Classes at Columbia University's main campus will be hybrid amid anti-Israel protests that have engulfed the school.
After all classes Monday, the day Passover began, were virtual, the university announced guidelines for the remainder of the semester. The last day of classes is April 29, according to Columbia's academic calendar.
"Safety is our highest priority as we strive to support our students' learning and all the required academic operations," Provost Angela V. Olinto and Chief Operating Officer Cas Holloway said in a Monday night statement to faculty and students.
"It's vital that teaching and learning continue during this time. We recognize conditions vary across our campuses."
Olinto said all classes at the Manhattan Upper West Side main campus would be hybrid -— students attending either in person or remotely, classroom technology permitting — until the end of the spring semester.
"Faculty in other classrooms or teaching spaces that do not have capabilities for offering hybrid options should hold classes remotely if there are student requests for virtual participation," Olinto and Holloway said.
"If the class does not permit adapting to the remote offering format, we encourage faculty to provide other accommodations liberally to students who have requested support for virtual learning this week."
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer took to X to slam the decision to move to hybrid classes for the end of the semester.
"Great. 'Protesters' have in essence shut down Columbia University. It's terrible how weak the school's leaders — and especially its faculty — are. The school should be fully open (no remote classes) and students who disrupt other students should be expelled. This isn't hard," Fleischer posted on X.
Courses at Columbia's medical center and its Manhattanville campus would remain in-person "but granting accommodations based on religious reasons, or approved disability accommodations."
Columbia President Minouche Shafik appeared before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Wednesday in a hearing about antisemitism on college campuses. She was met with strong pushback from Republican members of the panel.
Demonstrations at Columbia have escalated since Shafik's appearance.
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik and fellow New York Republicans wrote a letter to Shafik on Monday urging her to step down, the Washington Examiner reported.
Also Monday, with the New York Police Department showing a large presence around Columbia, New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the campus to address security concerns.
"Students are scared," Hochul said in a video posted on X. "They are afraid to walk on campus. They don't deserve that."
Jacob Schmeltz, a Columbia senior, told CNN he was going home instead of celebrating Passover on campus as he has done in previous years.
"Jewish students have had enough and it's gotten to the point that we feel safer off campus than on it," Schmeltz said.