Colleges across the country are facing difficult decisions about whether to scale back or cancel their commencement ceremonies amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests. Columbia University, home to the beginning of the pro-Palestinian encampment movement and the first campus to see an escalation with police, announced Monday it canceled its university-wide ceremony. The same day, Emory University, another campus roiled by protests, announced it would move its commencement from its campus in Atlanta to a suburban arena. The moves followed a weekend during which several universities saw disturbances to their graduation ceremonies. The ongoing protests and university responses are complicating an already politically sensitive and complex issue facing the Biden administration just months ahead of the 2024 election. Pro-Palestinian Student Protests Columbia, which cited conversations with student leaders in its explanation for canceling its traditional graduation ceremony, said it would instead make its “Class Days and school-level ceremonies” the centerpiece of its commencement activities. “Our students emphasized that these smaller-scale, school-based celebrations are most meaningful to them and their families,” the statement said. “They are eager to …