Columbia University Cancels Main Commencement After Weeks of Pro-Palestinian Protests 

Columbia University is canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled its campus and others across the U.S., but it will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the school announced Monday.

“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,” officials at the Ivy League school in upper Manhattan said in a statement.

Noting that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult” for the community, the school said in its announcement that it made the decision after discussions with students. “Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” officials said. “They are eager to cross the stage to applause and family pride and hear from their school’s invited guest speakers.”

Most of the ceremonies that had been scheduled for the south lawn of the main campus, where encampments were taken down last week, will take place about five miles north at Columbia’s sports complex, officials said.

Columbia’s announcement came a day after New York Mayor Eric Adams pledged to ensure that this year’s graduation ceremonies in the city won’t be disrupted by protests.

“We will make sure it’s done in a peaceful manner,” Adams said Sunday on ABC. Graduations are “a wonderful experience” and “I don’t think we should allow anything to get in our normal way of life,” he said. “We will do our job.” 

Columbia had already canceled in-person classes. More than 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on Columbia’s green or occupied an academic building were arrested in recent weeks, and similar encampments sprouted up at universities around the country as schools struggled with where to draw the line between allowing free expression while maintaining safe and inclusive campuses.

The University of Southern California earlier canceled its main graduation ceremony while allowing other commencement activities to continue. Students abandoned their camp at USC early Sunday after being surrounded by police and threatened with arrest.

Other universities have held their graduation ceremonies with beefed-up security. The University of Michigan’s ceremony was interrupted by chanting a few times Saturday, while in Boston, some students waved small Palestinian or Israeli flags as Northeastern University held its commencement Sunday in Fenway Park.

Emory University, after more than a week of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on its Atlanta campus, announced Monday it will move its commencement ceremonies from campus to the Gas South District, an arena and convention center complex in Duluth, Georgia.

In a letter to community members, Emory President Gregory L. Fenves said safety concerns led officials to move graduation-related ceremonies indoors to the complex.

“Please know that this decision was not taken lightly,” Fenves wrote. “It was made in close consultation with the Emory Police Department, security advisers, and other agencies — each of which advised against holding Commencement events on our campuses.”

Reporting by AP, NY Daily News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, TNS