College protests live updates: NYPD officer fired gun while clearing protesters at Columbia as 130 arrested at UCLA

The US House of Representatives passed an antisemitism bill on Wednesday evening as pro-Palestinian campus protests surge across the country.

The bill would create “a clear definition of antisemitism” if passed by the US Senate and signed by the president. In turn, this bill would then allow the US Department of Education to cut funding to schools found tolerating behaviour that falls under the definition.

The bill passed with bipartisan support, 320-91.

Free speech advocates, however, oppose the bill. The American Civil Liberties Union argues the bill “would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.”

PEN America, a non-profit that advocates for free expression, also condemned the bill, noting that it would adopt the definition of antisemitism as laid out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

“This definition, and its illustrative examples, is overbroad; its enshrinement into law could lead to significant impairment of academic freedom, free speech and legitimate political expression,” the organisation wrote this week.

“Codifying the IHRA definition, which was never intended to be legally binding or otherwise codified into law, is not the right way to attack antisemitic speech and bigotry,” the organisation continued. “Its vague nature is ill-suited to serve as a legal standard, much less form a basis for punitive action.”

Representative Michael Lawler, a Republican from New York who sponsored the bill, said enshrining the IHRA definition in law will instead protect Jewish students on college campuses.

“By requiring the Department of Education to adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism and its contemporary examples, the Antisemitism Awareness Act gives teeth to federal anti-discrimination laws to go after those who attack their Jewish peers,” Mr Lawler said. “Politics should never get in the way of the safety of students. The strong bipartisan support for and passage of this legislation will ensure that it won’t.”

Before police officers poured into Columbia University on Tuesday night, arresting more than 100 people as they cleared an occupied school building and tent encampment, New York City Mayor Eric Adams received a piece of intelligence he said shifted his thinking about the campus demonstrations over the war in Gaza.

“Outside agitators” working to “radicalize our children” were leading students into more extreme tactics, the mayor claimed. And one of them, Adams said repeatedly in media appearances Wednesday morning, was a woman whose husband was “convicted for terrorism.”

But the woman referenced by the mayor wasn’t on Columbia’s campus this week, isn’t among the protesters who were arrested and has not been accused of any crime.

The Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation that advocates for human rights, weighed in on the pro-Palestinian protests popping up across the country.

Louis Charbonneau, United Nations Director for the organisation, wrote that colleges must protect students’ right to protest.

“There have been troubling reports of antisemitic incidents in and around Columbia University’s campus,” Mr Charbonneau wrote. “Allegations of antisemitic acts and speech by individuals, as well as acts of Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination, should be investigated and addressed on the merits in a case-by-case basis, through fair and transparent processes.”

“As protests spread to campuses across the country, university administrations should be careful not to mislabel criticism of Israeli government policies or advocacy for Palestinian rights as inherently antisemitic or to misuse university authority to quash peaceful protest,” he continued. “Instead, universities should safeguard people’s rights to assembly and free expression.”

The Columbia University Chapter of the American Association of University Professors is calling for a vote of no confidence in President Minouche Shafik and her fellow administrators.

In a statement, the chapter condemned her decision to call the New York Police Department on protesters who had occupied Hamilton Hall Tuesday night.

“This decision was made without consultation with the University Senate, in violation of established procedures, by recourse to so-called emergency powers,” the chapter said in a Thursday statement. “It also flew in the face of efforts by the AAUP and faculty trusted by the student protestors to de-escalate the situation on campus and to serve as observers in negotiations–efforts endorsed by the University Senate chair that continued into the afternoon before the assault.”

More than 100 people were arrested on Columbia’s campus Tuesday evening.

A police officer who was involved in clearing protesters from a Columbia University administration building earlier this week fired his gun inside the hall, a spokesperson for District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office confirmed Thursday.

No one was injured, according to spokesperson Doug Cohen, who said there were other officers but no students in the immediate vicinity. He said Bragg’s office is conducting a review.

He did not provide additional details on the incident, which was first reported by news outlet The City.

The New York Police Department did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.

The Pulitzer Prize Board, housed under Columbia University, praised student journalists’ efforts to cover the protests even while facing “risk of arrest.”

“As we gather to consider the nation’s finest and most courageous journalism, the Pulitzer Prize Board would like to recognize the tireless efforts of student journalists across our nation’s college campuses, who are covering protests and unrest in the face of great personal and academic risk,” the board wrote on Thursday, four days ahead of announcing the 2024 prize winners.

“We would also like to acknowledge the extraordinary real-time reporting of student journalists at Columbia University, where the Pulitzer Prizes are housed, as the New York Police Department was called onto campus on Tuesday night,” they continued.

As The Independent’s Alex Woodward reported, student journalists worked round the clock to capture the historic demonstrations on college campuses across the country.