The leaders of tomorrow were followers of outsiders during the anti-Israel protests at New York City colleges, according to New York Police Department data.
Of the 282 demonstrators arrested when NYPD officers ended the occupation of a building at Columbia University and dispersed tent encampments at Columbia and the City College of New York, 134 had no connection to the schools, according to the New York Post.
At Columbia, 32 people arrested were not part of the university, while about 80 people were affiliated with the school, according to ABC News, citing NYPD data.
At City College, 102 people arrested had no ties to the school compared with 68 people who did have such connections.
"I know that there are those who are attempting to say, 'Well, the majority of the people have been students.' You don't have to be the majority to influence and co-opt an operation. That's what this is about," New York Mayor Eric Adams said.
"We're going to protect our city from those who are attempting to do what is happening globally," Adams said. "There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I'm not going to wait until it's done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it."
Rebecca Weiner, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said some familiar faces from the protest circuit were on campuses.
"These protests have been and are being influenced by external actors who are unaffiliated with the universities, some of whom have been known to our department and others for many years for their dangerous, disruptive and criminal activity associated with protests for years," Weiner said Tuesday.
"So, this is not about what's happening overseas, it's not about the last seven months. It's about a commitment to, at times, violent protest activity as an occupation," she said.
Other colleges also have pointed at outsiders as the reason campus protests went out of control, according to The Wall Street Journal.
New York University’s president said 68 of the 133 people arrested there on April 22 had no ties to the college.
The University of Texas, Austin said of the 79 people arrested there on Monday, 45 had no connection to the school.
The same was true of many of those arrested at other campuses.
Dozens of extremists were arrested at Arizona State @ASU on April 27 at the illegal encampment for Gaza. Administrators say most were not students nor faculty.
Ian Sherwood
Hady Aziz
Josef Britton
Fahim Saadat pic.twitter.com/SBeAIaC4jN
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) April 28, 2024
Does 39-year old Atah Othman look like a student protestor to you? He was arrested at the University of South Florida and faces four charges including possession of a firearm on school property, trespassing, unlawful assembly and resisting arrest. pic.twitter.com/Rsox21KOrm
— David Asman (@DavidAsmanfox) May 2, 2024
In a column in the New York Post, Rikki Schlott said colleges still need to face up to what happened on campus and make some changes.
"Students need to be taught how to express themselves with their words, not their fists or their tents. The free exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of a university. Everyone on campus needs to be informed of the social contract and buy into it," she wrote.
"It’s a university’s responsibility to cultivate a community where everyone understands what free speech is, why it’s important — and where its protections end," Schlott wrote.
"An ultra-selective Ivy League school should be a model for effective activism," she said. "Instead, the Columbia campers set an example in how to break the rules — and be self-righteous brats while at it."
