Over 300 Harvard University professors have signed a letter to the university urging "constructive dialogue" with the peaceful protesters on campus.

"We are concerned that the university has yet to meet with the students to hear their concerns. Instead, the administration has issued escalating threats of punitive disciplinary action, the severity of which the university has not seen in decades," professors wrote.

"We urge the administration to meet and engage in meaningful dialogue with peacefully protesting students," the letter said.

The letter, sent to interim President Alan Garber and interim Provost John F. Manning Tuesday, came after Harvard warned protesters to empty their encampment. The professors are urging Harvard's administration to follow the lead of Brown University and Northwestern University, where encampments ended after school leadership agreed to take steps toward divestment.

"I think so many of us signed this letter because, as faculty, we have a duty of care towards our students. The harshness and scale of the proposed punishment is unprecedented and frankly alarming; these are activities that should be met with dialogue, not punishment," Teju Cole, a Gore Vidal professor of the practice of creative writing at Harvard, said in a statement.

"We are calling on the administration to be fair-minded and set these protests in the context of numerous other protests that have happened here in the past, in response to which the university did the right thing," Cole said.

Police entered an encampment at the University of Chicago early Tuesday and began dismantling it, according to Chicago ABC station WLS.

UCLA's Chancellor Gene Block said Monday that a detective from the LAPD will join the school's investigation to identify those who were involved in violence against pro-Palestinian protesters on campus last week.

The law enforcement investigation at UCLA is being led by Associate Chancellor and Chief Safety Officer Rick Braziel. Its goal is to "identify the perpetrators of the violence and hold them to account," Block said in a note to the community.

Block said that they have reached out to the FBI for "possible assistance," as well as Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón over prosecution.

Protesters at Massachusetts Institute of Technology are resisting orders to leave the encampment on Monday.

Footage from the scene shows protesters toppling the barriers, surrounding the encampment and linking arms.

This comes after MIT President Sally Kornbluth gave students until 2:30 p.m. ET to leave the encampment on campus.

The encampment on MIT's campus, on the Kresge lawn, has been ongoing for more than two weeks, according to Kornbluth.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams urged protesters at Columbia University to "walk away" after dozens of demonstrators stormed the campus' Hamilton Hall in what he called a "violent spectacle that serves no purpose."

Adams said the peaceful demonstrations were being co-opted by "professional outside agitators" seeking to "create discord and divisiveness."

"That is why I'm urging every student, every protester to walk away from this situation now. Continue your advocacy through other means," Adams said at a press briefing Tuesday evening. "We will always protect the right to protest, but we must balance that right with the right to keep students in school and our city safe."

"We cannot wait till this situation becomes even more serious. This must end now," he added.

Chief Edward Caban reiterated that protesters who are not Columbia students are working to escalate the situation and said the New York City Police Department is ready to assist the university as needed.

"We have seen the tactics changing in a way that's endangering public safety," he said.

The NYPD showed footage of what Deputy Commissioner for Intel Rebecca Weiner said showed outside actors making barriers inside Hamilton Hall and "escalating" tactics such as scaling buildings and breaking windows. Cameras in the building have also been destroyed, Weiner said.

Individuals who occupied Hamilton Hall could face charges including burglary in the third degree, trespass and criminal mischief, police said.

A Columbia University spokesperson said Tuesday evening that dozens of protesters were in Hamilton Hall.