The story so far:
On April 18, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protestors who were camped out in tents in Columbia University, New York, were arrested by the police. Since then, similar encampments and protests have risen across U.S. campuses, including in New York University, Yale University and the University of Texas. These protests are an escalation of the demonstrations going on in U.S. campuses ever since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
What happened?
Columbia University president Minouche Shafik called in the NYPD to arrest the camping students a day after her Congressional hearing with the U.S House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The hearing was to learn more about the University’s efforts in countering anti-Semitism. Similar hearings had happened on December 5, 2023 with the presidents of the Universities of Pennsylvania, Harvard and Massachusetts, after which presidents of Pennsylvania and Harvard resigned amid criticism of their “inaction” in handling rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on campuses after the October 7 attacks. In a similar pattern, Ms. Shafik was also questioned on the university’s inaction to stop anti-Semitic rhetoric on the campus and has faced calls for resignation from various quarters, particularly from New York’s Republican Congressional delegation.
In her latest statement on April 23, Ms. Shafik had given a deadline for protestors to reach a peaceful agreement with the University. She warned that if the talks were not successful, “we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to the campus so that students can complete the term and graduate”. Since then, discussions have been ongoing and the deadline extended twice.
Several campuses, taking inspiration from the protests in Columbia, have peacefully escalated their protests, which have also faced repression from respective university administrations. On April 25, more than 30 people were arrested at a protest held at the University of Texas.
What are the protests about?
On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 civilians and taking more than 250 people hostage, following which Israel commenced its invasion of the Gaza Strip, killing over 34,000 people, a vast majority of them women and children. Protests have been going on in universities ever since, calling for a permanent ceasefire. These protests peaked last week when students of Columbia started camping out in front of the university campus lawn, creating, as they call it, a ’Gaza solidarity encampment’.
Their primary demands: Columbia university should divest funds from any company/institution that is associated with Israel or profits from “Israeli apartheid”; financial transparency into the university’s investments; and amnesty for all students/faculty that have been participating in the ongoing pro-Palestinian movement. As per the Columbia Daily Spectator, the student newspaper of the university, on April 23, Columbia College passed a divestment referendum by a large margin. The referendum asked students whether the university should divest financially from Israel, cancel the Tel Aviv Global Center, and end Columbia’s dual degree programme with the Tel Aviv University. The first question passed with 76.55% of voters in favour, while the latter two garnered 68.36% and 65.62% support, respectively.
Columbia University has a rich history when it comes to student movements. The last time protests of this scale rocked the campus was in 1968 when students protested the U.S.’s role in the Vietnam War and university policies they considered racist. Similar push-back happened then as well with almost 700 people being arrested by the police.
How have the protests been perceived?
The protests have increasingly polarised student groups and pitted them against each other. While the pro-Palestinian movement has asserted that their movement is peaceful and that their sole goal was to fight against the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza and the U.S.’s complicity in the same, certain Jewish student groups allege that there have been instances of anti-Semitism in the protests and that Jews feel unsafe on the campus.
Several Congresspeople have said the protests were the reason for the alleged increase in anti-Semitism on the campus. New York City Mayor Eric Adams stated that he is “horrified and disgusted” with the anti-Semitism being “spewed” at Columbia University. The State of Israel’s official X account retweeted a video of the Columbia protests, calling the protestors “terrorists”.
Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, on the other hand, has backed the protests, stating the arrests have “ignited a nationwide Gaza Solidarity movement”. She stated on X that “this is more than the students hoped for and I am glad to see this type of solidarity”.
On April 21, The White House also weighed into the issue with a statement which said, “even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
Do campuses receive funds from Israel?
The ‘disclose and divest’ demand of the protestors have gained much traction over the week. It has its roots in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which is a non-violent Palestinian-led movement, calling for boycott and economic sanctions against Israel.
A report by the Associated Press quotes MIT students who state that MIT has accepted more than $11 million from the Israel Defence Ministry over the past decade. Similarly, the protestors at the University of Michigan say the university sends more than $6 billion to investment managers who profit from Israeli companies or contractors.
However, University of Michigan officials said they have no direct investments with Israeli companies, and that indirect investments made through funds amount to a fraction of 1% of the university’s $18 billion endowment. This sentiment was echoed in a report by the The New York Times, which said universities have less direct control over their investments, opting instead for asset managers to oversee portfolios. Some university administrators have also made the point that very little of their endowments is invested in companies that could be linked to Israel.
According to the Federal Student Aid database, from 2020-22, Columbia University received over $2 million as foreign gifts and contracts from Israel. However, it is unclear from where in Israel these funds came from, who the investors were and what the fund was used for.
On the other hand, universities are losing funding from investors due to what investors are calling ‘anti-Israel protests’. Law and investment firms have threatened to rescind job offers and not hire protesters when they graduate. Some of the prominent investors who have declared they will pull funding from campuses include venture capitalists David Magerman and Jonathon Jacobson, and Jon Huntsman, the former U.S. ambassador to China.
What next?
Tensions remain high across U.S. college campuses as university administrations try to balance students’ protests and increasing pressure from the government. While Columbia discussions seem to be moving forward with a large section of students dispersing in return for written agreements that the police nor the National guard will be called in, protests across other U.S. campuses seem to be spreading like wildfire.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza rages on. Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes on April 24 following the approval of a $13 billion aid package by the U.S. Congress to Israel. Reports suggest that Israel is gearing up to begin its assault on Rafah, where over 1.4 million Palestinians are now seeking refuge.
