<div style="text-align: justify; "><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Columbia canceled in-person classes, dozens of protesters were arrested at New York University and Yale, and the gates to Harvard Yard were closed to the public Monday as some of the most prestigious U.S. universities sought to defuse campus tensions over Israel's war with Hamas.</span><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia's green were arrested last week, and similar encampments have sprouted up at universities around the country as schools struggle with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At New York University, an encampment set up by students swelled to hundreds of protesters throughout the day Monday. The school said it warned the crowd to leave, then called in the police after the scene became disorderly and the university said it learned of reports of "intimidating chants and several antisemitic incidents." Shortly after 8:30 p.m., officers began making arrests.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's a really outrageous crackdown by the university to allow the police to arrest students on our own campus," said New York University law student Byul Yoon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"Antisemitism is never OK. That's absolutely not what we stand for and that's why there are so many Jewish comrades that are here with us today," Yoon said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The protests have pitted students against one another, with pro-Palestinian students demanding that their schools condemn Israel's assault on Gaza and divest from companies that sell weapons to Israel. Some Jewish students, meanwhile, say much of the criticism of Israel has veered into antisemitism and made them feel unsafe, and they point out that Hamas is still holding hostages taken during the group's Oct. 7 invasion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tensions remained high Monday at Columbia, where the campus gates were locked to anyone without a school ID and where protests broke out both on campus and outside.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina who was visiting Columbia with three other Jewish members of Congress, told reporters after meeting with students from the Jewish Law Students Association that there was "an enormous encampment of people" who had taken up about a third of the green.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We saw signs indicating that Israel should be destroyed," she said after leaving the Morningside Heights campus. Columbia announced Monday that courses at the Morningside campus will offer virtual options for students when possible, citing safety as their top priority.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A woman inside the campus gates led about two dozen protesters on the street outside in a chant of, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" — a charged phrase that can mean vastly different things to different groups. A small group of pro-Israel counter demonstrators protested nearby.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">University President Minouche Shafik said in a message to the school community Monday that she was "deeply saddened" by what was happening on campus.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday," Shafik wrote, noting that students who don't live on campus should stay away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Protests have roiled many college campuses since Hamas' deadly attack on southern Israel, when militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. During the ensuing war, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the local health ministry, which doesn't distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but says at least two-thirds of the dead are children and women. - AP </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/fas</div>