A group of 120 protesters were arrested at a pro-Palestinian encampment Monday in front of New York University’s business school, according to NYU student newspaper Washington Square News. The arrests come as Columbia University, citing safety, shifted its classes on its Morningside, Manhattan campus to a hybrid online/in-person format after a protest encampment there became the subject of controversy on Thursday after New York Police Department (NYPD) officers were invited onto campus to disperse demonstrators.
Ongoing protests at both universities—and other campuses across the US, such as Yale, where 47 student demonstrators were arrested Monday morning—have been fueled by Columbia University President Minouche Shafik’s decision to allow police to campus to dismantle the student encampment, resulting in the mass arrest of 108 protesters.
An NYU spokesperson reported that 50 protesters gathered unannounced in front of the business school on Monday, four days after the Columbia arrests, and that the university only decided to disperse the protest after “additional protesters, many of whom we believe were not affiliated with NYU, suddenly breached the barriers that had been put in place at the north side of the plaza.” The spokesperson added, “This development dramatically changed the situation. We witnessed disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing behavior that has interfered with the safety and security of our community, and that demonstrated how quickly a demonstration can get out of control or people can get hurt.”
In contrast, the NYU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine gave a different account in a press release:
Although NYU barred additional student protesters from entering the encampment, they agreed that faculty would be granted access and that students would be able to leave and return for restroom breaks. Both of these agreements were broken around noon, and around that same time the only exit to the plaza was closed. With encampment participants trapped in the plaza, and hundreds of student protesters dangerously crammed on the sidewalk, many students made the decision to enter the Gaza Solidarity Encampment … There was no disorderly or dangerous “breaching” of the barriers as claimed by the NYU administration.
The demonstrations have sparked concerns about antisemitic incidents and the safety of Jewish students. According to the Columbia Spectator, Columbia/Barnard Hillel Rabbi Elie Buechler wrote in a group chat, “The events of the past few days, especially last night, have made it clear that Columbia University’s Public Safety and the NYPD cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety in the face of extreme antisemitism and anarchy.” Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League echoed these sentiments, saying, “Jewish students have been explicitly threatened, increasingly menaced and physically attacked. Internal agitators and external provocateurs have laid siege to the campus. Public safety officers are incapable or unwilling to help.”
However, a letter composed by Jewish students arrested and suspended as a result of their participation in the Columbia encampment demanded a meeting with the Columbia antisemitism task force off-campus. The students said that their bans from campus denied them the ability to observe Shabbat and claimed that a professor insulted their ancestors by likening the students to concentration camp prisoners who carried out Nazi directives.
The Israel-Hamas War has been raging for six-and-a-half months following Hamas’ October 7 attacks, where fighters killed around 1,163 people and took 20 hostages, with accusations of genocide being hurled at both belligerents. The UN Secretary-General reported that more than 30,000 people have been killed and 70,000 have been injured in Gaza since the start of the conflict.
