The great lawn in the center of Columbia University's Manhattan campus is normally where students meet up to study in the sun, or before heading to the Morningside Heights neighborhood for drinks. But these days, it has become the central gathering point for protesters in a controversy that has spread from the Middle East to New York and universities across the US.
On Thursday, April 18, Columbia University President Nemat Minouche Shafik called the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to campus, where officers in riot gear arrested more than 100 students who had set up tents on the campus green and were protesting Israel's military operations in Gaza.
"I took this extraordinary step because these are extraordinary circumstances," Shafik wrote in a campus email Thursday afternoon, saying she had made the decision with "deep regret."
Columbia also suspended the students who were arrested, nevertheless, tents have since started to pop back up.
On Monday, April 22, hundreds of Columbia faculty members staged a walk-out to demonstrate their solidarity with the student protesters and criticize university leadership. The university announced that classes would be held remotely on Monday, and later said they would be taught in a hybrid model for the remainder of the school year.
The students are protesting the military strikes the Israel........