May 3, 2024 - US college protests

Our live coverage of the protests at colleges across the US has moved here.

Protesters interrupted the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD)commencement ceremony Friday, according to a video from a reporter with CNN affiliate Richmond Times-Dispatch.  

Several protesters entered the Hill Auditorium with pro-Palestinian signs and flags. A person was heard yelling "get out" as the protesters walked through the auditorium. 

Police arrived soon after the incident, according to the Times-Dispatch.

CNN has reached out to the University of Michigan and its School of Music, Theatre & Dance for comment.  

Later Friday evening, a large group of protesters were met with police on the University of Michigan’s campus on Friday evening. The group was outside the Museum of Art on campus and was heard chanting while interacting with police.

Some context: Commencements at the University of Michigan are ongoing with programs hosting separate ceremonies with distinguished speakers. Spring graduation is scheduled for the whole university on Saturday at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. There will be a designated area for protests outside ceremony venues, the University of Michigan said on its website, noting all commencement events will include security screenings, prohibit banners and flags, and be monitored by volunteers who will immediately “respond to disruptions, beginning with warnings.”

This post has been updated with information from CNN affiliate the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The University of Southern California started a disciplinary process for campus members "who have violated both our policies and the law," President Carol L. Folt said in a statement Friday. 

"Freedom of expression is one of our foundational values, and throughout the year, faculty, staff, and students have held lawful marches, vigils, and peaceful demonstrations," she said in the statement. "But let me be absolutely clear: free speech and assembly do not include the right to obstruct equal access to campus, damage property, or foment harassment, violence, and threats. Nor is anyone entitled to obstruct the normal functions of our university, including commencement."

The university will take any further action needed to keep the campus safe and maintain legal obligations, Folt said. 

USC will hold a “family graduate celebration” on May 9, the school announced Friday, just over a week after canceling the main graduation ceremony.

More than 2,100 people have been arrested on college and university campuses across the nation since April 18 as schools prepare for spring commencement ceremonies, according to CNN’s review. The first demonstrators were detained at Columbia University two weeks ago.

Protesters have been arrested on more than 40 campuses across at least 25 states. Many other schools have experienced protests without arrests.

Here are the latest headlines:

More on arrests

• The New York City Police Department arrested 43 people at the New School, a private university in the city, after the school requested assistance in dispersing illegal encampments, according to a NYPD spokesperson who spoke Friday to CNN affiliate, WABC. 
• Also, of the 44 people arrested in Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, 13 were adults not affiliated with Columbia, six were students affiliated with other educational institutions, 23 were Columbia students and two were school employees, the university said in a breakdown.

Reactions to campus protests

• Columbia President Minouche Shafik said in a video message Friday that the protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall "crossed a new line." Columbia University trustee Jeh Johnson voiced support for Shafik's message in which she called the past two weeks on campus "among the most difficult in Columbia's history."
• Rep. James Clyburn, a Democratic congressman from South Carolina, expressed concerns about how the college campus protests could impact President Joe Biden's second-term presidential run, agreeing with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who warned that Biden's stance over Israel's war in Gaza may have alienated young voters.
• The Council on American-Islamic Relations New York chapter on Friday denounced school administrations at New York University, The New School, University of Buffalo and Stony Brook University over the arrests of student protesters.

Developments on campus

• The University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos said the school has “reached that point” and would intervene because of disruptions and safety to the campus community. 
• The New School switched to online learning Friday. Stanford University officials have sent the FBI a photo of an individual at a campus encampment location who they say appears to be wearing a headband similar to those worn by Hamas members, school officials said this week.

Graduations and commencements:

• The University of Southern California will hold a “family graduate celebration” on May 9, the school announced Friday, just over a week after canceling the main graduation ceremony.
• Commencements at the University of Michigan are underway with programs hosting separate ceremonies with distinguished speakers.

Votes and agreements

• Emory University's College of Arts and Sciences faculty senate overwhelmingly approved a vote of no confidence against university President Gregory L. Fenves on Friday. The vote is a condemnation of the decision to call in outside law enforcement officers who arrested both students and faculty during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus last week. 
• A protest encampment will disband at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), by midnight Friday, as university administration and protesters have reached an agreement regarding investment transparency and study abroad programs.

Universities around the world

• Students at Trinity College Dublin set up an encampment on campus grounds Friday evening as part of a pro-Palestinian protest. This comes not long after college authorities imposed a $230,000 (€214,000) fine on the students union for disruption caused by previous pro-Palestinian protests. 

The US ambassador to the United Nations will no longer deliver the commencement address at the University of Vermont, according to the school's president. 

"It is with regret that I share that our planned speaker, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, will not be joining us to deliver the Commencement address," said President Suresh Garimella.

Some of the protesters on the campus had called on the university to rescind its invitation to Thomas-Greenfield.

Garimella didn't give a reason for the diplomat's non-attendance – but it was mentioned in a statement that focused on the demonstrations.

"First, I want our students to know that I see and hear you. I see you mourn for lives lost in Israel and Gaza. I hear your calls for peace and a just end to the current unrest in the region," Garimella said. 
"I hear your frustration with foreign policy decisions. I see your efforts to bring attention to your viewpoints and to make your city and your university safe places of which you can be proud. The voices of our community are as diverse and powerful as the issues are complex and heavy," he added.

While Garimella said he was "grateful to the students and university leaders who have engaged in conversation," he noted the demonstrations violated school policies. 

"Those who continue to violate UVM policies do so intentionally despite having been given the opportunity to express themselves within campus rules," Garimella said. "Therefore, regrettably, appropriate student conduct processes have been initiated for those who have persistently violated university policy." 

It's unclear what kind of disciplinary measures are being taken. CNN has reached out to the university for more information. 

The library at Portland State University, where protesters took over earlier this week, has been "rendered unusable," university President Ann Cudd said in a statement Friday. 

The library cannot be occupied right now but the university hopes to reopen it "in time for fall term," Cudd said. The library team is working on getting remote services and finding alternative spaces for students, she added. 

"Our entire campus community has been under a great deal of stress this week," Cudd said. "I know the campus closures were disruptive."
"I also know there is still much hurt and anger surrounding the protests, the ongoing violence in Gaza and the disturbing scenes that have played out in our midst. I know many of you will continue to raise your voice in protest and I am in full support of your right to do so. At the same time I expect that protesters will not intimidate and harass students or other members of our community. PSU will continue to uphold the law and our policies regarding trespassing and property damage," she said. 

Cudd also said she postponed her Presidential Investiture Ceremony, which inaugurates her as president, to a later date. 

Columbia University trustee Jeh Johnson voiced support for a Friday message from the school's president Minouche Shafik in which she called the past two weeks on campus "among the most difficult in Columbia's history."

"I support it and agree with every word," Johnson, who was also the former Homeland Security secretary, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I can attest as a trustee of Columbia that the decisions that she faced were among the most delicate and complex that I've seen in or out of government."

He said that "no constitutional right is absolute or unqualified," mentioning the students exercising their First Amendment rights.

"Someone has to be in a position to regulate time, place and manner for the exercise of free speech," he said.

Johnson also said that protecting students is among the university's main priorities.

The group of protesters who occupied Hamilton Hall on Columbia University's campus, "crossed a new line," President Minouche Shafik said in a video message released on X Friday. 

Shafik called the past two weeks on campus "among the most difficult in Columbia's history."

"The turmoil and tension, division and disruption have impacted the entire community," Shafik said in the message, which was just over three minutes long.  

Columbia University students "paid an especially high price," as a result of the protests, she said. 

The University tried multiple times to come to resolution via dialogue, Shafik said. 

"Academic leaders talked to students for eight days and nights," she said. "(The) University made a sincere and good offer, but it was not accepted." 

While many of the protesters on campus were mostly peaceful and "cared deeply," Shafik said the group that occupied Hamilton Hall "crossed a new line." 

Shafik called the occupation a "violent act" that affected the safety of students. 

"Every one of us has a role to play in bringing back the values of truth and civil discourse that polarization has severely damaged. Here at Columbia, parallel realities and parallel conversations have walled us off from other perspectives," Shafik said.

Shafik said she was born in the Middle East "in a Muslim family with many Jewish and Christian friends." Through her two decades of international work Shafik said she's realized "people can disagree and still make progress." 

"The issues that are challenging us, the Palestinian Israeli conflict, antisemitism and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias have existed for a long time," Shafik said. "And Columbia, despite being a remarkable institution, cannot solve them, single handedly."

Shafik urged students to be an example of a better world, one in which people who disagree "do so civilly."

The University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos addressed the school’s community about the ongoing encampment, saying the school has “reached that point” and would “intervene” because of disruptions and safety to the campus community. 

“On Monday, I stated that we would only intervene if what might have been an exercise of free expression blocks the learning or expression of others or substantially disrupts the functioning or safety of the University. Without an agreement to end the encampment, we have reached that point,” Alivisatos said.

The president said the encampment, which is located on the university’s Main Quadrangle, has “created systematic disruption of campus” and “violations of policies have only increased.”

Despite a meeting with a group of protesters to find a way to end the encampment, Alivisatos said they could not find common ground and the demands were “such that we could not accede.”

CNN has reached out to the university and to campus police for more information.