A deadline was set for pro-Palestinian protesters to leave the Massachusetts Institute of Technology encampment on Monday, although many demonstrators were removed, due to ongoing protests linked to Israel and Hamas. While protesters at the Rhode Island School of Art and Design began occupying the building, the venue was only retaken. war.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, protesters had one afternoon to voluntarily leave the protest site or face suspension. After demonstrators arrived from outside the university, demonstrators broke through the fence and many people left, an MIT spokesperson said. Dozens of protesters remained at the campsite in a peaceful atmosphere Monday night, listening to speakers and chanting before taking a break for a pizza dinner.
Sam Innes, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a member of MIT Jews for a Ceasefire, said the group has been in camp for the past two weeks and is calling for an end to the killings in Gaza. He said he is doing so.
“In particular, our camp protests MIT’s direct research relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” he said.
Erica Caple James, a professor of medical anthropology and urban studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), joined the protest earlier in the day as a faculty observer and advisor to the Union of Concerned Teachers.
“My hope is that no one is harmed, there is no physical violence, and hopefully there is room for negotiations to resume between students, faculty, and administrators who are concerned about MIT’s global influence.” It’s about leaving it behind and calling it a day,” she said.
An MIT spokesperson said no arrests had been made as of Monday night.
At the Rhode Island School of Design, where students began occupying the building on Monday, a spokesperson said the school affirms students’ rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, and that students are committed to supporting the community. He said he supports all members of the group. A spokesperson said the RISD president and the governor were at the scene meeting with demonstrators.
Demonstrations have disrupted the campus of Columbia University, where protests began about three weeks ago. Officials canceled large main ceremonies Monday but said students could celebrate with a series of smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next.
This decision comes as universities across the United States are grappling with how to handle graduation ceremonies for students whose high school graduation ceremonies were canceled in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It was conducted. Emory University, another campus rocked by protests, announced Monday that it would move its graduation ceremonies from its Atlanta campus. To the suburban arena. Universities such as the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and Northeastern University completed their ceremonies with little disruption.
Columbia University’s decision to cancel a major ceremony scheduled for May 15 has prompted the university’s president, Minoush Shafiq, to hold the graduation ceremony in the same location on campus where police cleared a protest encampment last week. There will be no need to give a speech. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said the decision was made after discussions with students.
Columbia University had already canceled in-person classes. In recent weeks, more than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been arrested after camping on Colombian green spaces and occupying university buildings.
Similar camps have emerged elsewhere as universities struggle with where to draw the line between maintaining safe and inclusive campuses while allowing free expression.
Earlier, the University of Southern California canceled its major graduation ceremony. Students abandoned a camp at the University of Southern California on Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.
Other universities also held graduation ceremonies with increased security. On Saturday, a ceremony at the University of Michigan was interrupted by several chants.
Emory’s ceremony, scheduled for May 13, will be held nearly 20 miles (30 kilometers) northeast of the university’s Atlanta campus, President Gregory Fenves said in an open letter.
“Please know that this decision was not made lightly,” Fenves wrote. “This was done in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisors, and other agencies. Each agency recommended that graduation events not be held on campus.”
The university, which has 16,000 students, has been the site of repeated protests since the conflict began on October 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel. This is one of the universities where approximately 250 people were taken hostage. Student demonstrators are calling on schools to divest from companies that do business with Israel or contribute to the war effort.
Pledging to annihilate Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled area’s health ministry. Ta. The enclave was destroyed by Israeli military attacks and most of the population was evacuated.
Hamas on Monday announced acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari ceasefire offer, but Israel said the deal did not meet its “core demands” and was pressing ahead with an attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
“The ceasefire is temporary,” said Georgetown University sophomore Selina Al Shihabi, who was participating in the protest at George Washington. “There could be a ceasefire, but the U.S. government will continue to arm the Israeli military. We’re going to be here until the university disbands or the university drags us out of here.”
At the University of California, San Diego, police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 64 people, including 40 students.
The University of California, Los Angeles, has moved all classes online for the week as unrest following last week’s encampment evacuation continues, with 44 people reportedly arrested.
Chancellor Gene Block announced Monday night that UCLA’s newly appointed chief security officer will be working to identify and prosecute “a group of instigators” who led the violent attack on pro-Palestinian protesters on April 30. He announced that he would lead the investigation. The university requested the Los Angeles Police Department. Block said he is seeking assistance from the FBI and district attorney’s office.
Schools have tried a variety of tactics, from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action, to get protesters to leave their camps or move to other areas of campus.
The Art Institute of Chicago said in a Facebook post on Sunday that it offered “academic sanctions and amnesty from trespass charges” to protesters if they moved, and that many left voluntarily. .
The school announced that “those who remained have been arrested.”
A group of faculty and staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has called on the government to grant amnesty to student protesters who were recently arrested and suspended. The UNC Palestine Justice faculty member said in a media advisory that he is delivering the letter on behalf of more than 500 faculty members who support student activists.
Harvard University interim president Alan Garber has warned students that those attending a pro-Palestinian camp in Harvard Yard could face “involuntary leave.” That means they may not be allowed on campus, lose their residence halls and be unable to take exams, Gerber said.
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LeBlanc reported from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta and Christopher Webber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.