- Johnson was heckled by Columbia University students during his visit to the Manhattan campus.
- 34 persons had been arrested, according to a post made on X by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
- The University of Southern California announced the closure of its campus.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson was heckled by Columbia University students during his visit to the Manhattan campus. The purpose of the demonstrations was to support Jewish students who were feeling threatened by certain anti-Israel protestors.
The visit by Johnson coincided with the university’s 48-hour deadline to agree on the removal of an encampment that had come to represent the protest movement on campus. Law enforcement responded to some of the protests occurring on campuses across the nation by using force.
U.S. House Speaker
A demonstration at the University of Texas in Austin was broken up by state highway patrol troopers in riot gear and horse-mounted police in Texas. 34 persons had been arrested, according to a post made on X by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
In addition to asking the Los Angeles Police Department to permit a rally, the University of Southern California announced the closure of its campus. One by one, students who had surrendered quietly were taken into custody by the police, hours after campus police who had broken up an encampment were besieged by demonstrators and called for assistance from the LAPD.
Additionally, students gave demonstrations at California State Polytechnic in Humboldt, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
More than 34,000 people have been murdered by Israeli strikes on civilians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities. Protesters have called for universities to withdraw from Israel and are attempting to exert pressure on the US government to curtail these operations.
Johnson was difficult to hear at Columbia because he talked into media microphones rather than loudspeakers, but the jeers and booing that met him did not silence him. On a campus seen as a liberal bastion, Johnson may have anticipated a chilly reception from students. PEN America, an organization that supports free speech, described the abrupt increase at the University of Texas as “deeply alarming.”
President Joe Biden feels that free speech, discussion, and nondiscrimination are crucial on college campuses, according to press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, as the political fallout reached the White House.
