Columbia University cancels commencement ceremony after Gaza protests rock campus

Columbia has cancelled its university-wide commencement ceremony this month for “smaller-scale, school-based celebrations”, after weeks of pro-Palestine protests on campus.

“Our students emphasised that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” the university said Monday.

“They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers. As a result, we will focus our resources on those school ceremonies and on keeping them safe, respectful, and running smoothly.”

The university decided after discussions with student leaders. Security reasons were noted as the main reason behind the decision, a university official told NBC News.

The graduating class will now be honoured individually alongside their peers, rather than the university-wide ceremony scheduled for 15 May.

The majority of “class days” and school ceremonies will be hosted at Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex rather than the South Lawn of the Morningside campus where they were initially scheduled to take place, but the timings will remain the same, the university said.

The officials added that they are looking at the possibility of hosting a “festive event” on 15 May to take the place of the large, formal ceremony.

“These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for our community,” the university wrote. “We are eager to all come together for our graduates and celebrate our fellow Columbians as they, and we, look ahead to the future. We will share more in the coming days.”

Other universities have taken steps to cancel their main commencement ceremony following widespread protests on campuses across the country.

The University of Southern California announced over a week ago that it will not hold its main commencement ceremony next month amid the pro-Palestine protests.

More than 1,000 protesters across the country have been arrested after law enforcement stepped in to disperse demonstrations, occupations and encampments on campuses.

Students at Columbia are thought to have been arrested following a police raid last week of Hamilton Hall on the New York campus, renamed Hind Hall by protesters in memory of a six-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza – during the late evening on Tuesday.

Authorities at Columbia said they had no choice but to bring police in, saying Hamilton Hall “had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded”.

Shortly before 11pm local time [GMT 4am] on Tuesday, the NYPD said the building had been cleared and that about 100 people had been arrested. They also said there had been no one resisting arrest and that there had not been any injuries.

The police department later revealed that while clearing out the protestors from Hamilton Hall, a police officer accidentally fired his gun, yet no one was injured and the bullet was found in a nearby wall.

Mayor Eric Adams later said that police arrested about 300 people at Columbia and City College of New York after Tuesday’s events. Many of those arrested were charged with trespassing and criminal mischief.

Before this, more than 100 Columbia students were arrested earlier in April amid peaceful protests at their campus that had only been set up days prior.

The protests arose on the Columbia campus on 17 April when students set up camp with around 50 tents to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and demands of the university to divest from Israel or companies that could allegedly be supporting the ongoing conflict.