Bringing their voices together in a completely new way, college campuses across the US are becoming a major staging ground for protests against the tragic ongoings in Gaza.
It is becoming a whole new phenomenon, one fueled by an innate need for justice. A lot has happened in the past month but these are the major moments that deserve a mention:
Columbia Protesters Getting Arrested
The story starts with Columbia, when earlier this month, Columbia President Nemat Shafik faced criticism over her handling of the division in the campus over the ongoings in Gaza.
During her time at Capitol Hill, she expressed that Columbia was taking serious action to combat a wave of antisemitism following the Israel-Hamas war.
Since then, during her time traveling to Washington and testifying, thousands of tents have been pitched outside Columbia University, demanding a ceasefire.
The situation escalated from then on as the students kept protesting for two weeks, which led to many arrests. This was a consequence of the students not heeding the two-week deadline they received to stop the protests.
Columbia Protesters Take Over Building After Defying Deadline
Taking matters into their own hands after breaching the deadline, the students decided to escalate events further by occupying an academic building. Dozens of students took over Hamilton Hall and barricaded themselves inside. Hamilton Hall was chosen as it was the staging ground for major student protests during 1968.
Images are circulating showing Hamilton Hall with broken windows and protesters inside blocking doors with wooden tables.
Police Clash At Texas
It wasn’t just students at Columbia University that got arrested, as on Monday, police arrested many protesters and also dismantled their camp at the University of Texas at Austin. Officials say that they arrested the students because they ignored orders to take down the tents.
Protests Spread To Europe
Beyond the US, protests have even spread to Canada and Europe, where recently, in Paris, funding was suspended for Sciences Po, one of the country’s most prestigious universities, over the tense pro-Palestinian demonstrations taking over the campus.
Columbia Starts Suspending Students
With Columbia being the fire sparker for most of these recent protests, it is understandable that most of the biggest moments and incidents are centered around its campus.
That is why one of the other most recent happenings on the campus is that the university is suspending students after hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters refused to leave the encampments by the Monday deadline they were appointed.
These are just the latest developments. The situation might escalate even more, as students are not planning to stop protesting or taking a stand anytime soon.