Anti-Israel protests and encampments continued to grow Tuesday despite efforts by college administrators to turn down the temperature, spurring more arrests as pressure mounts to restore order and protect Jewish students.
So-called “Gaza solidarity encampments” have sprung up at about a dozen universities, including Columbia, Yale, Tufts, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stoking security concerns on campuses already on high alert over antisemitism and harassment.
The epicenter of the latest unrest is New York City. Police arrested 133 demonstrators late Monday at New York University after outsiders breached the barriers around a pro-Gaza student encampment at Gould Plaza on the north side of the business school.
“We can’t have outside agitators come in and be destructive to our city,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a Tuesday press conference. “Someone wanted something to happen at that protest at NYU.”
Police said protesters threw bottles and wielded a chair at officers. What’s more, about 10 to 15 NYU faculty members sought to block them from reaching the encampment by forming a human chain, said NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kaz Daughtry.
“The faculty … were the most aggressive towards the police. They would not move, they would not let go, they were being very passive resistance, and also physical with our officers as well,” said Mr. Daughtry on Fox5 in New York City. “It took quite some time to get the faculty removed and placed into custody.”
Most of those arrested were charged with trespassing and released, although four face criminal charges.
NYU spokesperson John Beckman said Tuesday that protesters were given an hour to disperse, but that “many refused to leave.”
“We also learned that there were intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents reported,” he said in a Tuesday statement. “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.”
The university took action Tuesday by erecting a plywood barrier around the plaza, but protesters were at it again by the afternoon, gathering for a “strike and townhall” event organized by the NYU Palestinian Solidarity Committee.
Officials at Columbia and Yale have also brought in police to remove protesters refusing to abide by campus rules. But so far the arrests, discussions and warnings have done little to stem the wave of anti-Israel activism.
Across town at Columbia University, the pro-Gaza encampment that police dismantled Thursday was back and bigger than ever, carpeting the lawn in front of Butler Library with tents, tables, food supplies, and Palestinian flags.
Those behind the encampments include the National Students for Justice in Palestine, which has wielded the tent cities as a cudgel in its campaign to convince universities to divest from Israel and companies doing business with Israel.
“By establishing spaces for popular education on campus, we will disrupt the university’s operations, usurp its existing structures, and undermine its elite reputation to force university administrators to either cut ties with the Zionist entity or allow their universities to shatter,” said the NSJP on Instagram.
Columbia sought to address safety concerns by announcing it would move to hybrid learning for the rest of the semester, a day after calling a one-day remote-learning “reset,” a response that left critics on the right frustrated.
“Columbia University is going virtual for the rest of the year. How stupid,” said Jim Pfaff, president of the Conservative Caucus, on X. “Here’s an idea. Kick out the students who are supporting terrorists of Hamas and causing harm to Jewish students. Problem solved.”
Harvard suspended its Undergraduate Student Palestine Solidarity Committee, warning that its members risk permanent expulsion unless they “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term,” according to the Harvard Crimson.
Such measures have done little to assuage higher education’s critics in Congress.
Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas called for President Biden to bring in the National Guard to restore order, comparing the plight of Jewish students to that of Black students harassed during the desegregation era.
“I urge you to similarly mobilize the National Guard and other necessary authorities to protect Jewish American students on Columbia University’s campus and any other campus where Jewish students are at risk,” said Mr. Hawley in a Monday letter to Mr. Biden. “’Never again’ means never again.”
“Joe Biden has an obligation to protect these Jewish students from what is a nascent pogrom on these campuses,” said Mr. Cotton on Fox News Channel. “These are scenes like you’ve seen out of the 1930s in Germany.”
Former President Donald Trump called the anti-Israel protests roiling elite universities a “disgrace” and pinned the blame squarely on Mr. Biden, saying he doesn’t know how to deal with the crisis.
“What’s going on at the college level at the colleges, Columbia, NYU and others, is a disgrace, and it’s really on Biden,” said Mr. Trump in a video posted Tuesday on X by the Trump War Room. “He has the wrong signal, he’s got the wrong tone, he’s got the wrong words, he doesn’t know who he’s backing, and it’s a mess.”
Mr. Biden addressed the issue briefly Monday, telling reporters at an Earth Day event that “I condemn the antisemitic protests. That’s why I have set up a program to deal with that. I also condemn those who don’t understand what’s going with the Palestinians.”
Mr. Trump said the president has “got no message, he’s got no compassion, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he can’t put two sentences together, frankly.”
If universities are reluctant to do more to deter protesters, it may be because they also face significant pressure on the left.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik was pilloried by pro-Palestinian students and faculty after she brought in police Thursday to sweep the encampment. Police also made 108 arrests, including the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, who was also suspended.
The Barnard and Columbia chapter of the American Association of University Professors said it is planning to submit a censure resolution against Ms. Shafik and her administration for her “unprecedented assault on students’ rights,” the Columbia Spectator reported.
More than 50 members of the Columbia Law School faculty said in a letter to Ms. Shafik that they were “deeply troubled” by the disciplinary action against the student protesters.
For universities, the best news may be that the end is in sight, at least for the 2023-24 academic year. Both Columbia and NYU are slated to hold commencement ceremonies on May 15.
— Tom Howell and Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.