Columbia University students will have to attend virtual classes as controversial rallies and debates about the Israel-Hamas crisis continue.
Minouche Shafik, the university's president, asked relevant parties to "sit down and talk and argue and find ways to compromise on solutions" and announced that all courses will be held virtually.
On April 18, Shafik wrote to the New York Police Department (NYPD), asking for assistance in removing persons who had occupied the South Lawn of the university's Morningside Heights campus the day before.
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Students with the "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" protested Israeli military operations in Gaza and requested that the institution divest from corporations that "profit from Israeli apartheid."
"The continued encampment raises safety concerns for the individuals involved and the entire community," said Shafik in the letter.
He further stated that the situation and associated disruptions represent a clear and present threat to Columbia University's overall operations.
On the afternoon of April 18, the NYPD arrested over 100 demonstrators on the university campus.
At the House of Representatives antisemitism hearings on April 17, Shafik condemned antisemitic behavior by university students and professors and promised penalties for such conduct.
The institution also punished students who took part in unauthorized rallies and fired a lecturer who backed Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7.
The Barnard and Columbia chapters of the American Association of University Professors issued a statement on Saturday condemning the suspension and detention of peacefully protesting students.
"During the coming days, a working group of deans, university administrators and faculty members will try to bring this crisis to a resolution," said Shafik.
According to media accounts, students from Yale University, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina held encampments in solidarity with their Columbia University counterparts.
More than 40 Yale University students were detained on Monday after occupying Beinecke Plaza in the heart of campus beginning Friday night.
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