Columbia University demands that pro-Palestinian Students evacuate their encampment | Middle East, the eternal conflict

Tension rose on Monday at Columbia University in New York, the epicenter of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations which are shaking many campuses in the United States, with the administration threatening Students with sanctions if they did not disperse.

Minouche Shafik, the president of the establishment – ​​one of the most prestigious in the country – urged the students in a press release to leave their camp after the failure of negotiations.

In a document distributed to demonstrators, entitled Notice to camp, the University demands that they vacate the premises by 2 p.m. local time. Otherwise, you will be suspended pending an investigationaccording to the text.

Students immediately called for a rally at noon to protect the camp.

In the middle of the day, at the campus entrance, students could come and go normally. Only those with their student card could access the university, according to a journalist from theAFP.

For Joseph Howley, professor at Columbia, the University’s press release amounts to give in to external political pressures.

The management of the establishment chooses, he believes from theAFPto start from premise that the mere presence of political discourse in the name of Palestine is a threat to Jews like mewhich is absurd and dangerous.

A widespread movement

It has been ten days since a wave of protests spread across American universities. The movement started from Columbia, where around a hundred pro-Palestinian students who had launched an occupation of the campus lawns to demand an end to the war in Gaza were arrested on April 18.

Since then, hundreds of people – students, teachers and activists – have been briefly questioned, sometimes arrested and prosecuted at several universities across the country.

Images of riot police intervening on campuses, after being called to the rescue by university leaders, have gone around the world, recalling similar events in the United States during the Vietnam War.

The demonstrations have revived the debate, already tense, even violent, since the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, on freedom of expression, anti-Zionism and what constitutes anti-Semitism.

Many American universities have found themselves at the heart of the news with the conflict in Gaza, and two university presidents, including Harvard, had to resign a few months ago after being accused of not doing enough against the conflict. anti-Semitism.

On the one hand, students and teachers accuse their universities of seeking to censor political speech, on the other, several personalities, including elected representatives of Congress, affirm that activists are fueling anti-Semitism.

Many of our Jewish students and others have felt an intolerable atmosphere in recent weeks. Many have left campus and it is a tragedy.

Minouche Shafik also affirmed that the University would not withdraw from its investments in Israel, which is also what the protesters are demanding.

But Columbia proposed investing in health and education in Gazadid she say.

The political class reacts

Trumpist Republican elected official Elise Stefanik, who led the charge against the two university presidents who resigned, ruled absolutely shameful Ms. Shafik’s press release.

Not once is there any mention of protecting Jewish students from the anti-Semitism that rages at Columbia.she wrote on X.

The White House on Sunday called on demonstrations in support of Gaza to remain peaceful.

We obviously respect the right to peaceful demonstrationsdeclared National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

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But we completely condemn the anti-Semitic remarks that we have heard recently and […] all the hate speech and threats of violence circulatinghe continued.

Over the weekend, nearly 300 people were arrested at American universities: 100 on the campus of a university in Boston [et leur campement a été démantelé]80 at a university in Missouri, 72 on a campus in Arizona, and another 23 at Indiana University.