STORY: A day after Columbia University said it would cancel next week's commencement due to protests, a crowd was again massing on school grounds. This time it was a pro-Israel demonstration.
Around 200 people rallied on Tuesday in support of Jewish, Israeli-American and Israeli students they say face harassment, intimidation or violence amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on New York area campuses.
Students on campuses across the U.S. have protested for weeks, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel, and some universities, including Columbia, called in riot police with batons and flash-bang grenades to disperse and arrest them.
The school said it cancelled its graduation ceremony because there'd be "insurmountable" security concerns with over 50,000 attendees, and said it was "deeply disappointed", but that it would still hold smaller, school-based ceremonies at another complex five miles off campus.
One student told Reuters this was the second time he'd been robbed of an in-person graduation.
"I think it's, it's deeply saddening and honestly I am very angry. You know, I'm a senior and for my high school graduation, that was cancelled too because of COVID. So now come to this next milestone in your life, and you don't get to celebrate that either. So it's just kind of back-to-back, it's really frustrating and saddening, that I haven't been able to experience a full graduation normally."
Others were unconvinced with the school's rationale for canceling.
"...the encampment has been cleared for a significant amount of time now, and they've made no moves on increasing the amount of preparations they have on campus - so I think we all kind of saw it coming, but it's just insane to really see it happen, and just shows how bad faith their negotiations have been the whole time."
Other U.S. universities have struggled to contain disruption to their commencements.
Over 300 University of Michigan faculty, staff and alumni signed a protest letter against their school requiring commencement volunteers to undergo training to stop hecklers.
Some staff balked at being asked to quell quote, "people trying to express free speech".
University of Southern California called off its main-stage graduation last week.
It came after outcry over a decision in mid-April to scrub the valedictorian speech by Muslim student Asna Tabassum - senior leadership said that was due to safety concerns and passions around the war in Gaza.
