Columbia University cancels main commencement after protests

Columbia University is canceling its large university-wide commencement ceremony following weeks of anti-Israel protests that have roiled its campus and others across the US, but it will hold smaller school-based ceremonies this week and next, the school announces.

“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 forgo the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” officials at the Ivy League school in upper Manhattan say in a statement.

Noting that the past few weeks have been “incredibly difficult” for the community, the school says 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 say. “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 say.