Columbia cancels main graduation ceremony after campus protests

Columbia University is canceling its largest commencement ceremony following months of turmoil that culminated in mass NYPD arrests of pro-Palestinian students who had set up encampments on campus and occupied a school building.

The graduation ceremony had been scheduled for May 15, and the news of its cancelation on Monday drew expressions of disappointment from some students.

“We have decided to make the centerpiece of our Commencement activities our Class Days and school-level ceremonies, where students are honored individually alongside their peers, rather than the University-wide ceremony,” the school wrote in an unsigned announcement.

“These past few weeks have been incredibly difficult for our community. Just as we are focused on making our graduation experience truly special, we continue to solicit student feedback and are looking at the possibility of a festive event on May 15 to take the place of the large, formal ceremony.”

The NYPD arrested more than 200 people on Columbia campus in separate raids in recent weeks. Students had pitched tents in the heart of the Morningside Heights campus, demanding the school divest from all financial ties to Israel. The students also protested Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.

The demonstrations sparked a national movement, with students setting up similar encampments around the country. As at Columbia, those other protests often prompted a major police response.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik previously asked the NYPD to maintain a presence on campus past May 15. She said her administration tried negotiating with the student protesters but they crossed a line by occupying the Hamilton Hall building last week.

Many students said they were disappointed their families wouldn’t be able to see them in their caps and gowns at the large ceremony, which is typically held on the same lawn that the protesters' tents and pro-Palestinian signs recently covered. Foreign students said arranging travel for family from abroad was particularly challenging.

“Usually people need to [get] the United States visa, and it’s really a hustle because there’s a couple forms and then you have to go in for an appointment,” said Yaqun Zhang, a 28-year-old Columbia business student from China.

She said university leaders had failed to facilitate a dialogue about the Israel-Hamas war. On October 7, Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government. Israel responded by invading Gaza, and more than 34,000 people have been killed, according to health officials in Gaza.

Schools in New York City and around the country are grappling with how to hold their commencement events due to the campus protests. The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation ceremony last month. And over the weekend, the University of Michigan’s commencement featured students expressing support for Palestinians, though their protests were away from the stage and didn’t disrupt the event.

Last week, commencement speakers at CUNY Law School — which for months struggled to find a venue for their ceremony until reaching an agreement with the Apollo Theater — withdrew from the ceremony scheduled for May 23. The law school became engulfed in controversy after last year’s commencement speaker criticized Israel.

ACLU President Deborah Archer was slated to speak but said in a statement that “I cannot, as a leader of the nation’s oldest guardian of free expression, participate in an event in which students believe that their voices are being excluded.”

At Columbia, some faculty and staff are organizing their own graduation celebration on May 16, dubbed the "People’s Ceremony." In a survey obtained by Gothamist, organizers said the ceremony will “center on justice” and noted the event is not organized or sanctioned by the university's administration.

Columbia Business School student Devin Mulcahy, 31, said he was not surprised school officials decided to cancel the big ceremony.

“It was really disappointing that it's gotten to this point, but understanding that’s in the context of two really major wars going on at the moment,” Mulcahy said. “So when you kind of zoom out, this problem isn’t that bad when you think about it."

This story has been updated with additional information.