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Post by Webster on May 4, 2024 19:52:23 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on May 4, 2024 19:53:18 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on May 4, 2024 22:16:35 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on May 6, 2024 15:29:37 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Columbia cancels main commencement ceremony amid antiwar protestsColumbia University announced on Monday that it had canceled next week’s university-wide commencement ceremony amid pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled the campus and spread to colleges across the country. Instead, the university said it would hold smaller “school-level” ceremonies for students. -- “Based on feedback from our students, we have decided to focus attention on our Class Days and school-level graduation ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, and to forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” university officials said in a statement.
It continued: “These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for our community. Just as we are focused on making our graduation experience truly special, we continue to solicit student feedback and are looking at the possibility of a festive event on May 15 to take the place of the large, formal ceremony.”At Columbia, students set up an encampment on campus to protest Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, about two-thirds of them women and children, according to the local health ministry. The protesters at Columbia and elsewhere have called on their universities to divest funds from companies or businesses that support the Israeli military and its operations in Gaza. The decision comes after the University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony amid campus-wide protests while allowing other commencement activities to continue. “Security concerns were one of the main reasons for our decision on whether to hold a large commencement ceremony,” a university official said in a statement to The Guardian.
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Post by Webster on May 6, 2024 15:45:54 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Johnson calls on Columbia’s Board of Trustees to 'immediately remove' university presidentRight on cue, Johnson has released a statement responding to the news that Columbia University is canceling its main commencement ceremony, in which he condemned both the university president and protesters. “President Shafik and Columbia University administrators have displayed a shocking unwillingness to control their campus,” he said. “They’ve allowed outside agitators and terrorist-sympathizing students and faculty to rewrite campus rules and spew vile, anti-Jewish aggression. Now, thousands of students who’ve worked hard to achieve their degrees will not get the recognition they deserve.” Johnson called on Columbia’s Board of Trustees to “immediately remove” Shafik and appoint a new president who will crackdown on the protests. Since her appearance before a Republican-led Congressional committee last month, Shafik has been facing calls for her resignation from all sides. As she delivered testimony in Washington that remarks that some students and free speech advocates saw as far too acquiescent of Republican talking points, protesters set up a pro-Palestinian solidarity encampment on Columbia’s campus. Shafik called on the NYPD to remove the protestors, a move that resulted in more than 100 arrests and sparked solidarity protests across the US. Last week, protesters occupied Columbia’s Hamilton Hall for hours before police in riot gear cleared the building and arrested more than 100 demonstrators.
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Post by Webster on May 8, 2024 22:20:17 GMT -5
(Townhall) The Squad Has a Meltdown Over Pro-Terrorism Encampments Getting Dismantled-Members of "the squad," the wing of the Democratic party controlling President Joe Biden's foreign policy on Hamas, held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to express their support for violent encampments on college campuses. The remarks came just hours after police moved in on George Washington University and dismantled the pro-Hamas encampment established two weeks ago, which prompted a meltdown from Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush. Bush and Tlaib repeatedly claimed encampments were "peaceful," which is not true. The Council on Islamic Relations, which openly supports and justifies the October 7 terrorist attacks, is also upset the police broke down the pro-Hamas encampment. Bush and Tlaib also supported the 2020 riots, which were the most destructive in American history. -- Dozens of people were killed or injured in the violent unrest, and thousands of businesses and properties, many minority-owned, were looted, torched, or otherwise vandalized. Only now are we beginning to realize the full cost of the destruction. New reporting from Axios reveals that the total insured property losses incurred during the George Floyd riots will come in at $1 billion to $2 billion.
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Post by Webster on May 8, 2024 22:20:57 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on May 8, 2024 22:21:48 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on May 9, 2024 15:23:14 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Progressive representative Ilhan Omar acknowledged the work of student protesters after Biden said that US bombs supplied to Israel have been used to kill civilians in Gaza. In a post to X, Omar said that “young people across the country protesting” helped move Biden’s rhetoric. Omar specifically highlighted Biden saying that “civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs”, referring to US bombs supplied to Israel. Omar said: This is what young people across the country were protesting for and finally the needle has moved in a significant way. I hope we see more progress, but don’t ever let people tell you that your voices are meaningless and your actions are worthless. The arc of what is possible is always within us to bend.Omar’s remarks are one of many reactions from progressive lawmakers at Biden’s threat to stop arm shipments to Israel if there is a major military assault in Rafah.
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