UCLA announced it is instituting additional security measures amid protests on campus over the Israel-Hamas war in a statement on Sunday.

"UCLA has a long history of peaceful protest and we are heartbroken to report that today, some physical altercations broke out among demonstrators on Royce Quad," Mary Osako, vice chancellor of UCLA Strategic Communications said.

"We have since instituted additional security measures and increased the numbers of our safety team members on site," Osako said.

"As an institution of higher education, we stand firmly for the idea that even when we disagree, we must still engage respectfully and recognize one another’s humanity," Osako continued.

Addressing the physical altercations during the protests, Osako said, "We are dismayed that certain individuals instead chose to jeopardize the physical safety of the community."

Last week, the University of California rejected calls to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

The White House said Sunday that President Joe Biden respects the right of demonstrators to make their voices heard -- peacefully -- and "we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process."

"The president knows that there are very strong feelings about the war in Gaza. He understands that, he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protest. People should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told ABC News "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

Kirby did warn that some language heard during the demonstrations crossed a line with the administration.

"We absolutely condemn the antisemitism language that we've heard of late, and we certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there. These protests, we understand they're important, but they do need to be peaceful," he said.

"We'll leave it to local authorities to determine how these protests are managed," Kirby told Stephanopoulos, "but we want them to be peaceful protests and obviously we don't want to see anybody hurt in the process of peacefully protesting."

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod

The University of Southern California closed its main campus Saturday evening "due to a disturbance," the university said on X.

Los Angeles Police Department issued a citywide tactical alert due to a protest on USC's campus, urging people to avoid the area.

A tactical alert allows LAPD to keep officers on past their shifts and to move officers between divisions if they need extra staffing in one area of the city.

"There is no truth to claims of an impending lockdown or evictions on campus," Columbia University said in a memo to students Saturday evening.

The dialogue between the university officials and the student organizers remains ongoing, according to the university.

Brown University students began an encampment on campus Wednesday, with a student group warning other students that the university is threatening to crack down on protesters.

"Brown admin is using unprecedented repressive tactics to prevent peaceful student protest. They are doing random ID sweeps to identify people and threatening disciplinary action," the Brown Divest Coalition said in a statement on Instagram.

Students participating in the encampment "have been informed they will face conduct proceedings," Brown said in a statement to ABC News, because the encampment on the university's "greens" is a violation of policies. Brown added it has supported previous protests and activism on campus, including a hunger strike, that were "within the bounds of our policies."

"Protest is an acceptable means of expression at Brown, but it becomes unacceptable when it violates University policies that are intended to ensure the safety and security of members of the Brown community and that there is no interference in the rights of others to engage in the regular operations of the university. Early on Wednesday and periodically since, the University asked all participants in the encampment to present their Brown IDs to verify association with Brown for safety and security reasons and to appropriately address violations of policy," Brown said in a statement to ABC News.

"University administrators and the Department of Public Safety will continually monitor the situation and act as necessary. We have been troubled by reports of violence, harassment and intimidation at some encampments on other campuses, but we have not seen that kind of behavior at Brown. Any such behavior would not be tolerated," Brown said.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab