Columbia has begun to temporarily suspend students – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries

On Monday morning, the pro-Palestinian students received an email from the management.

It said that if they did not remove themselves from the large camp set up in front of the campus by 18 Norwegian time, they would be disciplined by the university.

In the first instance, this means suspension, and that they will be deprived of the opportunity to complete the semester with good results, reports Reuters.

On Tuesday morning, there were still several dozen students in the camp, and 80 tents, reports American and medium.

– We have begun suspending students as part of the next phase in our efforts to guarantee safety on our campus, says Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang.

– The camp has created an environment that makes many of our Jewish students and staff unwelcome, and a noisy distraction that disrupts learning and preparations for the final exam.

They have still not been able to identify everyone who is present, partly because many cover their faces kefijeh scarf or mask.

Has taken over Hamilton Hall

Several of the protesters marched across campus and took over the classicism faculty Hamilton Hall shortly after midnight, reports the New York Times on Tuesday morning.

Several dozen students block the main entrance to the faculty and shout “free Palestine”, the newspaper continued.

Pictures taken by AFP from the city show broken windows and confrontations with security officers.

One of the organizers behind the student demonstration, Sueda Polat, said at a press conference on Monday that the university had not done anything substantial to meet their main demand.

This is Columbia withdrawing its investments from companies with links to the Israeli occupation of Gaza.

They will not do this, says Columbia president Nemat Shafik, according to Reuters.

Therefore, the remaining protesters will not move “without coercion”, said Polat further according to the New York Times.

– We have been asked to remove ourselves, but it is against the students’ will that we remove ourselves.

– We do not bow to pressure from the university. We act based on the students’ wishes.

It has not been revealed whether lecturers and employees who have set up security at the entrance to the camp will receive similar treatment.

Cornell claims the students guild about the purpose

Cornell University also suspends its students who do not want to move from the camp on Campus, says the president Martha E. Pollack in a statement.

There, at the art faculty, they have been staying since last week.

– A group of students has previously asked for permission to hold an art exhibition there, which follows our legislation, claims Pollack.

– But they were dishonest with this request, because they said there would be no tent, and that the art exhibition would be removed by 8pm on Thursday.

The university management has tried to move the students to another place, but since they refuse, they have started to suspend the participants, according to the university president.

– We will not be moving. They have hinted that more suspensions and arrests will come, says protester and student Jawuanna McAllister to the Cornell Sun newspaper.

– We are ready.

All over the US

Since the administration at Columbia brought in the police last month to remove the tent outside the campus, demonstrations like this one have taken place all over the United States.

At the University of Texas in Austin, the police have arrested several dozen protesters and removed the camp completely, the BBC reports.

A lawyer who is connected to the activists, George Lobb, tells KUT News that it concerns 50 people who were present on Monday.

The student leadership has not confirmed the speech to either KUT or the BBC, but Reuters reports that pepper spray was used to disperse the protesters.

The police have also arrested students at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), reports local WWBT.

The university is in the process of removing the tent, according to Deputy Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.

The speech debate is escalating

The pro-Palestinian demonstrations have led to intense debate in university administrations about where to distinguish between legal and hate speech.

The student protesters, among some Jewish peace activists, have said they are being censored and labeled as anti-Semitic because they criticize the Israeli government or express support for the rights of the Palestinian people.

Other Jewish groups have said that anti-Israel rhetoric often turns into hatred of Jews and incitement to violence, and that it is therefore not something they must tolerate.

The same argument was used when the person who was to speak at the graduation ceremony at the University of Southern California, Muslim Asna Tabassum, was not allowed to speak after all.

This was because she had expressed pro-Palestinian views, said the promoters of this.