Columbia University president Minouche Shafik says negotiations with student protesters have fallen apart

Talks between pro-Palestinian student protesters and Columbia officials have broken down, according to an update on Monday from the university’s president.

Administrators have negotiated with demonstrators for much of the last week as protests roiled the campus as they demanded that the college divest from Israel. Dozens have been arrested and the institution switched to virtual learning amid the turmoil.

A statement on Monday from Columbia‘s embattled president Nemat Minouche Shafik said that“regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement”.

The “university will not divest from Israel,” but that it has offered to develop an “expedited timeline” for reviewing new proposals with the Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing”, the letter read.

Ms Shafik urged students who have set up an encampment on the college grounds in upper Manhattan “to voluntarily disperse”.

She also noted that the university is “consulting with a broader group in our community to explore alternative internal options to end this crisis as soon as possible”.

The university initially gave protesters a midnight deadline on 22 April to reach an agreement with the administration or be removed.