NYC colleges readjust commencement plans amid protests

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The academic year may be coming to a close, but protests at local colleges continue.

It's leaving the schools trying to plan how to carry out the next steps, as they move closer to commencement and other end-of-the-year activities.

Columbia University, where the campus protests began last month, announced on Monday that it's canceling its main commencement ceremony, and will instead have only previously scheduled smaller ceremonies for the university's various graduate programs and its undergraduate college. 

Meanwhile, Hunter College on Monday was the scene of a pro-Palestinian protest that also drew groups of pro-Israel counter protesters. It happened on what's also Holocaust Remembrance Day, as well as the day that Hamas announced that it had agreed to a cease-fire agreement made by negotiators from Qatar and Egypt. 

At the Hunter College demonstration, which dubbed itself The Day of Rage for Gaza, people chanted and shouted slogans opposing Israel and calling for a cease-fire. One demonstrator who held a pro-cease fire sign pointed out one fact possibly shared by many people on both sides of the issue on Monday afternoon, just a few hours after Hamas had made its announcement. 

"I haven't seen the news," she said, "so I don't know the details." 

In fact, the details are still being finalized by negotiators. One prominent Jewish religious leader, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, the chief rabbi of Park East Synagogue, commented on the cease-fire agreement. Schneier, 94, is a Holocaust survivor who said that he supports anything that will release the more than 200 Israeli hostages being held in Gaza. 

Rabbi Schneier added that the Day of Rage demonstration, which was held less than a block away from his house of worship, was offensive being held on Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

"[It's] not only painful, but it's an alert to understand what is the purpose [of] an anti-semitic undertone," he said about the Upper East Side protest. 

Meanwhile, uptown at Columbia University, administrators, families, and students alike tried to deal with the commencement schedule changes. 

Yunze Wa is a junior at Columbia. "I think it's sad," he said, "because the cancellation is the opposite of what Columbia's president, Minouche Shafik had said would happen. So I feel it's like weak leadership," said Wa. 

Lisa and Ricardo Martinez are the parents of a Columbia Law School student. They'd just arrived for end-of-the-year activities from their home in Dallas, Texas. 

Ms. Martinez said that she feels sorry for members of the Columbia community.

"They're the same students who didn't receive their [high school] graduation because of Covid," she said. "It's like a reenactment." 

She said that she also agreed with her husband, who said that he supported the protesters at Columbia. 

"Sometimes there's a price," said Mr. Martinez, "and the Class of '24 had to pay the price." 

Columbia will hold many of its smaller commencement ceremonies at its stadium in Inwood, in Upper Manhattan. 

Also holding stadium ceremonies will be NYU, at Yankee Stadium, and The New School, with its commencement at the Louis Armstrong Stadium at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center, in Flushing, Queens.