New York, New York - Tensions flared between pro-Palestine student protesters and school administrators at several universities Monday, as in-person classes were canceled and demonstrators arrested.

The protests, which began last week at Columbia University with a large group of demonstrators establishing a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on school grounds, have spread to other campuses, including Yale, MIT, and more.

Some Jewish students at Columbia have reported intimidation and antisemitism amid the days-long protest, which is calling for the prestigious New York institution to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Classes were moved online Monday, with university president Nemat Shafik calling for a "reset" in an open letter to the school community.

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"Over the past days, there have been too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus," she said. "Anti-Semitic language, like any other language that is used to hurt and frighten people, is unacceptable and appropriate action will be taken."

"To deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps, I am announcing that all classes will be held virtually on Monday," she added.

Many Jewish students have been involved in the protests, while the incidents of conflict appear to have occurred outside the university gates, not in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

Last week, more than 100 protesters were arrested after university authorities called the police onto the private campus Thursday, a move that seemingly escalated tensions and sparked a greater turnout over the weekend.

Mimi Elias, a social work student who was arrested, told AFP on Monday: "We are going to stay until they talk to us and listen to our demands."

"We don't want antisemitism or Islamophobia. We are here for the liberation of all," Elias said.

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Columbia has cracked down hard on pro-Palestinian solidarity, suspending its chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace in November, which made it the subject of a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, the university has allowed one of its professors, Shai Davidai, to wage a social media campaign painting students who oppose Israel's actions as antisemites and terrorist sympathizers.

Joseph Howley, an associate professor of classics at Columbia, said the university had reached for the "wrong tool" by involving police, which had attracted "more radical elements that are not part of our student protests."

"You can't discipline and punish your way out of prejudice and community disagreement," Howley told AFP.

As the holiday of Passover began Monday night, social media images appeared to show pro-Palestinian Jewish students holding traditional seder meals inside the protest areas on multiple campuses, including at Columbia.

Further downtown, police began detaining protesters who had set up their own encampment at New York University at around 8:30 PM, the New York Times reported, after the school called the students' behavior "disorderly, disruptive, and antagonizing."

There were also demonstrations at MIT, the University of Michigan, and Yale, where at least 47 people had been arrested on Monday after refusing requests to disperse.

"The university made the decision to arrest those individuals who would not leave the plaza with the safety and security of the entire Yale community in mind," the Ivy League university said in a statement.

At Harvard, university officials on Monday suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee, the student group said on Instagram. They were ordered to "cease all organizational activities" for the rest of the term, or risk permanent expulsion after holding an unregistered demonstration last week, student newspaper the Harvard Crimson reported, citing an email to the group.

Undeterred by the crackdowns, students around the US are increasingly taking a stand for Palestine as Israel wages its brutal siege on Gaza. The assault has killed at least 34,151 people since October, as many more face starvation and famine.

President Joe Biden on Monday said he condemned "blatant Antisemitism" and said it "has no place on college campuses."

"I also condemn those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians," he told reporters, without further details.