As students return to colleges across the United States, administrators are bracing for a resurgence in activism against the war in Gaza, and some schools are adopting rules to limit the kind of protests that swept campuses last spring. While the summer break provided a respite in student demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war, it also gave both student protesters and higher education officials a chance to regroup and strategize for the fall semester. The stakes remain high. At Columbia University in New York, where the wave of pro-Palestinian tent encampments began, President Minouche Shafik resigned Wednesday after coming under heavy scrutiny for her handling of the demonstrations. Her resignation came just days after the school confirmed that three deans had resigned after officials said they exchanged disparaging texts during a campus discussion about Jewish life and antisemitism. Some of the new rules imposed by universities include banning encampments, limiting the duration of demonstrations, allowing protests only in designated spaces and restricting campus access to those with university identification. Critics say some of the measures will curtail free speech. At Harvard University, a draft document obtained by the student newspaper over the summer showed the college was considering prohibitions on overnight camping, chalk messages and unapproved signage. Many student protesters in the U.S. vow to continue their activism. Tensions have run high on college campuses since Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists assaulted southern Israel and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Mahmoud Khalil, a lead negotiator working on behalf of Columbia student protesters, said he fully expected protests, including possible encampments, to resume in the fall. “As long as Columbia continues to invest and to benefit from the Israeli apartheid, the students will continue their activism on campus in so many different ways,” he said. He said about 50 students still face discipline over last spring’s demonstrations after a mediation process that began earlier in the summer stalled. He blamed the impasse on Columbia administrators. “The university loves to appear that they’re in dialogue with the students. But these are all fake steps meant to assure the donor community and their political class,” said Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. The Ivy League school in upper Manhattan was roiled earlier this year by student demonstrations, culminating in scenes of police officers with zip ties and riot shields storming a building occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters. Similar protests swept college campuses nationwide, with many leading to violent clashes with police and more than 3,000 arrests. Many of the students who were arrested during police crackdowns have had their charges dismissed, but some are still waiting to learn what prosecutors decide. Many have faced fallout in their academic careers, including suspensions, withheld diplomas and other forms of discipline. Shafik was among the university leaders who were called for questioning before Congress earlier this year. She was heavily criticized by Republicans who accused her of not doing enough to combat concerns about antisemitism on the Columbia campus. She announced her resignation in an emailed letter to the university community just weeks before the start of classes on Sept. 3. The university on Monday began restricting campus access to people with Columbia IDs and registered guests, saying it wanted to curb “potential disruptions” as […]