
a
hybrid
option
available
through
the
duration
of
the
semester
to
help
ensure
students
feel
safe.

Mindful
of
the

backlash
Columbia
faced
for
calling
in
the
NYPD
to
dispel
a
Gaza
protest
last
week,
NYU
officials
ordered
students
and
protestors
to
leave
Gould
Plaza
by
4
p.m.
Monday.
It
issued
an
order
saying
no
additional
protesters
could
join
the
group
that
had
already
assembled.
More
protesters
came;
many
refused
to
leave.

Many
of
the
protesters
were
not
believed
to
be
affiliated
with
NYU,
which
was
also
the
case
for
Columbia
last
week.
At
the
former,
as
far
as
Monday’s
protests,
the
head
of
Global
Campus
Security
eventually
said
“enough.”

“With
the
breach
of
the
barricades
this
afternoon,
that
requirement
was
violated,
and
we
witnessed
disorderly,
disruptive,
and
antagonizing
behavior
that
has
interfered
with
the
safety
and
security
of
our
community
…
At
one
point,
we
explained
to
the
protesters
that
they
needed
to
disband
in
an
hour,
and
there
would
be
no
adverse
consequences.”
NYU
said.
“Nevertheless,
many
refused
to
leave.
We
also
learned
that
there
were
intimidating
chants
and
several
antisemitic
incidents
reported.
Given
the
foregoing
and
the
safety
issues
raised
by
the
breach,
we
asked
for
assistance
from
the
NYPD.
The
police
urged
those
on
the
plaza
to
leave
peacefully,
but
ultimately
made
a
number
of
arrests.”

It
wasn’t
immediately
clear
how
many
were
arrested
at
NYU
Monday,
nor
what
charges
they
had
faced.
In
the
Columbia
case,
the
NYPD
responded
to
university
complaints
about
trespassing
and
disorderly
conduct.

Students
say
their
mission
extends
beyond
the
concerns
of
any
particular
campus.

“We
are
young.
We
are
in
college.
We
have
the
ability
and
we
are
being
educated
on
all
of
these
things,”
one
of
the
protesters
said.
“We
take
social
science
classes,
we
take
classes
that
are
supposed
to
illicit
the
humanity
in
us.
This
is
the
time
we
have
to
act.
Saying
that
something
is
wrong
or
objecting
to
it
in
hindsight
isn’t
enough.”

“It
goes
beyond
Columbia
it
goes
beyond
NYU,
it’s
for
the
people
in
Gaza,”
the
person
continued.
“It’s
for
the
people
in
Palestine.
It’s
for
their
struggle.
It’s
for
their
liberation.”

Across
from
the
NYU
encampment,
a
smaller
crowd
of
pro-Israel
supporters
pushed
back.
Overall,
action
from
both
sides
has
remained
peaceful,
though
some
say
at
times,
the
rhetoric
has
become
incendiary.
Both
NYU
and
Columbia
officials
have
publicly
lamented
having
to
bring
in
police
to
quash
the
protests.

Columbia
University
goes
virtual
on
the
sixth
day
of
a
pro-Palestinian
encampment
and
protests
on
campus.

“It’s
a
really
outrageous
crackdown
by
the
university
to
allow
the
police
to
arrest
students
on
our
own
campus,”
said
New
York
University
law
student
Byul
Yoon.

“Antisemitism
is
never
OK.
That’s
absolutely
not
what
we
stand
for
and
that’s
why
there
are
so
many
Jewish
comrades
that
are
here
with
us
today,”
Yoon
said.

The
protests
have
pitted
students
against
one
another,
with
pro-Palestinian
students
demanding
that
their
schools
condemn
Israel’s
assault
on
Gaza
and
divest
from
companies
that
sell
weapons
to
Israel.
Some
Jewish
students,
meanwhile,
say
much
of
the
criticism
of
Israel
has
veered
into
antisemitism
and
made
them
feel
unsafe,
and
they
point
out
that
Hamas
is
still
holding
hostages
taken
during
the
group’s
Oct.
7
invasion.

Tensions
remained
high
Monday
at
Columbia,
where
the
campus
gates
were
locked
to
anyone
without
a
school
ID
and
where
protests
broke
out
both
on
campus
and
outside.

U.S.
Rep.
Kathy
Manning,
a
Democrat
from
North
Carolina
who
was
visiting
Columbia
with
three
other
Jewish
members
of
Congress,
told
reporters
after
meeting
with
students
from
the
Jewish
Law
Students
Association
that
there
was
“an
enormous
encampment
of
people”
who
had
taken
up
about
a
third
of
the
green.

“We
saw
signs
indicating
that
Israel
should
be
destroyed,”
she
said
after
leaving
the
Morningside
Heights
campus.
Columbia
announced
Monday
that
courses
at
the
Morningside
campus
will
offer
virtual
options
for
students
when
possible,
citing
safety
as
their
top
priority.

A
woman
inside
the
campus
gates
led
about
two
dozen
protesters
on
the
street
outside
in
a
chant
of,
“From
the
river
to
the
sea,
Palestine
will
be
free!”
—
a
charged
phrase
that
can
mean vastly
different
things to
different
groups.
A
small
group
of
pro-Israel
counter-demonstrators
protested
nearby.

No
significant
injuries
have
been
reported.

Several
students
at
Columbia
and
Barnard
College
said
they
were
suspended
for
taking
part
in
last
week’s
protests,
including
Barnard
student Isra
Hirsi,
the
daughter
of
Democratic
U.S.
Rep.
Ilhan
Omar.

Mayor
Eric
Adams
has
decried
allegations
of
antisemitism
and
threats
sprouting
from
the
protests,
saying
earlier
in
the
week
he
was
“horrified
and
disgusted”
to
learn
what
had
been
happening
at
Columbia.

U.S.
House
Republicans
from
New
York
urged
President
Menouche
Shafik
to
resign,
saying
in
a letter Monday
that
she
had
failed
to
provide
a
safe
learning
environment
in
recent
days
as
“anarchy
has
engulfed
the
campus.”

Protests
have
roiled
many
college
campuses
since
Hamas’ deadly
Oct.
7
attack on
southern
Israel,
when
militants
killed
about
1,200
people,
most
of
them
civilians,
and
took
roughly
250
hostages.
In
response,
Israel
has
killed
more
than
34,000
Palestinians
in
the
Gaza
Strip,
according
to
the
local
health
ministry,
which
doesn’t
distinguish
between
combatants
and
non-combatants
but
says
at
least two-thirds
of
the
dead
are
children
and
women.

A
new
report
from
the
Anti-Defamation
League
finds
antisemitism
has
skyrocketed
to
record
levels
across
the
country,
including
the
tri-state,
as
antisemitic
incidents
in
New
York
and
New
Jersey
more
than
doubled
last
year.
The
areas
with
some
of
the
highest
increases:
Manhattan
and
Bergen
County. NBC
New
York’s
Melissa
Russo
reports.