Columbia University's president said on Monday that talks with pro-Palestinian protesters who began camping on the Ivy League campus two weeks ago had failed, and urged them to voluntarily disperse, without saying what would happen if they did not.
President Nemat Minouche Shafik, whose administration was criticized by a campus oversight panel on Friday for its response to the protests, said in a statement that organizers and academic leaders could not reach an agreement that would break a stalemate over the encampment, which the administration says violates university rules.
She said Columbia would not divest assets that support Israel's military, a key demand of the protesters, but the school has offered to invest in health and education in Gaza, and to improve the transparency of Columbia's direct investment holdings, according to Shafik's statement.
Protesters have vowed to keep their encampment until their three demands are met: divestment, transparency in Columbia's finances and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests.
(Reuters)