“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 forego the university-wide ceremony that is scheduled for May 15,” the announcement said.
The university will focus its resources on those smaller-scale ceremonies and keeping them safe and respectful, it added.
“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. We are eager to all come together for our graduates and celebrate our fellow Columbians as they, and we, look ahead to the future,” the announcement said.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said last week that the police has arrested approximately 300 protesters at the campuses of Columbia University and the City College of New York amid pro-Palestine demonstrations across the United States.