Students at Columbia University staged an encampment in 1968 to protest against the university’s plans to build a gym in a Harlem park. Pro-Palestine students had set up tents to hold a demonstration on the same day that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik testified in Congress about reports of antisemitism on the campus. “All University students participating in the encampment have been informed they’re suspended,” Columbia said.
Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are under criticism for a congressional hearing about antisemitism that took place last week. A group of 74 Congress members signed a letter last week asking the governing boards of Harvard, MIT and UPenn to remove their presidents. Harvard President Claudine Gay’s response to allegations of antisemitism was criticised after she testified before the House Committee on Education.
The US has opened investigations into Cornell University, Cooper Union and Columbia University after complaints about anti-Semitic and Muslim harassment amid the Israel-Palestine war. The investigations are part of the Office for Civil Rights’ efforts “to take aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide rise in reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and other forms of discrimination”.
