MSN reported Tuesday morning about Columbia University’s decision to extend hybrid classes until the end of the semester due to safety concerns amid tense protests. The protests, primarily in support of Palestine, have led to arrests at Columbia, NYU, and Yale, prompting heightened security measures and concerns among Jewish students.
Ben Bergquam was live on the scene reporting:
As the major Jewish holiday of Passover began Monday, Columbia’s Jewish student organizations said they had increased security around their gatherings due to safety concerns, including having a police presence at the campus Jewish cultural center. Before Passover began, a rabbi linked to the university urged students to return home because he believes authorities “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety.”
The university president is under pressure to address the protests, with some calling for police intervention while others argue for the protection of free speech.
Lawmakers have raised concerns about potential Title IX violations, and protests have spread to other campuses.
Bergquam reported live on Monday from Columbia University and showed a long line of University staff in White sashes that read, “We support our students,” who, when asked if it was okay to chat, “Death to America,” refused to rebuke the statement.
Out of at least 20 people questioned, only one man would go on the record to say that it was “not ok” to chant “Death to America” at a US University.
Very odd footage of girls dancing to protest Israel in their makeshift third-world tent city, at the elite American university has emerged, raising the question of how sane these students really are: