If Mayor Eric Adams has his way, hundreds of thousands of college students in New York City can still look forward to donning a cap and gown this spring.
Campuses across the city and nation have been simmering with unrest as protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza have led to unrest, and at times, mass arrests. But Adams said the city’s colleges and universities should carry on with their planned graduation ceremonies — even in the face of ongoing student protests.
“It’s a wonderful experience to graduate from an institution, and I don’t think we should allow anything to get in our normal way of life,” Adams said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday. “We will do our job, and if the institutions decide to graduate their students and celebrate a beautiful experience with their families, we’ll make sure it’s done in a peaceful manner.”
Adams’ comments come as swaths of students continue to occupy and protest on college campuses across the city, including Columbia University, New York University and CUNY. It’s led to the arrests and academic suspensions of hundreds of students, and other protests. Last week, thousands of Columbia students and faculty were forcibly locked out of the university’s libraries, labs and other facilities.
Adams’ insistence on continuing with graduation ceremonies echoes recent remarks Gov. Kathy Hochul made as well, noting that many graduating seniors in 2024 were robbed of their high school commencement four years ago during the pandemic. By contrast, ongoing protests prompted the University of Southern California to cancel its main graduation ceremony that had been scheduled for this week.
At Columbia, University President Minouche Shafik previously requested that the NYPD establish a presence on campus until “at least May 17” — through planned graduation ceremonies on May 15 — to “maintain order and ensure encampments are not re-established.”
“We’re guarding the campus with some cops right now, and we’re constantly going to reassess how many do we need, but the goal is to get them through May 15,” Chief of Patrol John Chell said on PIX11 News on Sunday.
In the ABC interview, Adams expressed concerns with people who participate in the campus protests and aren’t enrolled in the schools, who he has previously referred to as “outside agitators.”
“When I use the term of ‘outside agitators,’ anyone can protest in the city, but when you’re on college grounds, and you do not attend that college, you are an outsider, and then when you train people to do destructive things, you are an agitator,” Adams said in the televised interview . “I’m not trying to be politically correct. I’m trying to be correct for the city of New York as we make sure the city continues to be safe.”
In a statement released on Thursday, the mayor’s office and NYPD said only about 30% of the 112 Columbia protesters arrested during a police raid on Tuesday were not affiliated with the school, while 60% of the 170 arrested at City College’s Harlem campus were unaffiliated. A higher share of non-student protesters had been expected at City College, where the protests were open to the community, officials said.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to requests seeking further comment.