Protests at Columbia and other schools escalate

Pro-Palestinian protests continued at major US universities through Friday evening decrying Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

Throughout the week, several schools called police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across the country. Protesters have demanded schools divest campus funds from entities connected to Israel.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel killed about 1,200 people.

College administrators are facing increasing pressure from lawmakers to rein in protests. At Columbia – the epicenter of the demonstrations – the school’s senate passed a resolution late Friday to investigate the university leadership’s handling of the protests. 

Purported recording of Pikesville HS principal was not authentic, contained AI content

The former athletic director at Pikesville High School has been arrested in connection to an AI-generated impersonation of the school’s principal. Dazhon Darien, 31, faces multiple charges, including stalking, theft, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness, according to charging documents obtained by 11 News.

Police said the charges are connected to an investigation that started on Jan. 17 into a voice recording circulated on social media that was alleged to have been the voice of the school’s principal, Eric Eiswert.

Police said the audio clip, which was an alleged race-based commentary on the school’s students and teachers, was spread on social media. That led to the temporary removal of Eiswert from the school, as well as many hate-filled messages on social media and numerous calls to the school.

Police said Thursday afternoon that detectives have conclusive evidence based on a forensic analysis by the FBI that the recording was not authentic. Police said the analysis indicated the recording contained traces of AI-generated content. Detectives then sought an additional analysis by the University of California, Berkley, which arrived at the same findings as the FBI’s analysis.

Police said investigators believe Darien made the recording to retaliate against Eiswert, who, at the time, was pursuing an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds.