Roughly 120 people were arrested Monday and into Tuesday as antiwar protests that started at Columbia University continued into their second week, spreading to NYU and campuses across the city.
The national spotlight has been fixed on New York City colleges since Columbia’s president testified before Congress last week regarding antisemitism on campus, an action followed by students erecting tent encampments on the renowned university’s lawn.
The war in Gaza has set off near constant protests since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. The majority of those have been in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel’s response to the attack. But the encampments at Columbia, and the role of the NYPD, marked an escalation reminiscent of the storied protests of 1968 against the Vietnam War.
After police cleared more than 100 Columbia protesters last week, similar protests emerged at schools across the city and nation, including NYU, where more than 100 people, including students and faculty members, were arrested overnight following a protest that university officials said has at times turned hostile and antisemitic.
On Tuesday morning, workers were putting up plywood boards around a plaza on NYU’s Stern School of Business campus where police had cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the university’s request the night before. Many passersby looked quizzically at the boards and complained about the barrier being built around the plaza’s perimeter.
“It’s terrifying, it’s like fascism to me,” said NYU graduate student Evan Beck. “Where is the freedom of speech? I think NYU is doing a terrible job.”
Just after nightfall Monday, NYPD officers were called in to arrest students who’d erected encampments at NYU, as they’d done at Columbia. NYU officials claimed not all of the protesters were affiliated with the university, though that claim has not been independently verified.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik — who made all classes remote Monday and is weighing hybrid options for the rest of the semester — made a similar suggestion: “These tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas. We need a reset.”
Police Tuesday said Tuesday that 120 people were arrested at the NYU location and all but four were released with summonses for trespassing. Four of the students were charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration.
At last one NYU faculty group posted to X that professors were also being arrested for trespassing.
Protesters have set up similar encampments over the last week at The New School in Manhattan, Yale University and the University of Michigan. The actions show the increasing difficulties university administrators face in allowing students to protest while also trying to prevent antisemitic speech and other actions that make Jewish students feel unsafe.
Videos posted to social media by the Jewish group Chabad at Columbia University over the weekend show some demonstrators shouting harassing comments at Jewish students on campus, such as “go back to Poland,” “stop killing children” and “all you do is colonize.”
Protesters at NYU lit flares Monday night, though there were no immediate reports of damaged property.
The University’s student paper, Washington Square News, also reported that throngs of protesters gathered outside NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza to support those who had been arrested.
Due to incorrect preliminary information provided by the NYPD this story has been updated with a new arrest count and other additional information.
Jessica Gould, Giulia Heyward and Ramsey Khalifeh contributed reporting.