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Jewish student sues Columbia, alleging it is failing to provide a safe environment
From CNN's Matt Egan
An anonymous Jewish student alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday that Columbia University is failing to provide a safe learning environment for students during the ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status, argues the university has “become a place that is too dangerous for Columbia’s Jewish students to receive the education they were promised.”
The complaint, filed against Columbia’s board of trustees in the Southern District of New York, alleges that a subset of protesters have committed acts of violence, harassed Jewish students and faculty members and incited hate speech and acts of violence.
The lawsuit includes numerous redacted sections to protect the identity of the plaintiff, who is described as a “Jewish student in her second year” and whose education has been disrupted by the hostile environment on campus.
The lawsuit takes particular issue with the decision by Columbia to go to a hybrid learning modellast weekamid the unrest on campus.
“Jewish students…get a second-class education where they are relegated to their homes to attend classes virtually and stripped of the opportunity to interact meaningfully with other students and faculty and sit for examinations with their peers,” the lawsuit said. “The segregation of Jewish students is a dangerous development that can quickly escalate into more severe acts of violence and discrimination.”
Columbia declined tocomment on the lawsuit.
The university's president Minouche Shafik acknowledged in astatementMonday that many Jewish students and other students have “found the atmosphere intolerable in recent weeks.”
“Many have left campus, and that is a tragedy. To those students and their families, I want to say to you clearly: You are a valued part of the Columbia community,” Shafik said.
At least 200 students have barricaded the entrance to Columbia's Hamilton Hall
From CNN's John Towfighi and Melissa Alonso
At least 200 student protesters at Columbia University have barricaded the entrance to Hamilton Hall and about a dozen are inside the campus building.
CNN's JohnTowfighi — a Columbia University student — said there is no visible law enforcement at the scene.
Overnight, protesters on campus made their wayfrom the West Lawn encampment to Hamilton Hall. The hall is one of the university's main academic buildings for undergraduates and is where the dean's office is located.
Aerial footage from Freedom News TV overnight showed several dozen people crowded onto the steps of Hamilton Hall. Several people could be seen inside the building and a Palestinian flag was draped out of one window.
The building is symbolic for the university. In 1968, students occupied the building while protesting the school's ties to the war in Vietnam. It was again occupied by student protestersin the 1980s as part of the South Africa Apartheid Divestment Movement.
See the aerial footage showing outside Hamilton Hall here:
Columbia University protesters say they are occupying an academic building
From CNN's Melissa Alonso and JohnTowfighi
Dozens of Columbia University students are occupying Hamilton Hall, one of the campus buildings occupied during 1968 student protests, according to a social media post early Tuesday fromColumbia Students for Justice in Palestine.
Overnight, protesters on campus made their wayfrom the West Lawn encampment to Hamilton Hall, one of the main academic buildings for undergraduates.
Hours earlier, the university announced it had begun suspending students who refused to leave the encampment before a 2 p.m. Monday deadline set by the administration.
A large group of protesters rallied in front of Hamilton Hall early Tuesday, chanting the call-and-response, "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now."
Aerial footage from Freedom News TV showed several dozen people crowded onto the steps of the building. Several people can be seen inside the building and a Palestinian flag is draped out of one window.
At the nearby encampment, a line of marching protesters encircles the tent-covered lawn, appearing to form a picket line around the encampment, the footage shows.
CNN has reachedout to Columbia University and the New York Police Department for more information.
Hear from Columbia student and CNN freelancer John Towfighi:
Columbia has pushed an anti-Palestinian narrative, lead student negotiator tells CNN
From CNN's Samantha Delouya
In a conversation with CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday, the lead negotiator for Columbia students, Mahmoud Khalil, discussed what he called an "anti-Palestinian narrative" at the school amid pro-Palestinian protests.
“Over the past six months, these students, they have witnessed the killing of over 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza and despite all of this the institution, Columbia at least, has only pushed one narrative — an anti-Palestinian narrative on campus,” Khalil said.
Khalil said Jewish students participating in the protests were an "integral" part of the demonstrations.
“I would say that the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinians and the Jewish people are intertwined. They go hand in hand. Antisemitism and any form of racism has no place on campus and in this movement,” Khalil said.
USC president says she is having vital talks with protest organizers
From CNN’s Stephanie Becker
University of Southern California PresidentCarol Folt said she met with student organizers of campus protests Monday, but conceded that no agreement has been reached.
“The students said at the end they wouldn't have considered this meeting a win from their perspective, and I can fully appreciate that,” Folt said in a statement. “For me, the most important point was that we were starting to talk, and I think that was vital. I felt like they were being honest and telling me how they felt, which was very meaningful.”
The meeting, which also included a faculty member, lasted about 90 minutes, the president said. Folt said she plans to meet with the group again Tuesday.
“I think we need to continue to have those conversations, and I'm pleased we all agree on that. We'll go day by day,” she said.
Columbia University says it's begun suspending students who refused to vacate encampment
From CNN's Eva Rothenberg
Columbia University began suspending student protesters who refused to vacate the on-campus encampment by the 2 p.m. ET deadline set by the administration Monday.
These students will not be eligible to complete the semester or graduate and won't be allowed in university housing and academic buildings, the New York-based university said.
"Once disciplinary action is initiated, adjudication is handled by several different units within the universitybased on the nature of the offense," Vice President of Public Affairs BenChangsaid during a briefing Monday evening.
The two bodies overseeing this disciplinary process are the Office of University Life and the university's senate, a policy-making group that represents students and faculty.
"Decisions made by the Office of University Life can be appealed to the dean of the student's school," said Chang. "Decisions made by the senate can be appealed to a panel of deans and, ultimately, the university's president."
Chang added that the university asked student protesters to remove the encampment, in part, to make sure that the university's commencement ceremony for its 15,000 graduates can continue as planned.
The students at Columbia,the epicenter of the weeklong pro-Palestinian protests, had earlier voted to defy the order and stay.
Some UT-Austin protesters were arrested for trespassing and others for disorderly conduct, officials say
From CNN’s Ed Lavandera and Ashley Killough
Some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were taken into custody at UT-Austin on Monday were arrested on suspicion of trespassing, while others are accused of disorderly conduct after refusing to disperse, university officials said in a statement.
Demonstrators set up an encampment that included a “barricade enclosure of tables secured by metal chains, and strategically placed tools, tents, and rocks,” the statement read.
Protesters “escalated” the situation, and in response, officials “took swift action to preserve a safe, conducive learning environment for our 53,000 students as they prepare for final exams,” according to the statement.
“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,” officials explained. “Because of the encampments and other violations of the University’s Institutional Rules related to protests, protestors were told repeatedly to disperse.”
In a statement to CNN Monday, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said she was concerned the protests on “could escalate and lead to more disruption and violence.”
“I have begun discussions with the University administration and am hopeful that a reasonable solution can be reached to ensure everyone involved is kept safe and their constitutional rights protected,” Garza said. “We will continue to collaborate with our partners and individually review each case that is presented to our office.”
Dozens of protesters arrested at University of Texas at Austin, organizers say
From CNN’sEd Lavandera and Ashley Killough
Dozens of people were arrested Monday at a protest on the campus of University of Texas at Austin, according to the university’s Defend Palestine Encampment, who also alleged that officers used force to take people into custody.
The encampment was formed on the school’s South Mall Lawn around 12:30 p.m. CT, and around an hour later, officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Austin Police Department and campus police responded wearing riot gear, a news release from organizers said.
“Around 40 people were arrested, with reports of police using flash bangs, mace, and other chemical munitions during the arrests,” the news release said.
The university is working on compiling information, including the number of people arrested, for a news release later Monday, saidBrian Davis, senior manager for issues and crisis communications at the university.
The Travis County Sheriff’s Office will not have a total number of arrests until Tuesday morning, spokesperson Kristen Dark told CNN.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Public Safety for comment.
"We demand that UT divest from the Zionist state of Israel and from all institutions and companies that are enabling the current genocide in Gaza … We demand the resignation of President (Jay) Hartzell for green-lighting the militarized repression of peaceful student protesters on their own campus,” Lenna Nasr, of the Palestinian Youth Movement, said in the news release.
Protesters have been arrested on more than 20 campuses across at least 16 states
From CNN's Alex Leeds Matthews,Renee Rigdon,Krystina ShvedaandAmy O'Kruk
Hundreds of people have been arrested on college and university campuses from coast to coast as schools prepare for spring commencement ceremonies. TheUniversity of Southern California — where nearly 100 protesters were arrested April 24 —canceledits primary commencement event.
Protesters have been arrested on more than 20 campuses across at least 16 states. Many other schools have experienced protests without arrests.
CNN is monitoring campus protests and will continue to update this map with any new arrests.
