Columbia University officials continue to negotiate with anti-Israel demonstrators who have set up camp in the heart of campus, even though the deadline for protests has passed. The university released an update on “ongoing discussions” late Thursday night.
On Tuesday, the university gave the agitators a midnight deadline to reach an agreement to vacate the campsite, pack up their tents and go home. Hours later, the university announced it would give students an additional 48 hours to negotiate. Those deadlines have come and gone, but the university said there had been “progress” in the talks.
“We have our demands, and they have theirs,” Columbia said in an update posted Thursday just after 11 p.m.
In an update, the university said it did not intend to invite the NYPD to campus to quell the protests.
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In response to recent unrest on campus and concerns about the safety of Jewish students, Columbia University President Minoush Shafik announced a transition to online learning starting Monday. He also urged faculty and staff to prioritize remote work. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
“Conversations are showing progress and are continuing as planned,” the university said. “Formal procedures are underway and continue.”
Columbia University continued, “Over the next few days, a small group of faculty, staff, administrators, and university senate members spoke with student organizers to dismantle and disband the encampment, and to establish a foundation for future university policies.” We’ve been talking about it,” he said.
The statement comes after more than 100 people were arrested on trespassing charges at Columbia University. Hundreds of students across the country have staged similar protests at their schools and subsequently faced similar legal action.
Columbia student talks about campus terror and anti-Israel signs supporting terrorists who ‘put babies in ovens’
School officials continue to negotiate with students to eliminate anti-Israel camps at Columbia University in New York. (Getty Images)
Columbia is considered the epicenter of current protests at other elite universities, which have rapidly grown in size and also resulted in incidents of anti-Semitism and violence.
“I have a friend who was beaten,” Itai Dreyfus, a third-year undergraduate at Columbia University and an Israeli veteran from Tel Aviv, told FOX News Digital. “It’s scary. It’s violent.”
An anti-Israel camp at New York’s Columbia University remains in place despite university officials calling for its removal. (Peter Garber)
He said the protesters were praising the al-Quds Brigades, a Palestinian terrorist group affiliated with Hamas. “It’s the same people who bomb buses, rape women, and put babies in ovens.”
Anti-Semitism soars on campus as agitators take over
Driefas told Fox News Digital that his girlfriend, who is also Jewish, was followed home. He said he was told to kill himself, spat at and yelled at.
“I don’t think that’s possible on a campus where the majority of students are fearing for their lives,” he says. “It’s noisy and scary, and many Jews and Israelis don’t walk around campus after dark.”
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Similar protests have been witnessed at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, University of Michigan, UT Austin, and Yale University. Hundreds of anti-Israel agitators were arrested.
Fox News’ CB Cotton and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
