<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Students demonstrating at universities throughout the US, UK, and Europe have been urging their academic institutions to reveal financial holdings and to divest from Israeli-affiliated entities amid the ongoing Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Universities responded by suspending and expelling student protesters, sometimes resorting to measures such as eviction from campus housing and limitations on on-campus resources.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, some universities employed campus and local law enforcement to forcibly disband encampments, with police actions drawing criticism for their severity, particularly in the US.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With over 2,900 protesters arrested, including faculty members, on more than 60 campuses in the US, some universities have negotiated agreements with protesters to dismantle encampments.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several universities have canceled graduation ceremonies due to ongoing protests, while additional demonstrations have unfolded at various graduation events throughout May 2024.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, in the US, Union Theological Seminary became the first affiliated college at Columbia University to announce plans to divest from companies profiting from the conflict in Gaza. While specifics on the companies are not provided, the seminary aims to identify those benefiting from the Palestine situation, a report said on the Forbes website, citing Todd Ely, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other universities, like Northwestern in Illinois, have promised investment disclosure, while Harvard and Brown in Rhode Island have agreed to discuss proposals with protesters to halt protests, the report added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, at California State University's Sonoma State campus, President Mike Lee was placed on leave after expressing intent to pursue divestment from Israel without obtaining the necessary approvals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Australia, students also continued pro-Palestine encampment protests at universities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At Curtin University in Western Australia, students on Wednesday gathered at the engineering building and urged the administration to cut ties with Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australia has witnessed many pro-Palestine student demonstrations in recent months.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>