College unrest continues Thursday morning on campuses with police are arresting protesters and knocking down encampments across the U.S.
To the north, in New Hampshire, students at the University of New Hampshire attempted to set up an encampment but it was shut down by police. Nearly a dozen of them were arrested.
A similar situation was reported at Dartmouth College in Hanover as well. New Hampshire State Police said they deployed personnel to both campuses at the request of local law enforcement. Hanover police said 90 people were arrested at a protest on the Dartmouth Green for offenses including criminal trespass and resisting arrest. They said those arrested included students and non-students.
Dartmouth College President Sian Leah Beilock defended the decision to arrest the protesters in a statement released Thursday morning.
"Last night, people felt so strongly about their beliefs that they were willing to face disciplinary action and arrest. While there is bravery in that, part of choosing to engage in this way is not just acknowledging — but accepting — that actions have consequences," she said. She cited campus policies prohibiting demonstrations that interfere with Dartmouth's academic mission or increase safety risks.
"When policies like these have been ignored on other campuses, hate and violence have thrived — events, like commencement, are canceled, instruction is forced to go remote, and, worst of all, abhorrent antisemitism and Islamophobia reign," Beilock said.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said in a social media post early Thursday morning that both college encampments violate school policies. "Peaceful protests are fine, breaking the law is not."
In Connecticut, Yale University police arrested four people Wednesday night after around 200 demonstrators had marched to the school president’s home and to the campus police department, Yale officials said.
School officials said in a statement Thursday that protesters ignored repeated warnings that they were violating university policy on occupying parts of campus without permission. Two of those arrested were students, and the others were not, Yale said.
The protest group Occupy Yale said campus police were violent during the arrests and did not issue warnings beforehand. The group posted a video in Instagram showing officers bringing one arrestee to the ground and pinning another on a sidewalk.
"A peaceful protest," Occupy Yale said. "Police officers seized, pushed, and brutalized people. Is this what you call keeping campus safe?"
University of Connecticut students are also continuing to protest after 25 people were arrested there.
In Greater Boston, pro-Palestinian protests persist.
At Tufts, an encampment on campus could soon be no more. With graduation slated for later this month, faculty plan to address the situation imminently as its escalated in recent days.
The two student groups running it were invited to the negotiation table with deans of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering on two separate occasions but ultimately those talks led to nothing, a university spokesperson said.
And now at a crossroads, the university will be issuing a no trespass order to the students.
Meanwhile, protesters from both Emerson and MIT demonstrated Wednesday. During the MIT protest, which lasted hours, demonstrators moved onto Massachusetts Avenue and blocked traffic in the center of campus.
"I think we certainly have their attention. Do I think they’re making moves to meet our demands? We have yet to see, but they’re certainly paying attention," said MIT student Mark Kirkman-David.
The president of MIT said the protesters on their campus are violating school policies, saying, "This particular form of expression needs to end soon."
Whether it's at MIT or Tufts University, something is expected to develop within the next 48 hours.
Gov. Maura Healey said during a media availability Thursday that she supports universities looking to ensure that students are safe on their campuses and that campus operations are able to continue unimpeded.
"What I've said all along is on our campuses we need to make sure that students are safe and that operations are able to proceed there," she said. "We've got students that are in the middle of finals, we've got commencements coming. We need to make sure that students are safe, and that is why there is no room for antisemitism, there is no room for Islamaphobia, there is no room for violence or threats of violence, and I'll continue to support efforts to crack down on violence and threats of violence and end that."
"I think there was certainly antisemitic language used at Northeastern, and we certainly received a lot of complaints about antisemitic language and conduct," Healey added. "Look, as governor, as a former civil rights lawyer and as a former attorney general, I take that really seriously. There is certainly a place for civil disobedience and a place for protest and peaceful protest. What is not acceptable is violence or threats of violence anywhere, and especially on our college campuses."
Healey said it's "horrifying" to see what has unfolded on campuses like Columbia University and the University of California, Los Angeles in recent days, "and that's why you've got to be swift about addressing these."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
