NYU protest encampment to support Palestinians remains in place

NEW YORK -- NYU students continued to occupy a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus on Thursday, despite threats of suspension. It has become a growing point of contention among students just wanting to finish the semester.

The latest development comes as Israel-Hamas war protests continue to spring up on college campuses across the country .

The situation compelled President Joe Biden to issue some unscheduled remarks on Thursday morning .

"Violent protest is not protected. Peaceful protest is. It's against the law when violence occurs. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest. It's against the law," Biden said. "Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations, none of this is a peaceful protest."

Wednesday night, protesters were on the move all over New York City . On Tuesday night, police arrested hundreds of people at Columbia University and City College of New York .

"They keep threatening us with academic discipline as if we care"

At NYU on Thursday, things did appear calmer than they were the previous few days. Police made arrests and cleared the encampment at the Stern School of Business last Friday . School President Linda G. Mills said only 65 of the 133 individuals arrested at Gould Plaza were current NYU students, faculty or staff.

"I never thought as president I would need to rely on the NYPD to secure the safety of our community. Social media was used to summon hundreds of people to our campus, including people who did not have permission to be at NYU and who we believe significantly threatened our community," Mills said in a statement.

NYU estimates several dozen protesters were in the Greene Street Walkway encampment near the Paulson Center on Thursday, but said around 500 showed up on Wednesday, forcing the school to lock down two buildings.

"We're here to fight our administration and to push our administration to disclose investments in Israel and divest from them, as well as shut down the Tel Aviv University campus," a student named Shanti said.

She said they won't leave until the university offers amnesty to those arrested last week at the business school encampment. On Monday, the university said it was going to discipline students still there, asking them to "pick up their belongings and leave."

"They keep threatening us with academic discipline as if we care," Shanti said. "The university refuses to allow us to think creatively and to actually talk about Palestine in a real way. We have community members here who are losing family members by the day."

NYU spokesperson John Beckman said classes and other campus activities are proceeding. He issued the following statement on Thursday morning:

"On Wednesday night, some 500 protesters -- part of a larger May Day group moving through the city -- broke off to protest at the Greene St. Walkway; they were accompanied by a group of NYPD officers who had been escorting the marchers. Out of prudence, NYU locked down the building; notwithstanding that, a musical theater performance in the building was able to proceed, and those who live in the building's student housing were able to make their way in and out of the building. The Law School also locked down its buildings, because of the large crowd in the park," Beckman said.

"The recurrence of crowds of hundreds of protesters being summoned and drawn from throughout the city to the Greene St. Walkway -- where about the group of about 60 protesters remain -- is a source of ongoing concern to the University about our community's safety. Last night's incident was noisy and disruptive to those who lived in the neighborhood, it involved vandalism (another incident of red ink being splashed), and one person who objected to the protest has reported being struck by a thrown bottle.

"The continuing presence of the protesters on the Greene St. Walkway violates University rules and the rules governing the Walkway (exhibit H). We urge the protesters to pick up their belongings and leave," Beckman added.

When asked if assurances have been made that there won't be any takeover of buildings like have been seen at other campuses, Shanti said, "I'm not going to answer that question, but the university hasn't asked us anything like that."

"Just the fact that I wake up feeling like I'm surrounded by hate is quite frightening"

The demonstrations have taken a toll on NYU students trying to finish up the semester and study for final exams.

"I live very close to where these protests are happening and I can hear the protests when I go to sleep at night, when I'm trying to study, from my room and that has made it incredibly difficult to focus," a student named Adina said.

Adina was part of a smaller contingent of students who showed up Wednesday night with Israeli flags.

"When I come out to show my support for Israel [I do it] in the most peaceful way I can, which is holding up a flag. I've been sworn at, yelled at," she said.

The American Jewish Committee says criticism of Israel and its government is not antisemitic, but when people call for the end of the Jewish state, or "when Jews are verbally or physically harassed in response to actions of the state of Israel, it is antisemitism."

"Just the fact that I wake up feeling like I'm surrounded by hate is quite frightening," Adina said.

Last year, three Jewish students sued NYU in federal court for civil rights violations, following a similar lawsuit settled in 2020. The university denies those allegations and in the fall it created the Center for the Study of Antisemitism.