The Free Press reporter Francesca Block appeared on "America's Newsroom" to discuss a recent interview she conducted with a custodian at Columbia University in the wake of the destructive anti-Israel protests.
Block told hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer that janitor Mario Torres is "really a little bit overwhelmed" after his experience working while protesters stormed a campus building, wreaking havoc.
In the interview, Torres worried about the security of his job after speaking out about the situation.
"Is Columbia going to retaliate and find a reason to fire me? Is someone going to come after me?" he asked during the interview. "We are taking a big risk, you know, doing this... I think that they failed. They failed us. And I think that's the bigger story. They failed us. They should have done more to protect us."
Block explained that Columbia reassured her that Torres will not be retaliated against. She said that the custodian is grateful for the support he has received.
"He's just a guy that wants to have a good job, provide for his family," the reporter explained. "He never expected to be in the spotlight like this, but he's also really heartened by a lot of the support that he's now gotten after speaking out, telling his story."
University of Southern California's (USC) president Carol Folt was censured by the USC Academic Senate Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Provost Andrew Guzman was censured by the group on Wednesday night as well. In the vote, 21 members favored censuring the two officials, while seven others opposed and six voters abstained.
Guzman and Folt have both taken heat for the decisions to remove a commencement speaking slot from an anti-Israel valedictorian and for cancelling the main-stage commencement ceremony.
In response to removing the valedictorian's speech, Guzman said in late April that "tradition must give way to safety."
"This decision is not only necessary to maintain the safety of our campus and students but is consistent with the fundamental legal obligation – including the expectations of federal regulators – that universities act to protect students and keep our campus community safe," Guzman wrote.
According to its website, the USC Academic Senate is "the representative body of the entire faculty at USC."
"The Senate acts as a whole, or in committees and task forces, to address a wide range of academic and administrative issues," the website reads. "These include the primary concerns of advancing faculty rights, interests and responsibilities, and seeking to preserve and enrich USC as a thriving academic institution."
Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was swarmed by a group of anti-Israel protesters last week as she celebrated her daughter's college graduation at a local restaurant.
The exchange occurred at Bobcat Bonnie's, a brunch-style restaurant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, not far from the University of Michigan, when a group screaming about "genocide" in Gaza approached Whitmer.
"How do you justify genocide?" the protesters repeatedly screamed as Whitmer's security detail blocked them from coming into contact with her.
Read the full article about Gretchen Whitmer by Brandon Gillespie
{{#rendered}}More than 100 protesters gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to take part in an anti-Israel demonstration on Wednesday evening.
Standing outside the encampment, around 60 protesters carried signs reading "We deserve respect" and "No unjust discipline." Later that evening, a group of around 130 people listened to speakers outside the encampment.
Earlier on Wednesday, pro-Israel demonstrators gathered near the encampment area and shouted "Shame!" to the agitators. The demonstrators also criticized MIT faculty for allowing the encampment.
After the Israel supporters hopped the encampment fence and danced while playing music, police waved the group away and remained on standby. Anti-Israel protesters later responded by red hand marks, symbolizing blood, on Israeli flags.
Fox News' Bowen Kedrowicz contributed to this report.
The chancellor of New York City Public Schools on Wednesday told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that there have been 281 antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents within his school system since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, but one case troubles him the most.
David Banks made the admission to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education during a hearing titled "Confronting pervasive antisemitism in K-12 schools."
"We've had 281 incidents since October 7th — approximately 42% were antisemitic and 30% were Islamophobic," Banks said. "We take every single one of those very, very seriously. We investigate and then we initiate the appropriate level of conduct."
Read the full article about David Banks by Greg Norman
A group of Jewish students at Columbia University have released an open letter describing their discomfort with the continued tensions on campus.
The letter, titled "In Our Name: A Message from Jewish Students at Columbia University," was signed and shared by a coalition of Jewish students without attribution to a specific campus organization.
"Over the past six months, many have spoken in our name. Some are well-meaning alumni or non-affiliates who show up to wave the Israeli flag outside Columbia’s gates. Some are politicians looking to use our experiences to foment America’s culture war," the letter reads. "Most notably, some are our Jewish peers who tokenize themselves by claiming to represent 'real Jewish values,' and attempt to delegitimize our lived experiences of antisemitism."
Read the full article about antisemitism by Timothy H.J. Nerozzi
{{#rendered}}Facebook's independent oversight board is considering whether to designate the phrase "from the river to the sea" as hate speech Wednesday.
The phrase has long been a rallying cry for anti-Israel agitators and Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The phrase calls for a Palestinian state that extends from the banks of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, borders which by necessity would destroy the state of Israel, which is located in that space.
Facebook's oversight board announced plans to take up the case on Wednesday, citing three instances of users reporting the phrase as supporting terrorism. In all three of those instances, Meta chose to take no action.
Read the full article about Facebook by Anders Hagstrom
Democrats are divided over the anti-Israel protests that have erupted on college campuses across the country this spring over Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, according to a new national poll.
And the USA Today/Suffolk University survey released on Wednesday indicates that Republicans are mostly united in their opposition to the demonstrations, some of which have turned violent in recent weeks.
The protests in support of Palestinians have grabbed plenty of attention on cable news and on-line coverage. Demonstrators have criticized President Biden's support for Israel in its battle with Hamas and have called on colleges and universities to cut financial ties with the government in Jerusalem.
Read the full article about the survey by Paul Steinhauser
What was supposed to be a memorable day of taking photos at USC’s historical spots on campus soon spiraled into a Jewish graduate student confronting antisemitism head-on at the prestigious school that’s been rocked by anti-Israel radicals, the student recounted to Fox News Digital.
"I was walking around my campus to some of the more historic parts to get a good picture, and I was followed. Two individuals from that encampment, they stalked us, and they harassed us. They followed us for a good 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes. Really wanted to come up to us to get in our faces," graduate student Mark Rayant told Fox News Digital in an interview this month.
Rayant is graduating with a master’s degree this year, but like his fellow students, will not enjoy a full graduation ceremony due to the anti-Israel agitators that have run rampant on the school. USC was the first major university in the nation to cancel its main graduation ceremony due to radical protesters, which was soon followed by universities such as Emory and Columbia also canceling ceremonies.
Read the full article about Mark Rayant by Emma Colton
{{#rendered}}Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost warned university presidents on Monday of a historic state law that could mean masked anti-Israel demonstrators on college campuses could face felony charges.
A violation of the so-called "anti-disguise" law, which says that "no person shall unite with two or more others to commit a misdemeanor while wearing white caps, masks, or other disguise," is a fourth-degree felony punishable by between six and 18 months in prison.
"Those guilty may also pay up to $5,000 in fines and spend up to five years on community control," Yost wrote in Monday's letter.
Read the full article about AG Dave Yost by Jamie Joseph
Liberal activist Michael Moore criticized New York City Mayor Eric Adams during his podcast on Monday for calling some protesters at colleges and universities "outside agitators."
"There’s no such thing as an outside agitator because these schools live in the communities. They exist in the communities. They participate in the communities," he said. "And especially the free universities or mostly free colleges, represent the city of New York, which is maybe a third White, but two-thirds not White. And you go to these schools, and you see that they're set up to represent and to teach, educate a diverse group of young people and adults throughout the community."
Adams, along with the New York Police Department, blamed "outside agitators" for the chaos and unrest at New York University and Columbia University.
Read the full article about Michael Moore by Hanna Panreck
FIRST ON FOX: A new House Republican bill would send any person charged and convicted for illegal activity on a college campus to Gaza for at least six months.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced the bill on Wednesday alongside Reps. Randy Weber, R-Texas, and Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., in response to the ongoing anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses across the country.
Several of those protests have turned violent, with clashes between police and activists, as well as hundreds of activists being arrested across multiple campuses.
While Ogles' bill text does not mention Israel or the anti-Israel groups, it specifically targets unlawful activity on college campuses after Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants invaded Israel in a surprise attack that killed over 1,000 people.
Read the full article about the House Republican bill by Elizabeth Elkind
{{#rendered}}"Squad" Democrats took the podium at a press conference on Wednesday to condemn D.C. authorities for arresting disruptive protesters at recent anti-Israel demonstrations.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., began the presser by referencing arrests that were made at George Washington University early Wednesday morning.
"We woke up this morning to the disturbing news that D.C. Metropolitan Police Department had raided the GW Gaza Solidarity encampment and assaulted, pepper sprayed and arrested the nonviolent student protesters in the middle of the night while you were sleeping," Bush began.
"This is all happening because those who refuse to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza think they can arrest and brutalize their way out of this situation."
Bush then asserted that protesting students have been "violently beaten without provocation," and "charged with disproportionate offenses."
"Look, protest isn't meant to be comfortable," she added. "It is meant to be disruptive. And if you don't want folks to protest, then prioritize humanity over profit. Humanity over your donors, humanity over your property."
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., then called the arrests "an explicit attempt to repress students exercising their first Amendment rights to protest their universities."
"I want to all the Democrats and Republicans to know they cannot arrest their way out of this growing dissent," Tlaib said. "Every corner of our country, people of different faiths, different color, skin, ethnicity, backgrounds of different types are coming together and saying Palestinians deserve to live."
Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., joined "The Faulkner Focus" on Wednesday to discuss the ongoing anti-Israel protests at American universities.
The Florida representative began by addressing the agitators as "professional protesters."
"To assume that this is all students and not a mix of students and professional protesters would be a mistake," Cammack explained. "These people have a financial, a fiduciary aspect to what they're doing. They find glory in objecting."
Cammack also took aim at professors taking part in the protests.
"When you see some of the professors that are engaged in this, we of course know that they are the ones that were protesting on campuses decades ago," she said. "These are the people that read 'Rules for Radicals', and they've carried this mentality throughout their careers."
When host Harris Faulkner asked Cammack what course of action she recommends, the Republican bluntly said that Congress needs to pull back funding.
"Listen, I think we start with defunding these universities that tolerate this kind of B.S.," she said. "When you have students that are being physically assaulted, intimidated, prohibited from going to class, they're canceling graduations...this is a total assault on American students, on Israelis, on Jewish American students."
"It's unacceptable. We have the power of the purse. We have to exercise it...we need to actually wield the power of the purse and pull back all the funding for these universities."
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., appeared on "America Reports" on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the latest developments with the intense anti-Israel protests taking place across the country.
When host John Roberts began by quoting a Politico article that found some of President Biden's prominent donors have funded the demonstrations, Hawley called the news "the least surprising development."
"These are the same people, the same liberal dark money groups who funded the BLM protests, who funded Biden's reelection election last time, funding his reelection this time," Hawley argued. "I want to know, are they now funding illegal activity? Because that's not permitted under United States law."
"You're not allowed as a nonprofit group to go out and fund activity that you know is going to violate the law, like taking over campuses, like smashing statues and breaking into buildings and threatening the lives of Jewish students. The American people deserve an accounting here."
Hawley went on to say that the "liberal dark money groups" effectively support Hamas terrorists.
"This is pro-terrorism, let's call it for what it is," Hawley said. "And when they're out there calling for death to Israel, death to Jewish Americans, I mean, these are people who are advocating for genocide."
"And if I were Merrick Garland, I'd want to cover it up, too," he added. "But the fact is, the American people deserve the truth. Enough cover-up, enough corruption. This administration reeks of corruption."
{{#rendered}}George Washington University said operations have returned to normal after police cleared an anti-Israel encampment and arrested dozens of protesters on Wednesday morning.
In a statement, the university said the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department "conducted a safe and orderly operation to disperse the demonstrators from the illegal encampment on GW's University Yard."
"We do not have any reports of serious injuries during this operation, and we are grateful for MPD's assistance in this matter," the university said. Earlier, police said officers deployed pepper spray to deal with some of those resisting police.
Final exams and commencement will proceed a scheduled. University Yard and Kogan Plaza are to remain closed through the end of commencement on May 19, the university said.
"During this time, given the heightened safety concerns related to the recent illegal demonstrations as well as the ongoing exams, all activities, including activities of free expression on campus, will require reservation through the Division for Student Affairs. In addition, no sound amplification will be permitted for such events on campus," the school added.
More than 130 protesters were arrested at an anti-Israel demonstration at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on Tuesday night, according to the university.
University Spokesperson Edward Blaguszewski said 109 people have been arrested by police for participating in the encampment and about 25 others are waiting to be processed, according to a statement released Wednesday.
“As chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees, I want to offer the Board’s full and unwavering support for Chancellor Javier Reyes,” said Chairman Stephen Karam. "We have absolute confidence in his leadership, his integrity, and his commitment to our students.”
The Daily Collegian reported that UMass' Student Government Association is seeking a student consultation on a motion of no confidence in Chancellor Javier Reyes. The SGA will meet at 6:30 p.m. to consider the measure.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts also released a statement Wednesday criticizing the arrests.
“While other campuses across the country have engaged demonstrators in productive dialogue, we are highly concerned that University of Massachusetts Amherst leaders chose to invite armed police into a campus protest environment,” the ACLU chapter said. “Reports that police may have attempted to shield their activity from press and legal observers raise additional concerns about press freedom and transparency, which are essential to accountability.”
“Campus administrators have an obligation to protect students’ safety on campus; at the same time, they must take all necessary measures to protect students’ right to protest. Calling heavily armed police on student political expression is an inherently dangerous choice.”
While university protesters claim only to support Palestinians' humanitarian rights, evidence obtained from encampments at the University of Texas and elsewhere shows pro-Hamas propaganda supporting the genocide of Jews, plus weapons and tools to vandalize buildings.
On April 29 at the UT campus in Austin, police moved in to break up an encampment. In what was left behind, officials discovered a series of handouts celebrating the death of innocent Jews and the elimination of Israel. The material, in paper stacks bound by rubber bands and metal clips, was hidden among art supplies for distribution at the event, officials said.
One document celebrated "rocket attacks on Zionist settlements... with over 2,300 rockets launched last year."
Another rejected peace or a two-state solution, reading, "we are not satisfied with co-existence or ending apartheid, liberate the land, from the river to the sea."
Another quoted the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a recognized terrorist group targeting Israeli civilians. "We will emerge upon you," it read, "from where you least expect it."
"The material repetitively calls for the absolute elimination of Israel and Israelis through violence, and that's about as extreme as it gets," said Paul Edgar, an expert in Middle Eastern cultures at the University of Texas. "It is very intentional about identifying and supporting other extremists and terrorist groups: Lions' Den, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PLO," the Palestine Liberation Organization.
{{#rendered}}More than 250 Jewish students at Columbia University have signed an open letter to the school community sharing their experience with antisemitism on campus and inviting peace and reconciliation.
In the letter , the students write that anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters on campus have "demonized" them as Jews "and forced us to publicly defend our Jewish identity." The students clarify that so-called anti-Zionism is antisemitism and call out the hate they've experienced on Columbia's campus.
"The evil irony of today’s antisemitism is a twisted reversal of our Holocaust legacy; protestors on campus have dehumanized us, imposing upon us the characterization of the 'white colonizer,'" the letter states. "We have been told that we are 'the oppressors of all brown people' and that 'the Holocaust wasn’t special.' Students at Columbia have chanted 'we don’t want no Zionists here,' alongside 'death to the Zionist State' and to 'go back to Poland,' where our relatives lie in mass graves."
"This sick distortion illuminates the nature of antisemitism: In every generation, the Jewish People are blamed and scapegoated as responsible for the societal evil of the time. In Iran and in the Arab world, we were ethnically cleansed for our presumed ties to the 'Zionist entity.' In Russia, we endured state-sponsored violence and were ultimately massacred for being capitalists. In Europe, we were the victims of genocide because we were communists and not European enough. And today, we face the accusation of being too European, painted as society’s worst evils – colonizers and oppressors. We are targeted for our belief that Israel, our ancestral and religious homeland, has a right to exist. We are targeted by those who misuse the word Zionist as a sanitized slur for Jew, synonymous with racist, oppressive, or genocidal. We know all too well that antisemitism is shapeshifting."
The students write that the last six months at Columbia University, during which anti-Israel agitators set up an encampment on campus and demanded that the university divest from Israel, have demonstrated "that a large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and subsequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People."
Closing, the students write that they will continue to stand up for themselves and be proud of their Jewish identity. They invite the Columbia University community to work towards peace and reconciliation.
"While campus may be riddled with hateful rhetoric and simplistic binaries now, it is never too late to start repairing the fractures and begin developing meaningful relationships across political and religious divides," the letter concludes. "Our tradition tells us, 'Love peace and pursue peace.' We hope you will join us in earnestly pursuing peace, truth, and empathy. Together we can repair our campus."
Students involved in the anti-Israel protests at several U.S. college campuses say they don't regret their actions even in the face of potential punishment.
Though they risk suspension or even expulsion — not to mention potential criminal charges — several protesters told NPR they are unafraid of the consequences because they believe the Palestinian cause is just.
"We have a duty to advocate for Palestine, to ensure that people understand the narrative, the Palestinian narrative, the history of the Palestinian struggle," said Ammer Qaddumi, a Palestinian-American student at the University of Texas at Austin.
Qaddumi was the first person arrested when police were called to disperse the protest at UT Austin two weeks ago. His charges were dropped.
"We will continue to come out and advocate for Palestine no matter what obstacles UT administration, our state government tries to put in our way," Qaddumi told NPR.
Cornell University doctoral student Momodou Taal was suspended for participating in an anti-Israel encampment.
"The school has deemed that my activity or my participation on campus is a threat somehow," Taal told NPR.
As a British student, his suspension from university could potentially result in him losing his international student visa.
"Fundamentally, I risked all that I've risked so far for what I believe is a just cause, and that's the Palestinian cause," Taal told NPR.
Nick Wilson, another suspended undergraduate student at Cornell University, was among those arrested in March for occupying an administrative building. He told NPR that the Palestinian cause is more important than potential disciplinary actions from Cornell.
"What's happening in Gaza is so striking, such a moral atrocity," Wilson said. "For me and for students like me — students who are facing police violence, students who are facing arrests, students who are facing suspension — this is a cause that just matters more."
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday released a statement after Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser permitted law enforcement to clear the anti-Israel encampment at George Washington University.
Johnson credited the threat of a House Oversight Committee investigation with prompting Bowser to send in police.
“Last week, we announced a House-wide crackdown on antisemitism on college campuses,” Johnson said. “This week, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Committee delivered results by compelling Mayor Bowser to order police to clear the weeks-long, pro-Hamas and illegal encampments around George Washington University’s campus.
“While it should not require threatening to haul D.C.’s mayor before Congress to keep Jewish students at George Washington University safe, I applaud Chairman Comer’s steadfast leadership," the speaker continued.
“Through the House-wide effort to crack down on antisemitism, we are going to learn why security forces and campus administrators have refused to do their first job: keeping students safe," he said.
{{#rendered}}"Shark Tank" co-host Kevin O'Leary unloaded on Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum on Monday for his support of the anti-Israel protests — which he has walked back — and said he would have been fired if he was working for O'Leary.
O'Leary was asked Monday during an interview on FOX Business' "The Big Money Show" to weigh in on Dudum's initial response to the protests, which was supportive of the demonstrators protesting the Israel-Hamas war. "There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline," Dudum had said.
O'Leary said he would have taken decisive action against Dudum.
"I would have fired this individual seconds after he made those remarks," he said. "Be gone. Because who are you serving by saying that? You know you're in a highly polarized situation. Fifty percent of your market does not agree with your view – we know that's the case. People are very polarized by this war, as they are in every war."
He said Dudum was only serving himself and had "no right" to push his values on everyone else.
"You can have an opinion, just like I can or everybody else can. But it is not your business to polarize everybody on your stack of shareholders and customers and employees," O'Leary said.
"If you can't figure this out as a CEO, your board should fire you right now. And if you were working for me, you'd be whacked in seconds, seconds. You'd be history," he continued.
Fox Business' Hanna Panreck contributed to this update.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., announced Wednesday a hearing that would have featured testimony from Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has been canceled.
Comer said the hearing, which would have examined the D.C. municipal government's response to the anti-Israel encampment at GWU, would be canceled after Metropolitan Police moved in to clear the encampment this morning.
“Following the Metropolitan Police Department finally clearing out the unlawful encampment on GW’s campus, I am very pleased to announce that the hearing with Mayor Bowser has been canceled," Comer said in a statement.
He said he spoke with Bowser in the morning and that it was a "good conversation."
"I thanked her for finally clearing the trespassers off the GW Campus. It was unfortunate the situation at GW forced the Oversight Committee to act; however it was apparent that the DC police force was not going to do their job," Comer continued. "Therefore, after meeting with GW leadership and touring the encampment, we decided to hold a public hearing to get answers as to why the Mayor would not uphold the law."
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said 33 people were arrested at the anti-Israel encampment at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning.
During a press conference, Smith explained that police decided to intervene after the initially peaceful protest began to escalate and showed risks of violence. Police began to suspect the protest was becoming "more volatile and less stable" after an officer as pushed by protesters and an item was grabbed out of his hand last Thursday, Smith said.
Other indicators included, "police security probing of a G.W. building, indicators that counter-demonstrators were covertly in the encampment and information that protesters from other schools were traveling to GW. In addition, items that could potentially be used for offensive and defensive weapons were being gathered," Smith said.
After consulting with Mayor Muriel Bowser, police decided to act and gave multiple warnings to the demonstrators to disperse. After six dispersal announcements, police entered the encampment and began to make arrests for unlawful entry and assault on a police officer.
Following the arrests, additional protesters appeared outside the police perimeter. Officers and protesters clashed at 20th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and police deployed pepper spray and made some arrests, according to the chief.
Mayor Bowser thanked Metropolitan Police for their response and affirmed the right of people to protest peacefully.
"I want to be clear that our responses to demonstrations is always rooted in public safety and constitutional responsibility, and the chief and her team are the experts in public safety and always have the final word on hour our resources are deployed," Bowser said.
{{#rendered}}Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday refused to condemn calls for universities to cut ties with Hillel organizations at a congressional hearing.
Cardona testified before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, drawing heated questions from lawmakers regarding the anti-Israel protests on college campuses.
Among the concerned lawmakers was Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who flung a series of questions at Cardona to get him to make clear stances on certain incidents amid the uproar on college campuses due to the Gaza conflict. Before his barrage of questions, Kiley acknowledged a letter written by Cardona which entailed the secretary calling any incidents of violence and intimidation against Jewish students "abhorrent."
"As the 2023-24 school year comes to a close, I remain incredibly concerned by the reports of antisemitic hate directed at students on some campuses," the letter read.
Kiley tied the letter to what some would consider antisemitic demands from anti-Israel protesters for colleges to cut ties with Hillel International, which facilitates local Hillel chapters at 850 colleges globally.
Colleges and universities across the U.S. have a local Hillel community that serves as a faith-based Jewish educational resource. These organizations provide a social network and a place to develop leadership and professional skills for Jewish students.
"How about demands to cut ties with Hillel?" Kiley asked Cardona. "Do you condemn those demands to cut ties with Hillel at universities?"
"There's guidance there [DOE's website] for universities where a lot of the questions you're asking makes it very clear," the secretary responded.
"Ok, but your letter said that certain things are abhorrent on campus. Would you say that’s one of them? Calls for universities to cut ties with Hillel, is that abhorrent, to use your word?" Kiley pressed.
"Violence toward students, antisemitism on campus which we’ve seen-" Cardona said before being cut-off mid-sentence by Kiley asking, "Mr. Secretary, you’re not willing to condemn calls to cut ties with Hillel? Will you condemn that, yes or no?"
"We are responsible for adhering to Title 6 and enforcing it. And your support of our budget would help us get to that level instead of creating division as I said at the beginning of my call…" Cardona ducked the question again.
Fox News Digital's Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this update.
New York police arrested 50 anti-Israel protesters at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) on Tuesday night.
It was the last standing encampment in New York City to have been cleared.
NYPD were called to the demonstration at Union Square Park at approximately 6:40 p.m. Tuesday. Protesters then marched to different locations in the Manhattan South area, police said.
"Multiple people were taken into custody at West 27th street between 7th & 8th Avenue. A total of 50 individuals were taken into custody, and the investigation remains ongoing," according to an NYPD spokesperson.
NYPD said it would not have dismantled the encampment without the request or approval of FIT. All night protestors chanted ‘FIT go to hell’ and again chanted to cops “oink oink piggy piggy we will make your life sh*tty.”
More than 2,400 people have been arrested at 50 anti-Israel protests at 50 college campuses across the U.S., according to the Associated Press.
Fox News' Matthew Finn and David Hammelburg contributed to this update.
The Kufiya and Palestinian flags that had defaced the statue of George Washington at his namesake university have been removed.
Some stickers are all that remain after police cleared the ant-Israel encampment on campus early Wednesday morning.
At least 35 people were arrested at GWU, DC police told Fox News.
Anti-Israel agitators caused havoc in GWU's U-Yard throughout the night and resisted police officers after they were called to restore order.
Police finally moved onto the campus around 3:30 a.m. and used pepper spray to clear the raucous crowd.
For days, the encampment erected tents, displayed Palestinian flags and defaced a statue of the campus' namesake, former President George Washington, with Palestinian iconography. This included adding "Free Palestine" stickers to the statue.
The anti-Israel crowd also erected an American flag with the words "Genocide Joe," on it, showing a photo of President Biden.
On Wednesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and police chief Pamela Smith are expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday to discuss the anti-Israel demonstration and potential safety concerns on the GWU campus.
The mayor’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital Tuesday that the mayor and the police chief will testify at the hearing.
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and Fox News Digital's Lawrence Richard contributed to this update.
{{#rendered}}Anti-Israel protests linger across college campuses nationwide nearly three weeks after they first appeared at Columbia University.
In the chaotic weeks since April 18, more than 2,600 people have been arrested on 50 campuses. The protesters have said they want their schools to cut all ties with Israel over its war in Gaza.
Administrators have shown mixed reactions with some universities like UT Austin and Emory University cracking down almost immediately, while others have shown more restraint.
But many colleges in the latter camp have started to lose patience amid the increasing combativeness of some of the protesters. Anti-Israel agitators at a George Washington encampment for instance, have called for the "guillotine" for school administrators.
Campuses have tried tactics from appeasement to threats of disciplinary action to resolve the protests and clear the way for upcoming commencements.
At the University of Chicago, hundreds of protesters gathered on campus for more than a week. Administrators initially adopted a permissive approach, but later said the protest had crossed a line and caused growing concerns about safety.
The protesters were warned Friday to leave or face removal. On Tuesday, law enforcement dismantled the encampment after a scuffle.
Officials at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, told deans and department chairs Monday that some students have been informed by instructors opposing the suspension of student protesters that they will withhold grades.
The school provost's office said it would support "sanctions for any instructor who is found to have improperly withheld grades."
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), protesters were given a deadline to voluntarily leave or face suspension. Many left, according to an MIT spokesperson, who said protesters breached fencing after the arrival of demonstrators from outside the university. On Monday night, dozens remained at the encampment in a calmer atmosphere.
MIT officials said the following day that dozens of interim suspensions and discipline committee referrals were in process, actions taken to ensure the "safety of our community."
Some schools are still showing a permissive attitude to the protests, letting students hold demonstrations and organize their encampments as they see fit.
Those include the Rhode Island School of Design and Wesleyan University, where protests continue.
Fox News Digital's Bradford Betz contributed to this update.
Faculty at the University at Buffalo are at odds with the administration's response to protests that have been held on campus in recent days.
University at Buffalo faculty are calling on administrators to drop all charges against the 15 protesters who were arrested during the May 1 demonstration on campus, NBC WGRZ reported. A letter, which has garnered over 200 signatures, was sent to University President Satish K. Tripathi, stating faculty were "deeply disturbed" by the decision "to violently escalate the peaceful protest that students organized on May 1st."
In addition to having the charges dropped, the faculty members want the University at Buffalo to conduct a public review of university protocols tied to policing, WGRZ reported. The outlet previously reported that of the 15 demonstrators who were arrested during Wednesday's protest, eight people were unaffiliated with UB, while seven were students.
"Around fifty protestors assembled to protest the war in Gaza and support divestment on the lawn outside Hochstetter Hall on UB’s North campus. The gathering was entirely peaceful and students were well organized," part of the letter said. "When told that erecting tents for an encampment would lead to their arrest, students reorganized the gathering immediately to comply with the policy. Furthermore, the order that students disperse after sundown – cited as 8:22 pm by law enforcement officers at the protest – was ad hoc, dangerous and discriminatory. The official university policy barring overnight picketing and assembly does not mention sundown."
"The sundown deadline for arrest coincided with Maghrib, Muslim evening prayer, which police seemed unaware of until informed by the protesters," the letter added. "The rules about student protests were being updated in real time on the day of the protest, appearing discriminatory and making it difficult for even the most informed students to comply."
Fox News Digital's Kendall Tietz contributed to this update.
Video shows anti-Israel protesters clashing with police after a large law enforcement presence on the University of Massachusetts at Amherst campus Wednesday morning in response to an anti-Israel protest that began Tuesday evening.
The UMass Students for Justice in Palestine group posted video to its Instagram account showing police rushing at a large group of protesters who were chanting, "Who do you serve? Who do you protect?"
The Daily Collegian reported at least 64 arrests, including students and faculty, as police worked to clear the encampment set up on the Student Union South Lawn. This was the second encampment formed on the UMass campus since the nationwide movement calling on colleges to divest from Israel began at Columbia University in New York City on April 17.
UMass spokesman Edward Blaguszewski issued a statement Tuesday afternoon calling the encampment "unauthorized" and warning that wooden barricades constructed on campus must be removed.
At 7:20 p.m., the school's Demonstration Response and Safety Team informed demonstrators that they have a first amendment right to free speech, but warned those present at the encampment were trespassing, according to the Daily Collegian.
Police in riot gear reportedly entered the area around the encampment at 7:27 p.m. and began to make arrests at 7:45 p.m.
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this update.
{{#rendered}}Anarchists at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, D.C., have apparently called for the beheadings of school administrators amid their continued anti-Israel encampment.
Demonstrators on campus called for the "guillotine" to be used on GW President Ellen Granberg and other school administrators, a resurfaced video posted to social media showed.
"Guillotine, Guillotine, Guillotine, Guillotine" a person repeatedly chanted as others joined in, while some specifically targeted Christopher Alan Bracey, GW’s African American provost, The National Desk (TND) reported. "Bracey, Bracey we see you, you assault students too."
"To the guillotine," another can be heard shouting, per the report. "Off to the motherf****** gallows with you too."
Several members at the encampment then held a mock court hearing to decide the fate of the administrators, TND reported.
An encampment leader rendered the fake verdict as a Bracey proxy sat before them.
This mock court continued with verdicts for GWU’s board of trustees and for the school’s president, shouting for each of these individuals to be beheaded, per the publication.
The agitators caused chaos in GWU’s U-Yard throughout the night and then resisted police officers after they were called to restore order.
Fox News Digital's Lawrence Richard contributed to this update.
As anti-Israel protesters at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., were awaiting the Metropolitan Police Department to come in and take down their encampment, they projected "Long Live the Student Intifada" on a giant American flag on campus.
Other phrases were projected onto the flag, such as a picture of President Biden with the words "Genocide Joe," an Arabic phrase with "Revolution Until Victory" below it in English and "you put the flag up backwards you f---ing idiots."
Posts on the DMV SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) Coalition X page showed a crowd of people below the flag staring at it and its various projections. Some were waving Palestinian flags.
Officers moved in shortly after 3 a.m. local time to begin breaking down the encampment, which has been set up on GWU's University Yard for over a week illegally.
At least 35 protesters have been arrested as of Wednesday morning, Fox News confirmed, and eight students have been suspended so far.
The Metropolitan Police Department is on the campus of George Washington University early Wednesday morning to clear the anti-Israel encampment, hours before D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is set to testify in front of the House about the handling of the protests at the school.
Dozens of officers could be seen near the encampment on University Yard as protesters, some with megaphones and speakers, confronted them with chants like "the people have all the power!" and "the people united will never be defeated!"
Video footage from affiliate FOX 5 DC showed officers knocking down tents in the encampment and making the agitators leave the area. About an hour into the encampment being cleared, a confrontation between police and protesters resulted in law enforcement deploying pepper spray in the protesters' direction.
Hours before, officers were guarding the home of GWU President Ellen Granberg after a large group of protesters walked to her home and began chanting phrases suggesting she is scared to meet with them to discuss negotiations. Video on social media showed them carry a folding table to her home while demanding she "come to the table."
Granberg, on Sunday, released a long statement describing the encampment as "an unauthorized protest" in defiance of what free speech at the university allows for.
"What is currently happening at GW is not a peaceful protest protected by the First Amendment or our university’s policies. The demonstration, like many around the country, has grown into what can only be classified as an illegal and potentially dangerous occupation of GW property," she wrote.
She said in the past five days, protesters have overrun barriers erected to protect the community, vandalized a GWU statue and flag, surrounded and intimidated other students with "antisemitic images and hateful rhetoric," chased people out of University Yard based on their perceived beliefs, and ignored, degraded and pushed campus police officers and university maintenance staff.
"Conventional protests that abide by municipal law and university policy should and do receive protection and respect, no matter the message's viewpoint. As I have outlined, this is not what is happening at GW," Granberg wrote.
At least 35 protesters have been arrested as of Wednesday morning, Fox News confirmed, and eight students have been suspended so far.
{{#rendered}}Coverage for this event has ended.