Catherine Rusoff
A graduation ceremony at the University of Michigan on Saturday was briefly interrupted by dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters, as higher education institutions across the country holding graduations prepared for more demonstrations.
As the graduation ceremony began at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, protesters wearing kaffiyeh and graduation caps unfurled Palestinian flags and signs as they walked through the halls. They marched towards the stage chanting: “Regents, regents, you cannot hide! You are financing genocide!” the New York Times reported.
A protest banner read: “There are no universities left in Gaza.” Others were seen waving Israeli flags.
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Campus police blocked protesters from reaching the stage.
Above, a plane was seen flying over the ceremony with a banner that read: “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine.”
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Another plane carried a different message: “We support Israel. Jewish lives matter.”
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U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro paused a few times during his remarks, saying at one point, “Ladies and gentlemen, please turn your attention to the podium.”
No arrests were reported.
Before the graduation ceremony, the University of Michigan increased security measures – including screening and removing banners and flags. Tickets would be required for most events, CBS Detroit reported.
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Laurie McCauley, Michigan’s chief academic officer, told students and staff that the school respects free speech but “no one has the right to disrupt university activities.”
The university allowed protesters to set up a camp on campus, but police helped disperse a large gathering on Friday night and one person was arrested.
CBS News has reached out to the university for comment.
The continuous Israel-Hamas War caused generalization – in sometimes violent – demonstrations at colleges and universities all over the country in recent weeks.
In an attempt to avoid possible disruptions to final exams and graduation ceremonies, a small number of universities have reached agreements with protesters. The settlements at schools including Brown, Northwestern and Rutgers stand out amid the chaotic scenes and more than 2,400 arrests on 46 campuses across the country since April 17. Tent encampments and building takeovers have disrupted classes at some schools, including Columbia and UCLA.
The agreements included commitments by universities to review their investments in Israel or listen to calls to stop doing business with the former US ally. Many of the protesters’ demands focused on links with the Israeli military, as the war continues in Gaza.
The agreements to even discuss divestment mark a major shift in an issue that has been controversial for years, with opponents of a long-running campaign to boycott Israel saying This turns into anti-Semitism. But while colleges have made concessions around amnesty for protesters and funding for Middle East studies, they have not made promises about changing their investments.
“I think for some universities it may just be a delaying tactic to diffuse the protests,” said Ralph Young, a history professor who studies American dissent at Temple University in Philadelphia. “The end of the semester is happening now. And maybe when the next semester starts, there will be a ceasefire in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, arrests of protesters continued in other locations.
About a dozen protesters who refused police orders to leave a camp in New York University was arrested on Friday, and about 30 left voluntarily, said NYU spokesman John Beckman. The school asked the municipal police to intervene, he added.
NYPD officers also cleared an encampment at The New School in Greenwich Village at the request of school administrators. No arrests were announced.
Another 132 protesters were arrested when police broke up an encampment at the State University of New York at New Paltz on Thursday night, authorities said.
And nine were arrested at the University of Tennessee, including seven students who Chancellor Donde Plowman said would also be sanctioned under the school’s code of conduct.
The movement began on April 17 in Columbia, where student protesters built a camp to call for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.
More than 34,000 Palestinians were killed in the conflict in the Gaza Strip, according to the local Ministry of Health. Israel launched its offensive after October 7, when Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages in an attack on southern Israel.
