Ahead of the University of Michigan's commencement on Saturday, the school has trained staff volunteers in how to mitigate disruptions: a change from the usual duties of guiding guests around campus and showing them to their seats.

Everyone facilitating the University of Illinois' commencement the following weekend will have undergone similar special training. At schools like the University of Southern California and Cal Poly Humboldt in Northern California, leaders have cancelled or moved key events off campus altogether.

What are typically joyful ceremonies in which robed students cross stages to accept diplomas will have a different feel this month at many universities where pro-Palestinian protests and police crackdowns have upended the final days of the school year.

Reuters asked 20 US colleges and universities where major protests have ensued how the demonstrations had affected commencement plans. Of the 11 that responded, only three did not expect to alter their security protocols for the event.

Some university leaders have called in riot police wielding batons and flash-bang grenades to disperse and arrest hundreds of protesters, citing a paramount need for campus safety, even as civil rights groups have decried such tactics as unnecessarily violent violations of free speech.

The anti-war protests have been staged in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza, which it launched after a Hamas attack on October 7.