Columbia University on Monday canceled its school-wide commencement ceremony after weeks of disruptive and violent anti-Israel protests that brought campus life to a halt.
Instead, the Ivy League school said it would hold “smaller-scale, school-based celebrations.
“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 that is scheduled for May 15,” the Upper Manhattan school said in an announcement.
Robert Miller
Robert Miller
School spokesman Ben Chang added, “Holding a large commencement ceremony on our campus presented security concerns that unfortunately proved insurmountable.
“Like our students, we are deeply disappointed with this outcome.”
He said Columbia tried to come up with a different venue to still hold the traditional larger commencement but couldn’t find one large enough. More than 50,000 people typically attend the event.
None of the school’s smaller ceremonies will even be held on its iconic South Lawn, where such events are usually staged — and where hundreds of protesters were recently arrested for refusing to leave a massive tent encampment.
Most of the pared-down ceremonies will now take place about 5 miles away, at Columbia’s sports complex.
“It’s just more cowardice from an administration that’s been spineless throughout this s–t show,” a Jewish undergraduate student at Columbia griped to The Post.
“The last few weeks have been horrible for me, but deep down I still love this place,” he said. “It’s a beautiful campus, and I was really looking forward to graduating in the heart of it. I guess the pro-Hamas crowd got the final, ‘F–k you.’ ”
Ari Rosen, a 26-year-old student graduating from Columbia Dental School, added, “I lost my [undergraduate] graduation four years ago because of COVID, but then I told myself at least I’ll be able to graduate from dental school at Columbia.
“This was always on the back of my mind, and now to wake up to this news is really unexpected,” Rosen said of the cancellation. “This wasn’t just four years of hard work. This was eight years, undergraduate and dental school. I worked really hard for this.
“I thought it would be a nice celebration at the undergrad campus. My parents were going to come for it. To see it shut down for these protests is upsetting.”
The decision to nix the ceremony was made after consulting with graduating students, the university said.