Columbia, the renowned university at the heart of US campus protests against the war in Gaza, said on Monday that it has canceled the main ceremony for graduating students next week.
The Ivy League school in New York said it would “forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15” and hold a series of smaller events instead. This comes as demonstrations against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza have rocked campuses across the United States for weeks, prompting crackdowns, mass arrests, and a White House directive to restore order.
“We are determined to give our students the celebration they deserve, and that they want,” Columbia announced, saying “smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families.” “We will focus our resources on those school ceremonies and on keeping them safe, respectful, and running smoothly. A great deal of effort is already underway to reach that goal,” the university said.
New York City police cleared a Columbia campus building last week that had been barricaded by pro-Palestinian protesters, arresting more than 100 people and dismantling an encampment. The school said on Monday it had consulted with student leaders in deciding how to handle graduation. The majority of the ceremonies, which had been set to take place on the Morningside Heights campus where most of the protests have taken place, will be moved to the university’s main athletic complex, the statement said.
The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.
(With agency inputs)
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