Friends this morning that campus protests against Israel's military operations
in Gaza are not slowing down.
Police broke up a protest at the University of Georgia
this morning,
detaining several people. Demonstrators are gearing up for a fifth
day of protests on the campus of George Washington University
in the nation's capital.
Like protesters at many schools across the US,
they want GW to cut ties with any businesses that
financially support Israel.
On the campus of UCLA,
protesters on both sides of the issue shouted and shoved
each other during demonstrations on Sunday,
That school has increased security.
There are no reports of injuries or arrests,
but there have been arrests on at least 15 other
college campuses across the US in just over a week.
Justice correspondent Jamal Andrews joins us now live with the
latest.
Jamal.
Yeah, yeah, Chris, you know,
just coming in now. We mentioned those protests at Columbia
University,
sort of the epicenter of what we've seen here in
regards to this campus unrest.
Just getting in now. Columbia issuing an ultimatum essentially 2
students that have chosen to be a part of the
encampment pro Palestinian encampment there
Columbia University. They have a deadline of 2:00 PM to
clear that area or face quote suspension and ineligibility to
finish the semester in good standing.
You know that includes all things of being restricted from
future Columbia University
events and classes as well as potentially expulsion.
All of that in just in the last few minutes
release letter that sort of outlines this,
this deadline and again this ultimatum to students that are
involved in that encampment.
I want to show you this map to
just give you an idea of the sheer scale of
the protest that we have seen so far.
Obviously this started in the Northeast with Columbia University as
well as Harvard and Yale,
but this is spread to both coasts and it's popping
up in conservative states as well.
UT Austin, University of Florida,
Ohio State, Emory University There in Georgia.
According to the AP, more than 800 arrests on college
campuses related to these protests since April 18th,
when the NYPD came in and attempted to clear that
encampment on Columbia University.
More than 270 people arrested just this past Saturday.
So again, a busy weekend on college campuses across the
country,
just following an extraordinarily contentious week as well.
The ACLU actually issued a warning,
essentially calling for these universities to
not give away a free speech in order to keep
the peace at these universities.
And John Kirby, the White House security spokesperson,
essentially echoing those sentiments on ABC.
Listen,
the president knows that there are very strong feelings,
George, about the the war in Gaza.
He understands that. He respects that
and as he has said many times,
we certainly respect the right of peaceful protests.
People should have the the ability to to air their
their views and to share their perspectives publicly.
But it has to be peaceful.
And this extraordinary protest going on across the country's college
campuses has actually made its way all the way to
the West Bank,
to Gaza. We have video here of Gaza students
essentially thanking the students at you at Columbia University at
Harvard with signs that say continue to stand by us
and you give us hope,
being spray painted on tents there in Gaza.
All of this comes obviously just weeks before
families across the country make their way to these universities
and these same college kids are supposed to walk across
the stage for graduation.
You know, USC obviously canceled their university wide graduation ceremony,
fought after essentially canceling the commencement speech by the Muslim
valedictorian there and facing backlash for both of those decisions.
Another wrinkle to keep in mind.
You know, this is 2024.
A lot of these seniors that are supposed to walk
across the stage didn't get a chance to do so
in 2020 when they graduated from high school
due to the pandemic, Chris.
So again, tumultuous time across these college campuses and university
presidents with a lot of pressure and decisions to make.
It'll be a lot of eyes on 2:00 PM today,
East Coast time on Columbia University,
where all of this began.
A Justice correspondent Jamal Andrews for us.
Jamal, thank you.