Protesters have gathered on at least 40 US university campuses since April 17, often setting up tent camps to protest the rising death toll in the Gaza Strip.
According to US media, about 2,000 people have been detained in demonstrations reminiscent of protests against the Vietnam War.
In recent days, police have forcibly broken up several student sit-ins at the request of administrators, including one at New York University.
Protesters barricaded themselves inside Columbia University, the epicenter of student protests in New York, complaining of police brutality after authorities evacuated the faculty.
At the University of California, Los Angeles, hundreds of police cleared an encampment, breaking down barriers and detaining more than 200 protesters.
Dozens of police in riot gear used chemical spray to break up a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Virginia, student newspaper The Cavalier Daily reports.
According to a video posted by the newspaper, officers snatched umbrellas from some protesters who used them as shields, scuffled with some and tore down tents.
Brown University in Rhode Island reached an agreement with students to remove their camp from the grounds in exchange for their separation from “companies that enable and profit from genocide in Gaza.”
President Joe Biden broke his silence on the protests on Thursday, insisting that “order must prevail”.