State troopers are currently moving in on a protest camp at the University of Texas at Dallas
In California, the vice-chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles has reported "horrific acts of violence" Tuesday night at the university's own pro-Palestinian encampment
Footage online shows masked counter-demonstrators - supporting Israel - attacking their rivals with sticks and attempting to dismantle barricades
One person wearing a Palestinian flag was seen being dragged and beaten before the two sides were separated by police
In New York, police arrested about 300 protesters during campus raids at Columbia University and City College of New York in New York on Tuesday night, officials say
City officials also alleged that “outside agitators" had "co-opted" a peaceful pro-Palestinian demonstration, echoing statements from officials elsewhere in the country
US universities have been gripped by protests over the war in Gaza, as students demand a boycott of companies and individuals with ties to Israel
About two dozen protesters gathered outside Vice-President Kamala Harris' Wednesday event earlier today to show their support for Palestine.
Harris was speaking on reproductive rights in Jacksonville, Florida.
Pro-Palestinian protesters waved Palestinian flags and signs that read "Palestine will be free" and "end the occupation".
Image source, Getty ImagesIf you're just catching up, here's the latest on the university protests that have stretched from New York to California:
Later tonight, individuals from Columbia University and CUNY are holding a joint press conference to provide updates on arrests by the New York Police Department.
Stay with us for more.
Some more details from that clash we reported on earlier at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Four police officers have reportedly sustained injuries while dispersing protesters at an encampment at Library Hall on Wednesday morning.
Three Dane County deputies sustained injuries related to the physical resistance from protesters, according to a press release from the university.
One state trooper was injured after a protester reportedly used a skateboard to strike the officer in the head.
Police remain on scene to ensure ongoing protests are safe, the university adds.
Mike Wendling
Reporting from Waukesha, Wisconsin
Image source, ReutersDonald Trump addressed campus protests a short while ago at a campaign rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
He described last night's police raid at Columbia as "a beautiful thing to watch".
"New York was under siege last night," the former president said, with university leaders "afraid" to take action.
He said police "did an incredible job" taking back Hamilton Hall, the academic building that protesters were occupying.
"You know, you're supposed to take care of those buildings. It took a beating. But the police came in and, in exactly two hours, everything was over."
The unofficial Republican presidential nominee said he believes students have been "led astray" and that their protest action is distracting from domestic matters like the crisis at the US southern border.
Here's a look at the scene on Columbia's campus after police dispersed an encampment there.
Video shows protest site after police clear Columbia encampment
We brought you a short statement from California's governor a short while ago.
His office has since sent out a longer statement on the response to the clashes at UCLA last night.
The limited and delayed campus law enforcement response was "unacceptable" and demands answers, California Governor Gavin Newsom's office said in a statement posted on X, external, formerly Twitter.
The Governor's Office of Emergency Services immediately deployed personnel to the campus when it became clear state assistance was needed, according to the statement.
California established a Law Enforcement Mutual Aid system to provide aid to college campuses that request help when campus police become overwhelmed.
"We stand ready to provide additional mutual aid to local law enforcement and campuses when requested," the statement read.
17 April: A group of students pitch their tents at Columbia University, protesting Israel's actions in Gaza and calling on the university to financially divest from Israel.
The same day, Minouche Shafik, Columbia's president, is at a Congressional hearing over antisemitism on campus.
18 April: Shafik calls in the police to break up the encampment and they arrest 100 people. But the protesters return and rebuild a camp.
22 April: Columbia cancels in-person classes. Jewish students raise concerns about chants and signs supporting Hamas, while many protesters seek to distance themselves from antisemitic incidents.
24 April: Columbia administrators tell protesters to clear the camp by midnight. Some agree to leave but others refuse.
29 April: Columbia suspends students who defy a 14:00 deadline to leave, but hundreds of protesters remain in place.
30 April: Dozens of protestors take over the university's Hamilton Hall.
1 May: New York City Mayor Eric Adams says approximately 300 arrests were made at Columbia University and the City University of New York after police officers raided the campuses. He says that outside agitators were involved in the protests.
Several Los Angeles-based advocacy organisations have condemned the violence at UCLA's campus.
Jewish Federation Los Angeles blamed the university's chancellor for allowing "an environment to be created over many months that has made students feel unsafe".
The group demanded that the encampment be cleared and that UCLA meet with leaders of the Jewish community.
The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relation, meanwhile, blamed the violence on a "mob of pro-Israel extremists" and said UCLA needed to ensure "students can continue to peacefully protest the genocide in Gaza without facing attacks".
Nara Milanich, a professor at Columbia University, told BBC News she was upset by the violence used last night on Columbia's campus.
"We're shocked and appalled by the university's decision to call in the police a second time in order to counter student protesters," she said.
She said she felt that university administrator's decisions to call the police resulted in the use of an "extraordinary force" that inflamed the situation.
When asked about concerns over student safety, particularly that of Jewish students, Milanich, who is Jewish, said that she felt perfectly safe on campus. She added that many student protesters were Jewish.
"The use of force, the show of force, really seems disproportionate to the level of threat that the students [protesters] represent," she said.
Regan Morris
Reporting from UCLA, Los Angeles
UCLA student Eli Tsives claims the pro-Israeli group that attacked the pro-Palestinian camp were not UCLA students.
He condemned their actions but says he welcomes the resulting police presence on campus.
Tsives, 19, says the camp is illegal and he’s been urging UCLA authorities to arrest the people camping and to investigate antisemitic attacks on campus.
“This is no longer about freedom of speech,” he said. “They are breaking the law.”
California's Governor Gavin Newsom says he condemns the violence at UCLA.
"The law is clear: The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism, or lawlessness on campus," he says in a post on Twitter/X.
"Those who engage in illegal behavior must be held accountable for their actions - including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion."
Image source, Getty ImagesWe're bringing you more Columbia University President Minouche Shafik.
In a lengthy statement released earlier, she said the takeover of Hamilton Hall on Tuesday night was a "drastic escalation of many months of protest activity" and "pushed the university to the brink".
Shafik said she asked the New York City Police Department to intervene at Hamilton Hall.
"Many students have also felt uncomfortable and unwelcome because of the disruption and antisemitic comments made by some individuals, especially in the protests that have persistently mobilized outside our gates," she said.
Shafik said academic leaders spent eight days discussing demands with protest representatives.
The university is considering several new proposals on topics ranging from divestment to launching educational and health programmes in Gaza and the West Bank.
Columbia has just sent out a note that it is suspending media access to its campus "as a safety measure".
The statement notes that Hamilton Hall is "an active crime scene" under police investigation, and the campus will only be accessible to those with university IDs or "essential personnel".
In a statement earlier on Wednesday, President Minouche Shafik said the events of the past few days have "filled me with deep sadness. I am sorry we reached this point".
"It is going to take time to heal, but I know we can do that together," she wrote.
President Joe Biden is closely monitoring the situations unfolding on college campuses across the country and is "being kept regularly updated on what's happening", the White House says.
While addressing reporters moments ago, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reaffirmed that Americans have the right to peacefully protest - "as long as it's within the law".
She says students forcibly overtaking a building - such as the ones who did so at Columbia University this week - was not an example of "peaceful" protesting and stressed the need for all students "to feel safe on campus".
Quote MessageIt is important that students and communities feel safe here and at the same time, we are going to be really forceful here and continue to underscore how anti-semitism is hateful speech. It is wrong. It is important and we're going to continue to call that out."
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House Press Secretary
Eleanor Doyle
BBC Newsbeat
Nour Idriss is a journalism student at Columbia University.
The 36-year-old student describes the past few days as a “rollercoaster”, and says other journalism students were sleeping in Pulitzer Hall “continuously trying to cover the encampment and the protests”.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat earlier today, she tells me: “There were days when we expected complete chaos and madness, and things were peaceful.
“And then there were nights like last night, that was just absolute chaos.”
Idriss adds that the mood last night, immediately before the police raid, as also being tense.
“Everybody was very much agitated, especially when we anticipated the police sweep."
Members of the faculty and staff have gathered outside the entrance to Columbia University
Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, has just released a statement calling for calm.
Shafik, who began serving as president of the Ivy League college last July, says that "tensions" on campus "rose to new heights" when protesters broke into a building and locked themselves in.
"This drastic escalation of many months of protest activity pushed the University to the brink, creating a disruptive environment for everyone and raising safety risks to an intolerable level", she adds.
Columbia has a "long and proud tradition of protest and activists", Shafik continues, adding that students and outside activists "breaking Hamilton Hall doors, mistreating our Public Safety officers and maintenance staff, and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech".
Shafik goes on to call for students to be allowed to complete their academic work and move forward.
"It is going to take time to heal, but I know we can do that together," she says.
Let's now take a look at the view around University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where rival protestors have clashed on campus, in what the university's vice chancellor called "horrific acts of violence".
See what that encampment looked like after the clashes below:
As we reported earlier, Columbia University's president asked police to stay on campus until 17 May - two days after the college's graduation ceremony day.
Columbia has gone fully remote to reduce the number of people on campus, and a heavy police presence can be seen at each of the campus' entrances. Students who don't live on campus are being turned away.
There's a queue to enter the campus itself, as there's now only one entrance open for students, faculty and staff.
Image source, ReutersPolice face off against pro-Palestinian supporters at an encampment on the Library Mall of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Police arrested at least a dozen protesters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marc Lovicott, executive director of communications of the UW-Madison Police Department told reporters.
Law enforcement have now left the scene after spending several hours removing the encampment.
Lovicott says police arrived outside the university library before 07:00 local time (13:00 BST) and issued a series of warnings asking protesters to remove their tents. Police told protesters that camping is not allowed according to campus policy and state law.
After 15 minutes of repeated warnings, officers say they issued one final warning and told protesters there could be arrests if things turned violent.
Protesters encircled a small group of tents and at around 07:15 local time, university police and the City of Madison police moved in to remove the tents not encircled, police say.
Law enforcement then engaged with protesters as they pushed back.
"Some turned violent and it resulted in several arrests," Lovicott says.
As of 09:00 local time (15:00 BST), officers left the Library Mall. Protesters were heard cheering as they cleared the area.
Phil McCausland
Reporting outside Columbia University
Will Parkinson says he was locked in his friends’ dorm by New York police at the night of the raid, 30 April 2024
Will Parkinson, a 20-year-old environmental studies student, says he was locked in his friends’ dorm last night after New York police barred the doors on the building.
He had intended to write a paper, but he couldn’t get back to his own room. He watched the NYPD operation from the window with his friends and said it was the only occasion that the protests had felt unsafe - though largely due to the police presence, he adds.
“It was the first time that the level of intensity and the tension on campus was the same as what it had been portrayed like in American media,” says Parkinson, who did not participate in the demonstrations.
He says there was a fairly anxious mood on campus the morning after the NYPD raid.
All the dining halls but one had closed, and it was packed with students. The university had sent students some money to buy food, which he was on his way to purchase.
“We're all kind of in a weird little limbo. We're not sure what to do,” he says of himself and his friends.