Gaza War Protests Erupt Across College Campuses Nationwide

College campuses across the country have become home to protests and encampments against Israel’s war on Gaza — leading to hundreds of arrests.

The protesters across the numerous universities are calling for a permanent cease-fire and university divestment from companies making money off of the war, according to Reuters. Additionally, they are also demanding that the U.S. stops military assistance for Israel, and that disciplined student or faculty protesters are given amnesty, per the outlet.

In one high-profile instance at Columbia University in New York, more than 100 people were arrested Thursday as students and faculty protested the university’s Israel-related investments. The demonstrations mirror a week of protests at the university in 1968 over the Vietnam War, which led to more than 700 arrests and nearly 150 reported injuries.

The present-day Columbia demonstrations seem to have added fuel to numerous other demonstrations across the country despite the arrests.

On Monday, 120 protesters were arrested at New York University, 47 students were arrested at Yale University, and three people were arrested at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. On Tuesday, nine people at the University of Minnesota were arrested, and two were arrested at Ohio State University.

The demonstrations at Columbia and across the country have been labeled as antisemitic and unsafe for Jewish students. But many of the protesters at these campuses’ “solidarity encampments” are themselves Jewish students calling for Palestinian freedom.

For example, students with the Jewish Voice for Peace, alongside Students for Justice in Palestine, at the University of Rochester formed encampments on campus, according to a post on X from the