Authorities move to break up encampments at two more US universities on Monday, as Columbia University cancels in-person classes Police arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan, as student protests over Israel’s war in Gaza continue to roil US campuses. On the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on Monday evening, the university said in a statement. Students who were arrested will be referred for disciplinary action ..read more

He had barely started his career when abuse left him mentally ill. But he went on to phenomenal success – and has just been made president of the UK’s leading drama school This is the first time David Harewood has stepped through the doors of Rada’s London headquarters since he became its president in mid-February, and he’s immediately struck by flashbacks of his time as a student here. “Stunning memories,” he says. “Memories of my audition, the paintings … and that staircase will always be memorable because you walk in and go: ‘Oh my God, I’m at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts!’ It’s very ..read more

Hundreds of members of teaching staff demonstrate in solidarity with arrested students as protest tents put back up on campus Hundreds of faculty members at Columbia University in New York held a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the president’s decision to have police arrest students at a pro-Palestinian encampment protest last week. The solidarity protest came as students put protest tents back up on campus. They had been torn down last week when the New York police department arrested more than 100 students, who were also suspended by the university ..read more

The university is to hold virtual classes after protests on campus culminated in the arrest of more than 100 students Over 100 students at Columbia were arrested last week after refusing to leave a pro-Palestine protest encampment set up on the university’s main campus. The arrests have since set off a chain of events, including the re-establishing of the encampment and solidarity protests on other US college campuses. On Monday, Columbia announced it will hold classes virtually to try to “reset” the situation on campus. Here’s what we know so far about what’s happening at Columbia ..read more

Westminster funding cuts could cause cultural deprivation, but I have a plan to nurture talent and boost employment Tracy Brabin is mayor of West Yorkshire I grew up in a council flat in Batley, West Yorkshire, on free school meals. I was the first in my family to go to university and the first to forge a career in the arts. As a result, I know the power of access and the dispiriting effect of exclusion. Sadly, the Conservative government doesn’t seem to agree. Access to the arts and the creative industries has been closed off at every level, including in schools, and as a consequence people ..read more

Improving provision for pupils outside mainstream education ought to be a top priority The doubling in the rate of children suspended from school in England since before the pandemic provides alarming evidence of worsening problems with behaviour and lack of in-school support. Persistent disruption was the reason most often cited in figures covering last spring, followed by physical assault against another pupil. The steep rise in suspensions of four- and five-year-olds is a particularly alarming trend, with 10,256 primary-age children suspended for assaulting an adult. Being out of schoo ..read more

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts Which individual has been treated most unfairly by history? Alex Middleton, Rutland Send new questions to nq@theguardian.com ..read more

Hopes investment to make Bitesize more personalised and interactive will attract future licence-fee payers The BBC plans to use a multimillion investment to transform its educational offering and attract the licence-fee payers of the future, with the help of artificial intelligence. After being heavily relied upon by desperate parents during the pandemic lockdowns, the BBC is to announce a new £6m investment in BBC Bitesize to make learning more personalised and interactive for students from primary school onwards. The money is part of an effort to lock in young users’ relationship with the pu ..read more

No matter how low you sink, your dreams can still come true: one woman’s inspirational story As a woman with decades of business experience, a Cambridge graduate with a fulfilling career running my own company, alongside a joy-filled family life, few would guess from looking at me today how close I came to having a very different story. From the outside, my childhood was idyllic – my family lived in Nigeria until I was 11, before moving to London. I went to Sunday school at church every week and I aspired to be a doctor, just like my cousin. I envisaged having a beautiful house, a fulfilling c ..read more

Pro-Palestinian students interrupted a dinner held by a top free speech defender at Berkeley. A polarized and very public controversy has followed During a dinner for students that the dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school held in his house’s backyard earlier this month, a woman wearing a hijab and checkered Palestinian scarf suddenly stood up with a microphone and amplifier. What followed lasted only a couple of minutes, but has led to a fierce debate about the limits of free speech, drew death threats to those involved, and created a “media firestorm,” as the dean, Erwin ..read more