Student Spring protests: A look at anti-war dissent on eminent US campuses

Student protests over Israel's brutal war in Gaza have popped up on an increasing number of college and university campuses across the length and breadth of the US following last week's arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at the prestigious Columbia University.

The students — in many of these impromptu nationwide demonstrations — are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel's military invasion in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself.

Here is a look at protests on major US academic campuses:

Columbia University

Pro-Palestinian student protesters set up a tent encampment at the Ivy League university in New York last week. Police first tried to clear the encampment on Thursday, when they arrested more than 100 protesters.

But the move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.

University officials said early on Wednesday that they were extending a deadline for protesters to clear out. They said the demonstrators had committed to removing a significant number of tents and agreed that only students would remain at the encampment.

They also said they would make the encampment more welcoming by banning any discriminatory language or harassing messages. The encampment on the upper Manhattan campus appeared calm on Wednesday morning.

The University of Texas, Austin

The University of Texas campus was calm on Thursday, a day after a demonstration saw police and state troopers in riot gear and on horseback make dozens of arrests and forced hundreds of students off the school’s main lawn.

On Thursday, university officials pulled back the campus barricades and allowed another demonstration on the main square underneath the school’s iconic clock tower in central campus.

While the group was vocal with chants and angry shouts against Israel and campus leadership, the demonstration was far less volatile. No violence erupted as a small group of campus police watched from the steps of the tower building. The gathering lasted about two hours.

George Washington University

Scores of students at George Washington University set up a tent encampment on the school’s University Yard on Thursday.

The protest at the Washington, DC-based school grew steadily through the morning, with demonstrators waving Palestinian flags, beating drums and chanting slogans.

Later in the day, a group of Georgetown University students and professors staged a protest walkout and marched to the George Washington campus to join up with the protesters there.

Despite a robust police presence on the edges of the encampment, there were no serious incidents.

The protestors are demanding that the university divest from all relations with Israel and lift a suspension against a prominent pro-Palestine student group.

The university released a statement saying that peaceful demonstrations were permitted, however people not associated with the university were not allowed to protest on campus. The statement also said that overnight encampments were not allowed on university property.

University of Southern California

Police removed several tents, then got into a back-and-forth tent tugging match with pro-Palestine protesters before falling back at the USC.

At one point, USC police detained a man and put him in a vehicle. A crowd surrounded the car and chanted “Let him go!” and the officers eventually did so.

The Los Angeles Police Department said more than 90 people were arrested Wednesday night during a protest at the University of Southern California.

USC has also announced that it is canceling its main-stage graduation ceremony for students, a move that follows its earlier decision to block a Muslim valedictorian's speech.

Harvard University

Trying to stay ahead of protests, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, locked most gates into its famous Harvard Yard ahead of classes and limited access to those with school identification.

The school also posted signs warning against setting up tents or tables on campus without permission.

Those efforts didn’t stop protesters from setting up a camp with tents on Wednesday, which came after a rally against the university’s suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt

Student protesters at Humboldt chanted, "We are not afraid of you!" before police officers in riot gear pushed into them at the building's entrance.

University officials closed the campus through this weekend, saying instruction would continue to be remote. They said in a statement that students had occupied a second building and three students had been arrested.

Humboldt is located about 480 kilometres north of San Francisco.

On Thursday, the university said protesters continued to occupy the two buildings on campus and it was making contingency plans, including possibly keeping campus closed beyond Sunday.

Emerson College

Boston Police said on Thursday that more than 100 protesters were arrested at an encampment at Emerson College. Those arrested were expected to appear in Boston Municipal Court.

On Tuesday, about 80 students and other supporters at Emerson College occupied a busy courtyard on the downtown Boston campus.

College officials warned the students on Wednesday that some of the protesters were in violation of city ordinances, including by blocking a right-of-way and fire hydrants, and violating noise laws.

New York University

At New York University, an encampment set up by students swelled to hundreds of protesters earlier this week.

Police on Wednesday said that 133 protesters had been taken into custody. They said all were released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges.

Emory University

Atlanta police and Georgia state troopers dismantled a camp on Emory University’s quadrangle Thursday morning, with Associated Press journalists counting at least 17 people detained.

University police had ordered several dozen demonstrators who set up tents on the campus early on Thursday morning to leave, according to Emory spokeswoman Laura Diamond. She said in an email to The Associated Press that the group “trespassed” onto the private school.

A long line of officers surrounded the encampment of about three dozen tents after 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, as protesters chanted slogans supporting Palestinians and opposing a public safety training centre being built in Atlanta.

The two movements are closely entwined in Atlanta, where there has been years of “Stop Cop City” activism that has included a fringe of anarchist attacks on property and the killing by state troopers of a protester who was occupying the site.

Northwestern University

Northwestern University hastily changed its student code of conduct on Thursday morning to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus as anti-war student activists set up an encampment similar to pro-Palestinian demonstrations at colleges nationwide.

Groups including Jewish Voice for Peace and Educators for Justice in Palestine said the encampment on the Evanston campus was "a safe space for those who want to show their support of the Palestinian people." The students want the university to divest from Israel, among other things.

Yale University

Protests continued Thursday at Yale on Thursday. This follows arrests on Monday when 48 people, including 44 students were charged with trespassing after camping out for several days on Beinecke Plaza.

Classes for the semester at the New Haven, Connecticut-based school are scheduled to end on Friday..