Lawmakers say universities should pay for police response to anti-Israel protests on campuses
Overtime pay for the police departments has increased since police have had to intervene due to protests
Anti-Israel protests driven by a lot of foreign influence: Laura Ballman
Former CIA operations officer Laura Ballman argues the U.S. is seeing a 'terrifying' repeat of what happened in the '70s as anti-Israel protests continue on college campuses.
Arrests of anti-Israel protesters are racking up at college campuses across the country and so are the tabs.
As cities are left to pay the costs for the police responses, officials and lawmakers are saying private universities should have to foot the bills.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Columbia University, New York University and other local private institutions should have to reimburse the city.
BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS FUND SCHOOLS WITH ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS
"We believe that they, too, should contribute to the cost, and one way to prevent the cost from escalating is to have a zero tolerance," Adams told Fox 5’s "Good Morning New York" last Thursday. "As soon as that tent goes up, it comes down. Do not allow this to continue to expand."
"We believe that they, too, should contribute to the cost, and one way to prevent the cost from escalating is to have a zero tolerance," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/NY Daily News/Tribune News Service via / Getty Images)
New York City Hall told FOX Business that overtime pay for the police departments has increased since police have had to intervene due to the protests.
Columbia reportedly asked the city to keep a police presence near campus through commencement activities next week. On Monday, the Ivy League school announced its university-wide commencement ceremony scheduled for May 15 was replaced with "smaller-scale, school-based celebrations," after weeks of anti-Israel demonstrations and counter-protests on campus raised security concerns.
Anti-Israel activists protest outside Columbia University in New York City on April 20, 2024. (Leonardo Munoz/AFP via / Getty Images)
That is why a bipartisan group of New York City council members in the Common Sense Caucus is calling on the school to reimburse the city for the expenses tied to the police response.
In a letter, council members said "the turmoil on Columbia’s campus is entirely of your university’s own making" and that "Columbia created this mess and Columbia, not New Yorkers, should pay to clean it up."
AMID ANTISEMITISM RISE, OTHER COLLEGES COULD UPEND COLUMBIA, HARVARD
The group also called on the school to tap into the paid details of the police force, which specializes in providing security for private places.
More than $5 billion in taxpayer money went toward the federal funding of the eight Ivy League schools in fiscal year 2023, a Fox News Digital review of financial records determined.
That year, Harvard received approximately $676.1 million; Princeton received $403 million; Yale $776.8 million; Columbia $1.2 billion; Penn $955.6 million; Brown $173.7 million; Dartmouth $133 million; and Cornell $736.3 million.
Anti-Israel protesters gather on the campus of Columbia University in New York City on April 23, 2024. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via / Getty Images)
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The New York City mayor’s office told FOX Business that it’s too early to know the exact amount of how much the police response to college campus protests has cost, but it has increased overtime pay for the police department.
FOX Business' Kyle Morris contributed to this report