Columbia University has said that the graduation ceremony of its students will not take place on May 15 due to the anti-Israel protests. The university said it’ll prioritize Class days and school-level ceremonies, “where students are honoured individually alongside their peers”. Earlier, Indiana University held an alternate graduation ceremony and University of Michigan held an alternate graduation ceremony.
Several professors at US’ Columbia University have written to the campus administration calling for an “immediate halt” on police action against students protesting in support of the Palestinian cause. “It’s unconscionable that the faculty is being asked to intervene and defend students’ academic rights when they aren’t being threatened,” they wrote. The professors further called on the university administration to act responsibly and in accordance with the law.
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.
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”.
