Students are unwilling to give ground in their anti-Israel protests. On the contrary, they have raised the stakes and the pressure on universities. At the University of Southern California (USC), authorities were forced to suspend the main graduation ceremony due to the precarious situation on campus and the arrests. At Columbia, the origin of these protests, a group of students sued the university for "discrimination against Palestinian students and participants in the pro-Palestinian protests." The protests and arrests, far from stopping, continue to spread across the campuses of other universities. Donald Trump warned that "tremendous hatred" can cause more serious situations than what happened in Charlottesville in 2017.
4/25—An important update for 2024 Commencement: https://t.co/tWbSGOxy8v
— USC (@USC) April 25, 2024
"keeping campus community safe and secure"
USC's decision - the first of its kind in one of the country's largest universities - could cause a domino effect across the rest of the institutions. Some, like Columbia, indicated that their intention is to move forward with the "appreciated annual celebration," which is already being planned, but being clear that the priority is "keeping campus community safe and secure." A clear warning for students.
It's a statement, USC announced that the situation forces them to establish new security measures that make it unfeasible for the main ceremony to take place: "With the new security measures implemented this year, the time necessary to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially. As a result, we will not be able to hold the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families and friends to our campus all at the same time."
Criticism of the USC decision: it gives in to pro-Hamas students
A decision that generated a large number of protests, almost all with a common message: the protesters with pro-Hamas slogans had won. Among the grievances expressed were demands for the ceremony to proceed as scheduled and calls for the arrest of those who instigated trouble.
Students, family, and friends all look forward to celebrating graduation.
Now because of the pro-Hamas mob, they can’t.
This shouldn’t be happening in America. https://t.co/u8u2U0yM5L
— Congressman Rudy Yakym (@RepRudyYakym) April 25, 2024
USC has gone from banning the student commencement speaker to canceling its entire graduation ceremony in a couple of weeks.
Thanks for the $340k - we'll mail u the diploma (maybe)
I'd be pissed if I was a parent/grad https://t.co/izxWCizfRF— Tom Hearden (@followtheh) April 25, 2024
Students sue Columbia for discrimination
Additionally, a group of Columbia students sued the center for discrimination. The Palestine Legal association assured that it presented its brief to the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education on behalf of four students. According to this organization, students have been victims of anti-Palestinian discrimination and harassment by students, professors, and administrators at Columbia University. Additionally, it cites the NYPD, which last week detained more than 100 protesters, as part of the university's discriminatory treatment, and says that " the university has not responded promptly and effectively to the notification of a hostile environment."
Meanwhile, camping and incidents multiplied on campuses across the country, forcing the police to intervene in many of them. In Atlanta, according to AFP, the police denounced the violence with which protesters responded to eviction notices and acknowledged the use of "chemical irritants" to force them to leave the facilities. Fear of an escalation of violence increased after the organization of counter-demonstrations at several universities by Jewish students.
Trump warns 'Charlottesville was nothing compared to this'
According to AFP, former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump condemned the demonstrations this Thursday and said that the level of "hatred" is much higher than that of the tragic Charlottesville rally in 2017, which left one dead and 19 injured.
"We have protests everywhere," Trump told reporters as he left the Manhattan courtroom where he is on trial for falsifying business records. "Charlottesville was insignificant, and it was nothing compared to this. The hatred was not the same type as what is here, it is a tremendous hatred," he said.
