Columbia cancels commencement amid campus protests
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The UK's oldest universities, Oxford and Cambridge, have joined the call to divest from "Israel" with encampments beginning on their grounds.
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People rally against "Israel" on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, on April 22, 2024. (AFP)
Columbia University said Monday that it will cancel its two major ceremonies for graduates after suspending protesters who refused to leave their pro-Palestine encampments.
Columbia has been at the forefront of student protests against the war on Gaza, with protests spreading across US institutions.
The University's leadership and police have clamped down with a wave of arrests, suspensions, and class disruptions.
The institution announced that "Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers," will take place instead.
According to Columbia's leadership, "These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for our community," adding that it is still "eager to all come together for our graduates and celebrate our fellow Columbians as they, and we, look ahead to the future."
It is worth noting that protests forced the University of Southern California to be the first institution to cancel its graduation event.
UK's oldest universities join protests
Tents have begun to appear on the lawns of Oxford and Cambridge, the UK's oldest universities, as student demonstrators assemble to urge their schools to divest from "Israel".
A big banner reading "Welcome to the people's university for Palestine" hangs outside the encampment in front of Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum, along with placards demanding the universities "divest from genocide."
The "global student uprising" includes UK universities, such as University College London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Warwick, Swansea, and Bristol.
Camp leaders at Oxford have posted a board with six demands to the university, including "boycotting Israeli genocide, apartheid, and occupation," "disclosing all finances," "stop banking with Barclays," "helping rebuild Gaza's education system," and "divesting from Israeli genocide, apartheid, and occupation."
Cambridge For Palestine organizers posted a list of demands on social media, urging the university to "disclose and divest from its financial and professional support for Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza; re-invest in affected academics; and protect all forced migrants and protesting students."
It also details how the institution "facilitates the ethnic cleansing of Palestine" through academic collaborations and investments in firms that make weapons for the Israeli government.
The campsite on King's Parade in Cambridge is organizing various events throughout the day, including de-escalation training for demonstrators, a demonstration, and a meal sponsored by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.
An Oxford institution representative stated that the school was aware of the rally and that "we respect our students' and staff members' right to free expression in the form of peaceful protest," adding that the school asks all those who participate to "do so with respect, courtesy, and empathy."
Irish, Swiss students launch campaign in solidarity with Palestine
Dublin's Trinity College students in Ireland and Lausanne University in Switzerland have joined US universities in solidarity with the encampments protesting against the Israeli war on Gaza.
The encampment at Trinity College forced the university to block campus access this weekend and shut down the Book of Kells exhibition, which is one of the top tourist attractions.
However, the encampment was the result of the students' union saying the university fined it 214,000 euros ($230,000) for losses caused by protests in recent months, not exclusively over Gaza. Now, the protesters are demanding that the college cut academic ties with "Israel" and divest from companies with ties to the occupation regime.
Laszlo Molnarfi, the president of the institution's student union, told Irish public broadcaster RTE that the students demand the university sever any relationships it has with "Israel".
"The Book of Kells is now closed" for an indefinite period, Molnarfi posted on X, adding, "No business as usual during a genocide."
Students at Trinity College Dublin have set up an encampment for Palestine, demanding that their university cut ties with Israel as per BDS principles supported by the vast majority of students and staff. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸 @TrinityBDS @tcdsu @tcddublin pic.twitter.com/Uw44FjLmaJ
— László Molnárfi (SU) (@TCDSU_President) May 3, 2024
European universities join
Meanwhile, in Lausanne, almost 100 students occupied a building demanding an end to scientific cooperation with "Israel".
One protester told Swiss television on Saturday that "Palestinians have been dying for over 200 days, but we're not being heard," adding, "Now there's a global movement to get governments to take action, but it's not happening. That's why we want to get universities involved now."
On Friday, France's Sciences Po University in Paris witnessed police forces dragging dozens of students out as they had staged a sit-in across several buildings on campus in protest of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
