On April 25th, dozens of protesters set up an encampment on the City College of New York’s campus. From there they demonstrated for almost a week, during which multiple concerning activities took place. These protesters made threatening statements towards faculty and the campus as a whole, chanted aggressive and possibly antisemitic slogans like “there is only one solution: an intifada revolution”, shot a flare that landed on the roof of the Marshak Science Building (causing a quarter of a million dollars worth of damage), and broke into the Wille Administration Building, among other disruptive activities. On April 30th, it took dozens of NYPD officers to secure the area and remove them from campus grounds.

Since April 30th all classes have been online until further notice. Multiple events meant to take place on campus this and next week were canceled, and some professors have already changed their class plans due to the campus closure and security concerns the demonstrations have introduced. Given these circumstances, we demand that the college keep our classes online for the remainder of the semester. 

Protests continue to happen outside college grounds, with seemingly over a hundred people attending the last one. In fact, CCNY’s SJP has stated multiple times that these demonstrations will continue until their demands are met. The spokesman for the CUNY Solidarity protests stated that “This revolution...it is for the free people of the world to resist…whether it be with a rock and other tools of liberation” (source: https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1786161995839840676 Additionally, it's possible that counter protesters may start demonstrating on campus as well, and we have seen how these situations have devolved on campuses across the country: protesters on both sides engaging in violent rhetoric and actions, police coming onto the scene to end the demonstrations, and a student population caught in the middle of it all. 

We cannot have our finals or our remaining lectures disrupted by protesters on either side, or an overbearing NYPD and campus security presence restricting our freedom in such a crucial moment. The college needs to move everything, including classes and tests, online so we can confidently manage the remaining course load and close out the academic year on a positive note.

Note that we are not talking about keeping the campus closed as there are vital resources that some students may need to access in the coming weeks. If needed, there are acceptable compromises that will limit our presence on campus during this dangerous time, including moving all exams/lectures online but keeping classes which require physical work in person. We hope that the administration will make the right choice, for the community’s sake.