We start with NBC's Antonia Hilton,
who's back again today outside Columbia University,
and NBC's Steve Patterson is on the UCLA campus.
Antonio, the NYPD will remain on campus past graduation.
How are students reacting to their presence and everything that
went down last night?
Hey, Ryan. Students today are telling me that they're extremely
disturbed by what they saw transpire last night,
that they felt the response was disproportionate,
even if not surprising. Students described seeing many of their
classmates get arrested,
even students who had nothing to do with what happened
in Hamilton Hall,
but who were shouting at the NYPD or trying to
protest around the streets surrounding Columbia or on the Morningside
campus,
which is right behind me here.
And in some ways they they have seen this as
traumatizing.
That's a word that has come up several times,
going back to April 18th,
when the NYPD first entered and arrested about 100 students
here.
And you know, the other challenge that people saw was
just simply moving around the area.
There were kids who described being barricaded by the NYPD
in dorm rooms,
that they couldn't move to different areas of campus,
They couldn't go to sleep if they were in the
wrong dorm room and couldn't reach their own bedrooms.
Student reporters described at times being unable to reach their
own studios to keep doing their work covering what was
happening on their own campus.
And so students on all sides of this issue,
including students who haven't necessarily been support supportive of pro
Palestinian protests here on campus,
You know, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who
found it exciting or positive to see the NYPD here.
There's this feeling that even if the protests are over,
the encampment is gone. Hamilton Hall,
behind me, is clear now,
Ryan, that the tension is still very much present,
and it's hard to get back to business as usual
and to look forward to graduation,
which is coming on May 15th,
when so much of the community is facing disciplinary action,
court summonses and more broadly,
just pain associated with all of the conflict here.
That's inspired these last few weeks,
Ryan.
All right, Antonio, thank you for that.
Let's go to Steve now on the West Coast where
the Los Angeles Police Department is being criticized for their
response last night.
Steve, tell us what happened and and how are students
responding today.
Brian, I think there is this lingering residue,
equal parts anger and anxiety from students and from protesters
who remain here on campus.
This encampment is right behind me.
This is exactly where we probably saw the worst violence
that we have seen since this encampment has been on
campus.
And some of that anger and some of that anxiety
has to do with the response with police showing up
when they did and dividing the protesters and the counter
protesters when they they did.
This all started the what you're seeing on screen at
about 11:00 last night.
This came came in from a student
who gave some video to us as well
and counter protesters flooded this area,
anywhere from 50 to 100 of them.
They tore down some of these metal and wood barriers.
They use those materials to assault protesters inside.
Protesters fought back. We're hearing that there were pipes used,
there was fireworks that were thrown inside the encampment.
There was possibly Tasers pepper spray use and all of
this is happening and going on for hours in extreme
amount of time according to one student I spoke to.
And that police arrived maybe hours later.
And then when they got here they mostly stood and
watched holding a perimeter around the encampment,
sort of protecting the students that were outside of this
before they intervened and divided the students who were a
part of this.
And so we spoke to one student about what he
experienced,
what he saw, the fear palpable.
Here's what he told me.
Listen to this
group of guys coming in and
they started tearing down like wood and the gates and
just torn down flags and started like
tearing down one by one and people were
started cussing each other. There were things got heated.
It really got violent. I'll say for that,
for for a fact. Like I never seen this tension
at all.
But yeah, I know it did get it did really
got ugly.
Of course police are remain here.
The mood here is much more serene than it was
just a few hours ago with the fact now that
classes are canceled for the rest of the day.
Ryan.
OK, Antonia Hilton and Steve Patterson.
Thanks to both of you.
We appreciate it. Let's talk more about this now with
New York Congressman Adriano Aspayat who is district covers Columbia
University.
So Congressman, you've already called the situation last night on
campus unacceptable.
Explain to me what you mean by that.
Well, I I think that we America needs to have
a conversation
with its young people. It's not a sin to listen
to young people
and they obviously have a a an opinion that must
be heard.
But it cannot occur in the middle of violence,
vandalism or even anti-Semitism or hatred.
And so I am sure that it was a difficult
decision for the school
to bring stability and order back to campus,
but that's where we can have a conversation and we
could listen to each other,
not in an atmosphere of violence or intimidation.
So then just to be clear,
Congressman, do you think, do you agree with the decision
by the school and by the mayor to bring the
the NYPD onto campus?
Do you think that was the only option they had
at this point?
Well, I've been around long enough to even remember the
1960s
and the legacy of Columbia and the ability for young
people to have freedom of expression is,
is is so important to democracy and our nation.
But if you're creating an atmosphere of intimidation and other
students feel threatened and there is violence and there is
vandalism,
then obviously steps must be taken to ensure that everybody
is safe,
including the students themselves. So that I'm sure that it
was a painful decision for the administration
but and and I'm sure that they still committed
to having students have freedom of expression,
which is it's so important to democracy and our nation.
So to that end Congressman,
do you think that the administration should have done more
to open a line of dialogue with these students before
it got to the point where it got out of
control? Did they make mistake,
make mistakes Along the way to what we saw play
out last night,
I think there was pretty much ongoing negotiations and dialogue
that were fruitless and did not lead to any conclusions.
And once the the takeover of of Hamilton Hall occurred
and the way it was done,
I think it left no Ave.
for them but to take other actions.
But I I I encourage for that to be an
ongoing dialogue with young people.
They are not just the future of America.
They're the president of America,
but it must be done in an atmosphere of peace.
anti-Semitism cannot be all over the campus where Jewish students
feel threatened and left alone.
They they will never be alone.
And I think that a dialogue for America with its
young people,
it's right on time. OK.
Congressman Adriano Aspayat, thank you so much for being here,
Sir. We appreciate it.