The New York University (NYU) encampment has issued a letter, demanding a meeting today with the senior leadership team.

They want the "disclosure" of documents showing the establishment’s endowments, and how the university "will divest" by the end of the summer term.

"This includes direct investments and indirect holdings, and the documents outlining NYU’s portfolios, including those documents handled by external investments managers," the letter adds.

It also asks for a “written confirmation of full amnesty” for all students and faculty who have been arrested in the encampments, as well as information about the "extent" of the NYPD's involvement on campus.

In a statement, police in Virginia Tech have said that a total of 91 people were arrested and charged with trespassing overnight, including 54 who are currently enrolled in the college.

Students began protesting at the university's Graduate Life Center on Friday.

On Sunday, the university warned that the the protests had "progressed" and could potentially "become unsafe."

Police warned participants to leave about 22:15 local time before the arrests began.

Columbia student organiser Sueda Dolat recently spoke at a student press conference.

This is what Dolat had to say:

Image source, CBS

It's not just Columbia University that has large protests today.

At the University of Texas at Austin, videos on social media show police approaching an encampment.

The campus police department issued a "dispersal order" on social media, saying those on the South Mall area must leave "immediately".

Videos being shared by local journalists online appear to show troopers from Texas' Department of Public Safety - equipped in riot gear - moving in formation and beginning to make arrests.

Photographs have also appeared online of a statement from University of Texas police warning protesters to disperse ahead of the police operation.

It is unclear how many people have been taken into custody.

Last week, more than 50 students at the Austin university were arrested for trespassing.

Image source, CBS

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

At the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has just briefly addressed the college protests, saying President Joe Biden "stands squarely" against hateful speech while also supporting Americans' right to peacefully protest.

"Antisemitism is dangerous. It is hate speech. It is abhorrent," she said. "There is no place for antisemitism on campuses, or anywhere else."

"It is a painful moment, we get that," Jean-Pierre added. "Free expression has to be done within the law."

Jean-Pierre declined to comment on Columbia's earlier warning to participants in the school's protest encampment, or other school's potential disciplinary measures.

She said it is "up to university leadership and colleges to make that decision".

"We're going to continue to say that all Americans have the right to peacefully protest," she added

."At the same time, we have to call out any hateful rhetoric."

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Over the course of several days last week, I visited Columbia's protest encampment and spoke to students, including several Jewish students, who said they had experienced incidents of harassment and antisemitism since the demonstrations began.

Among them was Guy Sela, an Israeli students - and IDF veteran - who told me that "every Israeli Jewish student" at Columbia had faced "at least one antisemitic act", whether verbal or physical, since the protests began.

"I've been threatened here, called names like murderer, butcher and rapist, just because I was born in Israel," he said, adding that he has seen explicitly pro-Hamas signs on campus.

"We're paying full tuition here, just as much as they are," he said, the encampment clearly visible in the background. "There's no reason that this environment should be less inclusive for anyone that is not Palestinian or support that cause."

Another Jewish student, 27-year-old Master's student Jonathan Swill, said he turned down a doctoral opportunity at the university after being subjected to antisemitic abuse, including one case of assault.

"This place is uncomfortable for me. Every time I wake up, I dread having to come to campus. I don't know when I'm going to have things thrown at me," he said.

We now have a live stream of the protests at Columbia University in New York.

You can watch an aerial overview of the encampment by pressing the play button at the top of this page.

Nomia Iqbal
Reporting from Columbia University

The encampment itself is almost a calm island, with students marching in loud support and faculty members guarding the entrance.

Many students are walking around with faces covered - some have told us they’re worried about being recognised and facing recriminations.

Despite the 2pm deadline to clear, there is no sign of any police movement.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US Reporter

Just a few minutes ago, I spoke to Rabbi Will Berkovitz, the CEO of Jewish Family Services in Seattle, where hundreds of high school and university students walked out of school last week in solidarity with the campus protests across the US.

While Berkowitz acknowledged that criticism of Israel's government and policies in Gaza are "fair game", he said that he believes the protests have been marred by antisemitic incidents that have even spread to local middle schools.

"Students will say 'are you team Israel or team Palestine', as if this is some sort of Hunger Games," he said. "There are students who don't feel safe or comfortable wearing outward expressions of being Jewish."

Additionally, Berkowitz - a frequent commentator on antisemitism in national US media outlets - said he believes there have been "systemic" failures to address issues impacting young Jewish students in US schools.

Nomia Iqbal
Reporting from Columbia University

Dozens of Columbia staff and faculty in orange and yellow vests are standing in solidarity with the protesters.

They have linked arms at the entrance of the encampment.

They won’t allow anyone to enter.

The deadline imposed by Columbia officials passed 24 minutes ago, but protesters continue to gather on campus.

Image source, .

Pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York, a prestigious Ivy League college, pushed the issue into the mainstream media.

Two weeks ago, more than 100 protesters were arrested after the university’s president asked police to clear the site.

Since then, protests sprung up across at least two dozen universities across the US, with more students arrested at college campuses in Los Angeles, California and in Atlanta, Georgia.

Meanwhile in Austin, Texas, the governor ordered state troopers to arrest protesters.

Some protests have started out as small gatherings before attracting larger crowds while others have been sparked by a particular event, such as at the University of Southern California where the valedictorian's speech was cancelled after they posted a link to a website that was critical of Israel.

Elsewhere, protests are happening at George Washington University in Washington, DC, at the University of Texas, New York University, Harvard University, Yale University as well as at Boston's Emerson University. Protests are also been reported at high schools in Seattle and New Jersey.

Read more about the protests at US universities here.

Columbia University administrators have ordered students participating in the ongoing pro-Palestine campus encampments to disband or face disciplinary action. That deadline to leave is right now.

Here's what you need to know:

• In a letter on Monday, the school warned of interim suspensions for all students who do not voluntarily leave the protest by 1400 EST (1800 GMT)
• On Monday morning, Columbia University president Nemat "Minouche" Shafik revealed that talks with student organisers had failed to reach an agreement that would lead to them dismantling the encampment
• Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the main groups involved with the encampment, vowed to defy the order to leave
• Students are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, for their universities to financially divest from Israel, and for an amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests
• When the university called in the police two weeks ago to remove a group of protesters who had pitched tents on campus, the protest movement rapidly spread to campuses across the US

Stay with us for live updates.

Nomia Iqbal
Reporting from Columbia University

We have seen NYPD setting barricades up outside the university, near to the bookstore.

We saw one officer carrying a bundle of white zip ties.

There is a long line of media ready to enter - they typically only let us in at 14:00.

Nomia Iqbal
Reporting from Columbia University

Dozens of protestors are outside one of the college gates banging drums shouting “revolution!”

Several police officers are against the wall nearby setting up barricades, some drinking water.

I asked one what the plan was today. He said he couldn’t comment.

Columbia University has just emailed media ahead of the 14:00 deadline for protesters to leave the encampment.

Their message simply says: "The rumor of a 'state of emergency' at Columbia University is a fabrication and totally false. There is no state of emergency."

This video, filmed this morning, gives a bird's eye view of dozens of tents that have been erected at Columbia University by student protestors.

The protest camp is one of many across US college campuses as pro- and anti-Israel demonstrators make their voices heard.

Columbia students at the protest have been given a deadline of 14:00 local time (19:00 GMT) to leave, or face suspension.

Image source, Getty Images

At dawn on Wednesday 17 April, a small group of students pitched their tents at Columbia University, demonstrating against Israeli military action in Gaza and calling on their university to stop doing business with companies they see as supporting the war.

The next afternoon, the Columbia president Minouche Shafik made a decision that would ignite a wildfire of protest at colleges across the United States.

The students at the protest camp were trespassing, had refused to leave and had created a "harassing and intimidating environment" for many of their peers, she said.

Soon after, officers from the largest police department in the US, wearing riot gear and wielding plastic handcuffs, arrested more than 100 students - the first time mass arrests had been made on Columbia's campus since Vietnam War protests more than five decades ago.

By the middle of this week, demonstrations were taking place at dozens of campuses across the US.

You can read more on how the movement began and how it has unfolded so far here.

Protests against the war in Gaza are now roiling dozens of college campuses across the US.

Tensions quickly flared at American universities after October 7. But over the past two weeks, those tensions have boiled over.

Students are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and that their schools, many with massive endowments, financially divest from Israel. Divestment means to sell or otherwise drop financial ties.

Student activists say that companies doing business in or with the nation of Israel are complicit in its ongoing war on Gaza - and so are the colleges that invest in those companies.

University endowments fund everything from research labs to scholarship funds, mostly using returns from millions - and billions - of dollars in investments. They own shares of large companies from Amazon to Microsoft, and put money into private equity, hedge funds and index funds.

You can read more about the student protests here.