Bogota [Colombia], April 27: Columbia's embattled president came under renewed pressure on Friday as a university oversight committee met to address her attempt two weeks ago to clamp down on protests that have roiled the Ivy League school and spread across the country and aboard.
President Nemat Minouche Shafik faced an outcry from many students, faculty and outside observers for summoning New York police to campus on April 18 to dismantle an encampment of tents set up by protesters against Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
Police arrested more than 100 people that day and removed the tents from the main lawn of the school's Manhattan campus, but the protesters quickly returned and set up the encampment again, narrowing Columbia's options on shutting down the protest.
Since then hundreds of protesters have been arrested at schools from California to Boston as students set up encampments similar to the one at Columbia, demanding that their schools divest from companies involved in Israel's military.
Like-minded protests against Israel's actions have spread overseas, as well, with tensions flaring in front of Paris' prestigious Sciences Po university on Friday as pro-Israeli protesters came to challenge pro-Palestinian students occupying the building. Police had to move in to keep the two sides apart.
At Columbia, the university senate will hold a hearing on Friday afternoon to vote on a resolution about the president's actions that could range from an expression of displeasure to an outright censure.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
