Rutgers New Brunswick postpones morning final exams due to protests on campus

Rutgers University New Brunswick postponed Thursday morning's final exams and other academic activities on the College Avenue campus in light of recent protests.

In a statement released before 8 a.m. Thursday, Rutgers said, "Due to anticipated escalation of protest activities and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our students, exams and other academic activities scheduled to take place before noon today on the College Avenue campus have been postponed. More details will follow. Please contact your deans for further information. Activities on all other campuses will proceed as planned."

Thursday marked the fourth day since Rutgers students set up an encampment on campus to protest Israel's campaign in Gaza. The encampment is near the Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus, an area being referred to as "the liberated zone."

On Wednesday night, the Students for Justice in Palestine at Rutgers organization posted to its Instagram page calling for an "emergency protest" at 7 a.m. and urging the school to cancel finals.

"No school when Gaza has no schools," said the post. "Bring everyone you know to the liberated zone at 7 a.m."

Protesters have said they will not leave the Voorhees Mall until their 10 demands, listed on the organization's Instagram page, are met.

Rutgers final exams were originally scheduled to run from Thursday through Wednesday, May 8.

New dates and times for the postponed finals have not yet been announced.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Rutgers New Brunswick finals postponed Thursday morning due to protest