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Campus Tour

Experience University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

Virtually explore University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus in a fully immersive 360-degree experience.

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Schedule a Visit

At Pitt, you’ll find countless opportunities to do college your way, starting with your campus visit. The University Office of Admissions and Financial Aid offers programs to meet every student’s style and preferences: In-person tours for both individuals and small groups, on-campus admissions and financial aid programs, and a variety of virtual visit options. No matter which you choose as you customize your own personal campus visit, you’ll get to experience what it feels like to be a Pitt Panther.

Please schedule your University tour here.

We appreciate your interest in the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, and invite you to visit us!

Selecting the engineering school that is right for you is a crucial decision, and one of the most important steps in this process is a campus visit. We offer both in-person and virtual visit options. Please note registration for our engineering tours and panels is required. Please make your reservation and register for a panel today! If you have questions, please contact the Pitt Engineering Recruitment Office at [email protected] .

In-Person Engineering Tours:

Engineering tours take place in Benedum Hall, the home of the Swanson School of Engineering, and include an information session facilitated by current engineering students, the Engineering Ambassadors.

For the most up to date tour schedule, please refer to the In-Person Visits page.

Virtual Tour

For those interested in seeing Benedum Hall from home, explore the virtual tour ! You can see what Pitt engineering has to offer through 3D images of some of our classrooms, research and teaching labs, and makerspaces.

Virtual Engineering Panels:

The panels are hosted by our Pitt Engineering Ambassadors and a member of the recruitment team.

Select Mondays at 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

In addition to a Swanson School of Engineering virtual panel, you have the option to go on a campus tour hosted by the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, sample a Pitt class as well as register for other Schools or departmental sessions such as Study Abroad or Pitt Honors information sessions.

Meet a Pitt Engineering Ambassador:

If you are interested in what it’s like to be a current student, the Pitt Engineering Ambassadors are great representatives. They are current undergraduate students who are living the life of a Pitt engineer every day. If you are interested in communicating with a Pitt Engineering Ambassador, email us at [email protected] and our team can arrange a one-on-one meeting.

Please note, our engineering panels and ambassador meetings are only offered when classes are in session. There are no engineering tours/information sessions during University holidays, breaks or recesses for Pitt students (i.e. Thanksgiving Break, Winter break, Spring, Break, etc.), please see and check our  Academic Calendar  first, then with the other offices on campus that you plan to visit to ensure you schedule appropriately.

There will be no engineering tours/information sessions offered during:

• Weekday Admission Events such as Blue and Gold Days, Admitted Student Days, and Honors Days
• Thanksgiving Recess
• Winter Recess
• Martin Luther King Day
• Spring Break Week
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day (4th of July)

There are also recruitment events which are held in conjunction with the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid (OAFA) held at various times throughout the year (fall, spring and summer). For more information, please visit  OAFA Come Visit webpage .

The engineering panel and information sessions are geared toward prospective freshmen students, however prospective transfer students are welcome.

Prospective transfer students are strongly encouraged to schedule a one-on-one appointment with the Coordinator of Transfer Student Services by emailing [email protected] .

Campus Tour

With photos, links, and map locations for than 200 Pittsburgh campus facilities, the campus tour includes a 360-degree virtual tour, access to campus webcams, a general photo tour plus tours focusing on research labs, residence halls, the Cathedral of Learning, and sustainability. It also includes a basic campus map.

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We are pleased to welcome prospective students and families to our beautiful mountain top campus!

Personal Campus Visits

Your visit will include a tour of campus with a Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cat Ambassador and a conversation with a member of the Admissions Team. Tours are available on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am, 12:00pm, and 2:00pm.  On Tuesday and Thursday tours are offered at 9:30am, 11:00am, and 2:00pm.

In-Person Campus Visit: Register Here!

Summer Open Houses

You’re invited to join us for a day of exploration, learning, and a peek at what your future could hold! 

Explore our beautiful 655-acre campus with a student ambassador as your guide. Hear from faculty and staff about our commitment to affordability, supportive living-learning environment, and outstanding student success record. By the end of the day, we hope you decide Pitt-Johnstown is the right fit for you.​ Download Agenda

• Friday, July 26
• Friday, August 9

​ Register Today!

Saturday Preview Days

Can’t make it to see our beautiful 655-acre campus during the week, join us for a Saturday visit!   The Preview Day program will include a campus tour with a student ambassador and an opportunity to meet with an admissions counselor. Check-in time 9:45 a.m. at the John P. Murtha Center for Public Service and National Competitiveness. The program will begin at 10:00 a.m. Download Agenda

Saturday, May 18th

Register Today!

Virtual Visits

Can’t make it to campus? Join us for a virtual visit. 

Virtual Admission & Financial Aid Presentation Mondays at 4:00pm

Join members of the Admissions Welcome Center for a live discussion about how Pitt-Johnstown gets you Real World Ready! This interactive session will also cover applying to Pitt-Johnstown and how to make your Pitt-Johnstown affordable with our generous suite of financial aid offerings.

Virtual Visits: Register Here!

Admitted Student Next Step Q&A with Admission Counselors 

• Wednesdays at 4:00pm

Our Admission staff will conduct weekly presentations that will discuss the Next Steps of the enrollment process and answer any questions. Presentations will include prepping admitted students for Academic Planning Day, Applying for On-Campus Housing, Student Engagement, etc. 

Register for Next Steps Presentation

Online Tour

Experience Pitt-Johnstown by exploring our beautiful campus from the comfort of your home!  Have specific questions about your application, financial aid, or just want to know more about Pitt-Johnstown?   Contact the Admissions Welcome Center  to talk with a member of our team.

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Faculty and staff members socialize with colleagues in this urban oasis, enjoying fine dining, a fitness center, library and reading room, and lounge. The building also houses banquet and conference facilities, as well as housing for families of hospital patients.

Constructed in 1923 to house a private social club, the building was purchased in 2005 by Pitt. Following an extensive renovation, it was reopened as Pitt’s University Club in 2009.

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Click the moving image above to open our campus tour experience!

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Pitt students, spurred by Gaza, pledge days of divestment activism on campus

S tudents at the University of Pittsburgh are staging a multi-day demonstration in support of Palestinian liberation, a protest mirroring campus movements erupting nationwide that have led to hundreds of student and protester arrests. 

At least 50 students, faculty and community members had gathered on a portion of the lawn outside the Cathedral of Learning by early Tuesday afternoon. They had laid protest signs and led chants of “free, free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The students are going to avoid arrests and comply with any university orders to leave, said organizer and recent Pitt graduate Samuel Weiner. 

The protest is planned to last through noon on Friday. It was organized by a collective of students that have posted under the name “Pitt Divest from Apartheid,” according to a press release and Instagram post about the protest. The organizers are demanding the “full disclosure of all university investments in the Israeli apartheid regime.” A small number of pro-Israel students also assembled nearby but did not directly engage the protesters.

“I think that everyone deserves human rights. I think the problem that I have is, I lived in Israel for probably over a year, and it just hurts me to see the anti-semitism going around other universities,” Jakubowitz said.

The organizers are also calling for Pitt’s “full material divestment” from any entities associated with Israel, as well as “an acknowledgement of genocide” in Gaza from the administration. PublicSource has asked the university to detail any financial ties to Israel. 

The protest was sparked by others nationwide and “developed as a need to divest from apartheid and genocide and war-profiteering,” Weiner said. “We’ve had talks with university admin, specifically in the investment office, that have gone nowhere. So we’re out here in solidarity with the Palestinians that are being genocided to say that we’re willing to risk stuff if we need to.”

“We’re not here to cause any disruption. We, as students, know the university can suspend you,” he continued. “For me, it’s extremely small compared to, you know, no universities in [Gaza] remain standing.”

For much of the morning, the protesters were quietly mingling, many sitting with laptops open as finals week loomed. They sat on yoga mats and blankets, and brought cardboard boxes of chips, dozens of water bottles and books on mutual aid and caste structures, among other items. There was at least one tarp that appeared to be for a tent, although it had not been constructed. 

The protest began at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to an Instagram post. Protesters initially gathered inside the Cathedral of Learning but moved outside partially because administrators were saying they couldn’t put signs up in certain areas and because of the expected crowd size, Weiner said.

Students at Columbia University in New York are entering their seventh day of protest, continuing their demonstration after more than 100 were arrested last week. The university’s president announced Tuesday that classes will be held virtually for the rest of the semester as tensions rise on campus. More than 150 people were arrested at New York University on Monday night in a similar protest. 

Today at Pitt, at least five police officers stood at a distance from the protesters, including the police chief, who was in plain clothing. Around noon, rumblings began among the protesters that the university would be requiring them to leave. 

Sam Schmidt, a local activist and former Allegheny County Council candidate, attended the protest as a legal observer to ensure students’ free speech rights were upheld. Schmidt said administrators told students that the protest was advertised as a campus event and therefore could only be held on the lawn for four hours. At that time, the protest was approaching its sixth hour. 

“We haven’t seen anything in writing, and they’re unable to cite anything,” Schmidt said. While noting it was beyond their purview to tell students how to protest, they added, “I would hope that the university, if they choose to discipline students internally or prosecute them for crimes, that they are able to cite this stuff.”

Shortly after, one organizer took a microphone and told the crowd that the group does not recommend that demonstrators engage in actions that could lead to arrests. However, if protesters do — presumably by continuing to occupy the lawn — the organizer said that “the maximum charge that you will be charged for is a misdemeanor. Anything else is a complete stretch.” 

“If any individual arrests happen, what is going to occur is that you will be taken to a holding cell for a couple of hours and then you will be released. Anything besides that is incredibly unlikely,” the organizer said.

As of mid-afternoon, students remain on the lawn and no arrests or punishment has occurred. 

Two people held flags for Israel and played music from a loudspeaker on the sidewalk adjoining the lawn where students were camped. About five community members and students stood beside them. Apart from the music, they largely did not engage directly with the pro-Palestine demonstrators. 

Among the people on the sidewalk were Misha Trosman and Alexa Jakubowitz, both students at Pitt. Trosman said he does not take issue with the students peacefully protesting but does not want “to let this get to the scale where Jewish students feel unsafe on their own campus.” 

“I’ve seen what’s happening at Columbia and Yale and other schools around the country. And these protests start off small, and they turn into chants that state ‘death to Israel,’ swastikas being drawn,” Trosman said. “I want them to understand that we are here, we’re not going anywhere. We have the right to exist as much as they do.”

Jakubowitz said she would not describe herself as a counter-protester and added that “there are extremists on both sides” of the national discourse around the war in Gaza. She thinks the university should recognize both Israeli and Palestinian casualties and punish speech on campus that is intended to harm students on either side.

Emma Folts covers higher education at PublicSource, in partnership with Open Campus. She can be reached at  [email protected] .

The post Pitt students, spurred by Gaza, pledge days of divestment activism on campus appeared first on PublicSource . PublicSource is a nonprofit news organization serving the Pittsburgh region. Visit www.publicsource.org to read more.

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Pitt is launching an Office of Sustainability in the Health Sciences

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Students come out of Pitt’s health science programs knowing how to care for their patients. A new effort will ensure they emerge knowing how to care for the planet, too. In conjunction with Earth Day 2024, University of Pittsburgh officials announced the opening of a new Office of Sustainability in the Health Sciences.

“Given that health care and associated research are responsible for approximately 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and represent the second-largest industry contributing to landfill waste worldwide, it’s imperative that we increase education, awareness and implementation of environmentally sustainable measures across all our mission areas,” said Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and John and Gertrude Petersen Dean of the School of Medicine.

“In addition to collaborating with the curriculum committee to offer a combination of coursework and experiential learning related to sustainability, this office will lead efforts to generate increased funding for sustainability research and interface with Pitt and community partners focused on environmental justice and dismantling climate change-related health inequities.”

The new office will oversee sustainability efforts in Pitt’s six schools of the Health Sciences, led by Michael Boninger (pictured above), a School of Medicine professor who also serves as associate dean for sustainability for the school and chief medical sustainability officer at UPMC, among other appointments across the teaching-hospital system and the University. The office’s assistant dean is Noe Woods , a School of Medicine assistant professor and chair of Clinicians for Climate Action.

[Read more in Pitt Med magazine: Greening the med school.]

Partnering with the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Sustainability and the UPMC Center for Sustainability, the new office will represent both the University and the teaching-hospital system in the National Academy of Medicine’s prestigious Climate Collaborative. This reinforces Pitt’s commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and creating climate-resilient infrastructure, while incorporating sustainability into health sciences education. Other higher-education members include NYU Langone Health and the universities of California and Michigan.

Beyond the National Academy of Medicine’s Climate Collaborative, the Pitt office also will play a role new to the University: In coordination with the Office of Sustainability in the Health Sciences, the School of Public Health will be part of a novel Pennsylvania One Health consortium, serving as the coordinating academic institution of a group that includes Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania. One Health is a national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention effort that collaborates with state agencies and community leaders to address One Health initiatives through a transdisciplinary portfolio of research, education and community outreach across Pennsylvania.

“The new Office of Sustainability will accelerate the transdisciplinary opportunities across the health sciences,” said Maureen Lichtveld , dean of the School of Public Health.

We need to nurture the planet, just like we nurture our patients. Noe Woods

The University has robust sustainability and  climate action plans, including pursuing carbon neutrality by 2037. As part of the Earth Day event, Aurora Sharrard , Pitt’s assistant vice chancellor for sustainability, announced that solar panels will be placed on the roof of Alan Magee Scaife Hall, home to the School of Medicine, in the next year.

“It will generate electricity equivalent to that used by 23 homes annually,” she said during the event. “Rooftop solar on Scaife Hall and two other health sciences buildings currently under construction will also help the University further reduce global and local air pollutants and improve their cascading health benefits.”

The establishment of this office for the schools of the health sciences and medicine deepens Pitt’s commitment to balancing equity, environment and economics so current and future generations can thrive.

“From medical to pharmacy to athletic training, our students want to learn more about practicing and living more sustainably,” Boninger said. “Our office will work to incorporate sustainability throughout the health science curriculums and offer new hands-on interdisciplinary opportunities to learn.”

Just over a year into its existence, the UPMC Center for Sustainability has made tremendous progress thanks to a broad range of ideas being generated by staff members and leaders in nearly every department. One example: The hospital system eliminated the use of desflurane, a greenhouse gas commonly used as a general anesthetic to help patients achieve a deep sleep for surgery. UPMC introduced alternative intravenous medications and inhaled gases that are safe and effective as well as more environmentally friendly.

Boninger said UPMC’s clinicians and staff are working hard to decrease the environmental impact of a network that includes 40 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient sites and offices.

“The goal of this office is to graduate students with the ecoliteracy, expansive thinking and passion needed to fundamentally rethink the way we practice medicine,” Woods said. “We have to build a health care system that highly values the legacy it creates for the environment. We need to nurture the planet, just like we nurture our patients.”

 “With the University of Pittsburgh’s sustainability timeline stretching back over three decades, we are truly on a journey to embed sustainability throughout the University,"  said Sharrard. "Today’s new, deeper commitment by the schools of health sciences is an important milestone in the ongoing expansion of University-wide sustainability strategy, activities and partnerships both academically and operationally. We are excited for Pitt Health Sciences to further advance Pitt’s sustainability efforts by embedding sustainability into research, the curriculum and the built environment.”

— Chuck Finder, photography by Tom Altany

Here are the speakers for Pitt’s graduate school commencement ceremonies

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Moscow maze weaves history with future

By MICHAEL MASTROIANNI January 19, 2005

People who have lived in Moscow their entire lives still have not seen all of it.

The city… People who have lived in Moscow their entire lives still have not seen all of it.

The city itself is the fourth largest in the world, with an official population of 11.5 million, but commuters and unregistered residents swell the metropolitan area to an estimated 20 million people. The streets, buildings and territory have been added to and built upon for more than 850 years, forming an impenetrable maze.

I arrive in the Russian capital from St. Petersburg, a thoroughly organized city built all at once. In short, St. Petersburg appears artificial. Moscow grew up and grew big over time, much like a tree, expanding its branches and roots throughout the soil.

The roots are the city’s extensive subway networks, 10 lines that weave under the city with a circular route connecting them all. Moscow subway stations are unlike the stereotypical dark and dingy stops seen in New York or Washington, D.C. Many of Moscow’s stations look like museums or shrines to famous Russians.

Pushkinskaya Station is dedicated to the notable poet Aleksandr Pushkin. Mendelevskaya Station hangs designs of molecules and atoms from its ceiling, honoring Dmitri Mendelev, the Russian scientist who developed the periodic table.

Although subway service is reliable now, a joke from the Soviet area says, “Moscow can have beautiful subway stations because they never have trains.”

Now, the trains are running and their cars are usually packed to the doors. I am lucky enough to get a seat on my journey to the center of Moscow. Within two stops, the train car is filled to capacity.

An old woman, hunched over three shopping bags, limps onto the train and pushes into the crowd. I get up and offer her the seat, but she insists on standing. The men in the car look at me as if I am insane. I suppose that one of the subway rules is “everyone for themselves.”

I emerge into the sun at Okhotny Ryad Station, next to Red Square and the heart of Moscow. I picked the wrong day to see the area. The streets are swarming with officers of the MVD, the national police. A concert is being planned, and Red Square is barricaded for security reasons.

For more than a decade, Russians have been at war with the southern breakaway republic of Chechnya. Before Sept. 11, 2001, the Russians were fighting a war on terror on their own ground. Several bombings took place in Moscow streets and subways, and the Chechen siege of a Moscow musical theater in October 2002 ended in disaster when 129 people died after federal troops gassed the theater. Last year’s attacks on airliners and an elementary school in southern Russia killed more than 400 people, and the Russian people see no end to violence in sight.

Around Red Square, the streets are lined with trash. Public garbage cans were removed because they were ideal places to hide bombs. The line to visit the Kremlin, the ancient seat of the Russian government, often takes six hours because of the metal detectors and search procedures. During special events, police barricades make travel in the city difficult.

I walk around the blockades to the Moscow River, where the towers of the Kremlin are reflected in the water. As the skies darken, the lights of buses and cars on the highway below blur, and St. Basil’s Cathedral, the hallmark building of Moscow, is illuminated by spotlights from Red Square and the Kremlin.

Nearby, a woman wanders around, looking as if she is lost. I ask her, in broken Russian, if she is all right, and she replies in French that a man stole her purse and she cannot find the rest of her tour group. We walk to the barricades, where she tells me what happened in French, which I relate to an MVD officer in English. He translates her story into Russian for his commander. I imagine how confused the commander must be by the time the information is in his native language.

After the French woman has been taken care of and Yevgeny, the English-speaking officer, is off duty, he asks me to join him for a drink. We get back on the subway at Ploshchad Revolutsii Station, a monument to the 1917 Communist revolution. It is still decorated with Soviet icons and symbols.

“No more of that for us,” Yevgeny says.

He takes me to a small tavern far outside the city, near Ryazansky Prospekt. The scene is much like an American bar. A group of portly men, each with a can of Baltika beer, watches a soccer match on a small television. A young man and woman make out at a corner table. Yevgeny’s entrance draws everyone’s attention momentarily, as would be expected with a policeman. They focus on me, however, a foreigner penetrating their inner sanctum. The men grimace briefly and chuckle to each other.

I had only one option: I bought everyone a drink.

It was not that expensive; a draft beer costs only 30 rubles (about $1). The men lightened up and began arguing about sports with me, through Yevgeny’s laborious translation. One could not understand the virtues of American football over soccer, although he did like that “it’s a mock war, since everyone beats each other up.”

One man was a professor at Moscow State University before communism fell in Russia. He bragged that the university’s main building was the only school building in the world taller than the Cathedral of Learning.

“I think Moscow cheated,” I asserted, “because there’s a tall antenna on top.”

He became ominous for a moment, but that was cured by another beer and telling him that even without the tallest schoolhouse in the world, Moscow would have enough attraction for a lifetime.

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April 26, 2024 - Protests at Columbia and other schools escalate

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Dalia Faheid, Aya Elamroussi, Nouran Salahieh, Samantha Delouya, Aditi Sangal and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Our live coverage of the protests has moved here .

NYPD says "outside agitators" at Columbia are "trying to hijack a peaceful protest"

From CNN’s Josh Campbell

"Outside agitators" at Columbia are "trying to hijack a peaceful protest," New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry said Friday night.

“What may have started as a group of Columbia students wanting to express their constitutional right to protest has drawn crowds of outside agitators who are trying to hijack a peaceful protest and turn it something far more sinister,” Daughtry  posted on X.

The commissioner added the NYPD has seen the same groups of “professional protestors” demonstrating nightly “at various demonstrations regardless of the message.”

Daughtry reiterated the NYPD is ready to intervene and address issues on Columbia’s campus as soon as the university’s president gives them the go-ahead.

Pro-Palestinian protests continue at campuses across the US. Here’s the latest

Pro-Palestinian protests continued at major US universities through Friday evening decrying Israel's bombardment of Gaza.

Throughout the week, several schools called police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across the country. Protesters have demanded schools divest campus funds from entities connected to Israel.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel killed about 1,200 people.

College administrators are facing increasing pressure from lawmakers to rein in protests. At Columbia - the epicenter of the demonstrations - the school's senate passed a resolution late Friday to investigate the university leadership’s handling of the protests. 

Here are the latest developments:

Arizona State University: Police at Arizona State University arrested three people Friday on suspicion of trespassing "in connection with setting up an unauthorized encampment," a university spokesperson said.

Barnard College: The school said it reached resolutions with “nearly all students who were previously placed on interim suspension” for participating in the protest encampment on Columbia’s campus.

Columbia University: The university banned a student spokesperson for the Columbia University Apartheid Divest coalition who said in January “Zionists don’t deserve to live.” He subsequently apologized.

Denver campuses: At a joint campus for the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver and Metropolitan State University of Denver, around 40 of the approximately 100 people who set up a pro-Palestinian encampment were arrested Friday, the campus said in a statement.

Emory University: Faculty gathered on campus to express concerns about the violent arrests that took place on campus on Thursday, with tenured professors calling for the university's president, Gregory Fenves, to step down over the decision to call in state and local police to clear out the protesters. 

George Washington University: The university said Friday that any student who remains in University Yard may be placed on temporary suspension and administratively barred from campus.

Ohio State University: A total of 36 demonstrators were arrested Thursday night after refusing dispersal orders, according to a preliminary report from the university.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: More than 75 students gathered Friday to set up an encampment at the school, demanding the university divest from corporations that invest in Israel and its military operations.

University of Southern California: School president Carol L. Folt said  in a statement the campus has become unsafe and the university will launch an inquiry and take action to protect all USC students, faculty and staff.

University of Texas at Austin: The school has placed the Palestine Solidarity Committee on "interim suspension." The group organized Wednesday's event, where over 50 arrests ensued.

Virginia Tech: School officials on Friday issued a statement about an encampment on campus, saying they told protesters the event does not comply with university policy.

Yale University: One letter from the  Faculty for Justice in Palestine  organization criticized student arrests this week and said faculty are prepared to stage walkouts and boycott Yale’s graduation ceremonies. Another letter  denounced Yale's administration  for failing "in your responsibility to protect the Jewish students, staff and faculty at Yale." 

Around 40 people were arrested for establishing encampment at joint campus of 3 universities in Denver

From CNN's Sarah Dewberry, Lucy Kafanov and Taylor Romine

Around 40 of the approximately 100 people who set up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the Auraria Campus in Denver were arrested Friday, the campus said in a statement. 

The campus  is home to  the University of Colorado Denver, Community College of Denver as well as the Metropolitan State University of Denver. The arrests were made by Auraria Higher Education Center Police and the Denver Police Department.

"While those who gathered at the onset of Thursday’s protest did so peacefully, some participants established an encampment as the demonstration progressed, which violates those policies," a the campus said.

Campus and education department officials directed students to dismantle and leave the encampment, and after "protestors did not comply after numerous written and verbal requests, law enforcement stepped in at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Friday to remove the encampments," the campus statement continued.

Barnard College reaches "resolution" with students placed on interim suspension

From CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian

Barnard College said it reached resolutions with “nearly all students who were previously placed on interim suspension” for participating in the protest encampment on Columbia’s campus.

The college “immediately restored full access for these students to residence halls, dining facilities, classrooms, and other parts of campus,” according to a statement from the school released Friday.

At least 55 Barnard students were placed on interim suspension for participating in Columbia’s protest encampment, according to a  statement  from Barnard’s Student Government Association. 

Barnard College declined to comment on the number of students suspended.

Columbia's senate passes resolution to investigate administration’s handling of Pro-Palestinian protests

From CNN’s Maria Sole Campinoti

Columbia University's senate voted in favor of a resolution to create a task force to investigate the university leadership's handling of Pro-Palestinian protests on campus, according to documents obtained by CNN.

The resolution passed Friday alleges, among other things, that the administration jeopardized academic freedom, breached privacy and due process of students and faculty members and violated shared governance principles by calling for police intervention on campus, according to documents on the meeting. 

After the investigation, the task force will present its findings and recommendations to the university's senate to determine further actions and take the necessary steps to address the alleged misconduct of the administration, according to the documents. 

Some context: The decision comes after the school and university president Minouche Shafik faced criticism from students, faculty and left-leaning lawmakers after Shafik authorized the New York Police Department to shut down student protests on campus, which have urged school leaders to cut off economic and academic ties to Israel. At the same time, students, religious groups and right-leaning lawmakers have said the administration has failed to stop antisemitism inside Columbia’s campus and at protests outside its gates, CNN  previously reported .

Columbia's senate represents people on campus, including faculty, researchers, students, administration and more, according to the school's website . The body has the authority to make policies on a variety of issues that affect the school.

3 people arrested in connection with setting up an encampment at Arizona State University

From CNN’s Taylor Romine

Police at Arizona State University arrested three people Friday “for trespassing in connection with setting up an unauthorized encampment, in violation of university policy,” a university spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

“Demonstrations, protests and expressions of free speech are protected at Arizona State University, consistent with the First Amendment. Peaceful expression of views is always acceptable – but demonstrations cannot disrupt university operations,” the statement says.

Encampments, unless they are part of an approved event, are prohibited by the university, the spokesperson said in an earlier statement.

USC president says school became unsafe and that she took steps to protect the community amid protests

From CNN's Stephanie Becker and Nick Watt 

The University of Southern California needed to "act immediately to protect our community" when it came to protests on campus this week, school president Carol L. Folt said  in a statement .

 "This week, Alumni Park became unsafe. No one wants to have people arrested on their campus. Ever," she said. "But, when long-standing safety policies are flagrantly violated, buildings vandalized, DPS directives repeatedly ignored, threatening language shouted, people assaulted, and access to critical academic buildings blocked, we must act immediately to protect our community."

The university has "long-standing protocols that allow for peaceful protesting" and has been working with the school community to ensure they are followed during the school year, Folt said.

"The current pressures and polarization have taken a toll in ways that break my heart," she said. "I know Trojans will do what they have always done: share points of view, listen, search for common ground – and find ways to support each other."

She encouraged anyone in the campus community experiencing harassment or bullying to report it to the school, saying it would launch an inquiry and take action to protect students, faculty and staff "no matter their views."

Columbia student protest leader banned from campus after saying "Zionists don’t deserve to live"

From CNN’s John Towfighi

Columbia University has banned one of the students leading the university’s pro-Palestinian protests, a university spokesperson told CNN on Friday.  

Khymani James, a student spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition, acknowledged in a post on X that he said, “Zionists don’t deserve to live,” saying it was from an Instagram Live video taken in January.

“I misspoke in the heat of the moment, for which I apologize," James wrote.

“I want to make clear that calls of violence and statements targeted at individuals based on their religious, ethnic or national identity are unacceptable and violate university policy,” the university spokesperson said.

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Here’s Where Pro-Palestinian Protests Have Embroiled U.S. Campuses

A crackdown on demonstrators at Columbia University in New York spawned a wave of activism at universities across the country, with more than 700 arrests.

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By Anna Betts

• April 28, 2024

Police officers and university administrators have clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters on a growing number of college campuses across the country in recent days, arresting students, removing encampments and threatening academic consequences.

The fresh wave of student activism against the war in Gaza was sparked by the arrest of at least 108 protesters at Columbia University on April 18, after administrators appeared before Congress and promised a crackdown. Since then, police interventions on several campuses, including in some of America’s largest cities, have led to more than 700 arrests.

Campus Protests Since Wednesday, April 17

Protests where arrests have taken place

Other protests

Note: Data as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on April 27

By Bora Erden, Lazaro Gamio, Helmuth Rosales, Julie Walton Shaver and Anjali Singhvi

Here is where arrests have been reported as the authorities attempt to break up protests or encampments:

Columbia University : The New York City Police Department arrested 108 demonstrators while clearing an encampment at the Manhattan campus on April 18.

Yale University in New Haven, Conn.: The police arrested 60 people on Monday, including 47 Yale students, after they refused to leave an encampment on campus.

New York University in Manhattan: Officers made dozens of arrests late Monday after students occupied a plaza on campus.

University of Minnesota in Minneapolis: Nine people were taken into custody after they erected an encampment on Tuesday. All of those affiliated with the university were allowed back on campus and civil trespass warnings were “set aside.”

University of South Carolina in Columbia: Two students were arrested after a protest on Tuesday, according to a police report.

University of Southern California in Los Angeles: The police arrested 93 people at a demonstration on Wednesday afternoon.

University of Texas at Austin : The police arrested 57 protesters on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the county attorney’s office said charges against many had been dropped after the office found legal “deficiencies” in their arrests.

Emerson College in Boston: The police arrested 118 people as an encampment was cleared on Wednesday night, the authorities said.

Ohio State University in Columbus: A university official said that 36 people, including 16 students, were arrested on Thursday. Earlier in the week, two students were arrested during an on-campus demonstration, university officials said.

Emory University in Atlanta: At least 28 people were arrested on Thursday morning, an Emory official said; 20 had ties to the school.

Indiana University Bloomington : On Thursday, the university police said 33 people were removed from an encampment and taken to jail. There were 23 more arrests on Saturday, the police said.

Princeton University in New Jersey: Two graduate students were arrested after pitching tents on Thursday.

University of Connecticut in Storrs: Campus police officers removed at least one tent from a rally on Thursday and took at least one person into custody, a university official said.

California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt : Protesters have occupied two buildings on the campus in Arcata, Calif., university officials said. Three people were arrested there this week.

Auraria Campus in Denver: About 40 people were arrested on Friday at a campus that houses facilities for the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver, the campus police said.

University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign : Social media posts on Friday showed police officers detaining at least one person and taking down an encampment.

Arizona State University in Tempe: A university official said 69 people were arrested early Saturday after protesters set up an encampment. Three people were also arrested on Friday.

Northeastern University in Boston: The Massachusetts State Police said that 102 protesters were arrested on Saturday. Earlier in the day, the university said that among those who were detained, students who showed their university IDs were released.

Washington University in St. Louis : On Saturday, more than 80 arrests were made and the campus was locked down, according to university officials. The presidential candidate Jill Stein was among the arrests.

Halina Bennet, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs , Robert Chiarito , Jill Cowan , Matthew Eadie , Colbi Edmonds , Jacey Fortin , J. David Goodman , Johnna Margalotti, Erin Nolan , Jenna Russell , Edgar Sandoval and Jonathan Wolfe contributed reporting.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated when students at Princeton started to pitch tents. They erected tents on Thursday, not Wednesday.

How we handle corrections

Anna Betts reports on national events, including politics, education, and natural or man-made disasters, among other things. More about Anna Betts

How the Columbia protests sparked campus demonstrations across the country

It just added fuel to the fire.

The decision by Columbia University’s president, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, to call in the New York Police Department to clear pro-Palestinian protesters from the campus last week appears to have sparked the spate of increasingly strident demonstrations that have erupted at universities in New York City and across the country in recent days, students and faculty members said.

Since Thursday, when police arrested 108 Columbia University demonstrators, including Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, similar protests have erupted on campuses across the country, from New York University and Yale University to the University of Illinois and out west to the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California, which shut its gates late Wednesday because of the growing demonstrations.

The encampment at Columbia sprung up April 17, the day Shafik was grilled about on-campus antisemitism by the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Shafik faced questions about her handling of antisemitism on campus after Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 alongside two members of Columbia’s Board of Trustees and the head of its antisemitism task force. The next day, Shafik had police clear the encampment; more than 100 protesters were arrested.

That got Rachel, 19, a Columbia student who asked to be identified only by her first name because of fear of retaliation or suspension by the school, off the fence and into one of the tents that pro-Palestinian demonstrators had raised on the campus in upper Manhattan.

“I think that that was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back, because students had already been feeling incredibly suppressed and censored by President Shafik,” Rachel said.

Noting that the last time a Columbia University president summoned the police to disperse student demonstrators was back in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, Rachel said what she called Shafik’s attempt to intimidate them was backfiring.

“Movements inherently boil when they’re facing extra suppression,” she said.

The Columbia students protesting the war have demanded that the school cut financial ties with Israel and divest from Israeli companies. And they have inspired students across the country to do the same.

“This is about solidarity," said Alex, a Jewish student at the University of Michigan who is part of the pro-Palestinian movement and asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. "We have colleges all across the nation performing a synchronized act because we work together. This is a collective movement far beyond the United States."

Organizers say they were also inspired by protests against the apartheid government of South Africa that an earlier generation of Michigan students took part in.

“It’s never been bigger than it is right now,” said a masked male organizer, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. “We’ve seen that this has been effective in achieving concessions from the administration towards divestment from Israel, apartheid and genocide.”

But it has also sparked a backlash, particularly from politicians on the right who have been urging university administrators to crack down hard on the protesters.

"You have to have law and order on campus," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told NBC News' Stephanie Gosk after he met with Jewish students at Columbia. "Listen, taxpayer funding comes to institutions like this. The American people are demanding that we bring order to this chaos. We have this kind of thing mushrooming around the country right now."

Encampments have continued on Columbia's campus into this week, with Shafik calling for classes to be held virtually Monday and initially giving the demonstrators a deadline of midnight Tuesday to fold up their tents and disperse before she announced that conversations would continue over the next 48 hours without forcing the encampment to be removed.

“We are making important progress with representatives of the student encampment on the West Lawn,” a college spokesperson said.

Marianne Hirsch, a Columbia University English professor, said Shafik has been "squashing peaceful protest, squashing open debate, not allowing students to express their opinions and debate their opinions."

And the fact that Shafik summoned the police last Thursday, a day after she was questioned at the congressional hearing, is no coincidence, she said.

"I’m extremely concerned about antisemitism my entire life, and I’m extremely distressed right now to see how antisemitism is being weaponized and used, misused ... under the guise of safety and security," Hirsch, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, said Tuesday.

Later, Hirsch said she “cannot but agree this is motivated by trying to pacify congressional members who are trying to interfere in the running of this school.”

Early Monday, Shafik said that classes would be held virtually Monday and that school leaders would come together to discuss a way to bring an end to “this crisis.”

Several Jewish students at Columbia have told NBC News the antisemitism they experienced was very real and that they're steering clear of the campus for their own safety.

“The tension is so high,” said Itai Dreifuss, 25, a junior and an Israeli who says he has been spat on and taunted by campus protesters waving Hamas flags. “It’s definitely frustrating to be a part of this campus right now. You feel so helpless, and you feel so exposed.”

Speaking with reporters, Johnson said he heard that Jewish students had been "running for their lives."

Gosk challenged that assertion, telling Johnson that while some Jewish students she spoke with "are certainly afraid for their safety," they are "not running for their lives."

"I had standing room only with a house full of Jewish students talking about the intimidation and threats that they experienced," Johnson replied.

Sueda, a graduate student who helped organize the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia and asked to be identified only by her first name to avoid reprisals, said students escalated pressure on the university and started the tent encampments after previous forms of protest did not lead to the intended results.

"Have those protests yielded any material results from the university? Have they yielded an acknowledgment of the pain felt by Palestinians and by the community that is in solidarity with them? Have they yielded any statements of sorrow or regret by the university for their overly punitive treatment of pro-Palestinian students? No," she said.

Oren Root, a longtime New York City lawyer and Columbia University graduate who was at the school when anti-Vietnam War protests rocked it in 1968, said Shafik's summoning of police was "an extraordinary miscalculation."

"President Shafik and her advisers clearly didn't learn from history," said Root, who was a top editor at The Spectator, the Columbia student newspaper, in 1968 and 1969. “Calling in the cops was clearly a mistake. Things have not gotten any calmer.”

The decision in 1968 by university President Grayson Kirk to have the police forcibly remove protesters from the buildings they were occupying only inflamed the situation and tarnished Columbia's reputation for many years, Root said.

Root, who called for Shafik's resignation in an opinion piece in The Spectator on Monday , said Columbia also appears to have chosen a side in the Gaza battle.

In response, a spokesperson for Shafik did not address Root's criticisms or the calls for her resignation.

"President Shafik is focused on deescalating the rancor on Columbia’s campus," the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. "She is working across campus with members of the faculty, administration, and Board of Trustees, and with state, city, and community leaders, and appreciates their support."

New York police also arrested more than 100 protesters at NYU's Gould Plaza on Monday night.

Pro-Palestinian encampments have also been established at other schools that have been the sites of anti-Israel demonstrations, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said this week he believed "outside agitators" were using the Israel-Hamas war as an excuse to cause violence and mayhem in the city.

“We can’t have outside agitators come in and be destructive to our city," Adams said at a news conference Tuesday. "Someone wanted something to happen at that protest at NYU."

It was not clear how many of those arrested at Columbia were students and how many were outsiders. Police did not respond to two requests for comment on the arrests.

Meanwhile, a group of 25 Senate Republicans sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the Biden administration to address the protests across the nation.

“These pro-Hamas rioters have effectively shut down college campuses and have literally chased Jewish students away from our schools," the letter read. "You need to take action to restore order and protect Jewish students on our college campuses."

The letter did not ask Garland to take steps to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters.

Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.

Selina Guevara is an NBC News associate producer, based in Chicago.

Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.

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