Pro-Palestine Protesters Force Online Classes At Columbia University Amid Fee Refund Calls, Cops Struggle To Evict Them

Columbia University’s decision to hold classes at its main campus online for the final weeks of the semester has led to severe backlash with critics calling on parents to seek tuition refunds from the administration.

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik made the announcement on Tuesday evening (local time) that the organisers of the protests face a midnight deadline to reach an agreement to dismantle the pro-Palestinian protest encampment across the premises, claiming it has only heightened tensions and led to students feeling unsafe.

She said in case an agreement is not reached, the administration “will have to consider alternative options” for clearing the encampment, without elaborating how the sites will be cleared.

The critics also blasted the administration for bowing to demands of anti-Israel student protesters and appearing ‘weak’, allowing the college to shut down in a sense due to the sweeping protests.

“It’s vital that teaching and learning continue during this time. We recognize conditions vary across our campuses and thus are issuing the following guidelines,” provost Angela Olinto said in a statement issued Monday night.

Protests had been bubbling for months but kicked into a higher gear after more than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s upper Manhattan campus were arrested Thursday. Dozens more protesters have been arrested at other campuses since, and many now face charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.

At nearby New York University, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody late Monday and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said police officers were hit with bottles and other objects at some of this week’s protests.

“Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students’ learning and all the required academic operations,” Olinto wrote.

The decision has angered students as they say that the amount of fees that pay warrant that they be extended all facilities to help them learn better.

“(It is frustrating given) the amount we pay to be at this school to learn from these amazing faculties and professors. I really think it’s disheartening to see how our education is being punished as a result of this,” Michael D’Agostino, 22, was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers and former White House staffers have also weighed in on the decision and criticised the university for not doing enough to foster learning on campus and quelling the protests.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said the university administration allowed anti-Israel demonstrators to run around the campuses hurling antisemitic abuses.

“If a parent has a child at Columbia, they should demand a refund and then sue for breach of contract,” Huckabee wrote on X.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat and US President Joe Biden, also criticised the protests.

“The recent harassment and rhetoric is vile and abhorrent. Every student deserves to be safe,” she shared on X.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer called the university administration ‘weak’. The former press secretary who served under former US president George W. Bush said disruptive students should be expelled.

“It’s terrible how weak the school’s leaders – and especially its faculty – are. The school should be fully open (no remote classes) and students who disrupt other students should be expelled,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, police arrested 60 protesters — including 47 students — Monday at Yale University, after they refused to leave an encampment on a plaza at the centre of campus.

In the Midwest on Tuesday, a demonstration at the centre of the University of Michigan campus had grown to nearly 40 tents, and nine anti-war protesters at the University of Minnesota were arrested after police took down an encampment in front of the library. Hundreds rallied to the Minnesota campus in the afternoon to demand their release.

On the West Coast, California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, announced that its campus would be closed through Wednesday after demonstrators occupied a building Monday night. Three protesters were arrested. Classes were to be conducted remotely, the school said on its website.

(with inputs from CNN and Associated Press)