Barry Winiker/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- College campuses in the U.S. have been at the center of controversial debate since Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel responded with a widespread bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip. Students, faculty and other members of university communities supporting Palestinians in Gaza or the Israeli invasion have been at odds for months.About 1,200 Israelis were killed in the unprecedented incursion by Hamas, according to Israeli officials, while the death toll in Gaza has crossed 34,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.Months of heated activism eventually led to an eruption of protests -- and around-the-clock encampments -- at colleges and universities around the country over Israel's war with Hamas and universities' investments in companies that are involved with Israel.In the aftermath of more than 100 protesters at Columbia University being suspended and arrested April 18 at an encampment on campus -- calling for the university to divest from companies involved with Israel's war with Hamas, reveal all of its financial investments and provide amnesty for all students and faculty disciplined or fired over their pro-Palestine activism -- protests and encampments spread across the country.Hundreds of students, and many non-students, have since been arrested at universities from coast to coast despite many protests largely being peaceful. Most of the arrests have been for disturbing the peace or trespassing after refusing university requests to remove encampments, though some have been for more serious crimes.Here is a timeline of events on campuses around the country since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.Oct. 8, 2023Over 30 Harvard University student groups led by Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee co-sign a letter saying they "hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."Over the next week, tensions are high on Harvard's campus. A bus is driven around campus showing the names and faces of students who were part of the groups that signed the letter under a banner reading "Harvard's Leading Antisemites."Pro-Israel students accused those behind the statement of supporting the Hamas attack, while pro-Palestinian groups denied those claims and said the statement was misinterpreted.Some of the students faced backlash, with some saying employers rescinded job offers due to their involvement in the letter.Oct. 10, 2023A New York University law student releases a statement in an internal newsletter that says in part "Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life." The newsletter is widely shared and the student's job offer at an international law firm is reportedly rescinded.Oct. 11, 2023The Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee releases a second statement saying the group has been flooded with "racist hate speech and death threats."Oct. 20, 2023The doxxing campaign against pro-Palestinian college students ramps up with the group behind a truck that appeared at Harvard saying it will create online domains with students' first and last names where it will share students' personal information and label them as antisemitic.Harvard's Palestine Solidarity Committee also releases a second statement clarifying that it opposes all violence against all innocent life.Nov. 17, 2023The U.S. Department of Education announces it is moving forward with investigations into five cases of antisemitism and two cases of Islamophobia at seven different schools including Cornell University, New York University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.Nov. 30, 2023Harvard and the New York City Department of Education are being investigated over antisemitism and islamophobia by the U.S. Department of Education.Dec. 5, 2023Harvard President Claudine Gay, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth testify before a congressional committee concerning their efforts to combat antisemitism on college campuses.Republicans on the committee, especially, express frustration with the college presidents for not doing enough to aggressively condemn those on their campuses who the members said foster antisemitism. The presidents tried to make the distinction between freedom of speech and threatening language.New York Rep. Elise Stefanik directly calls for Gay's resignation during the hearing, but soon after all three presidents face calls to resign following their testimony.Dec. 6, 2023Gay tries to walk back some of her comments, saying speech that calls for the genocide of Jews is "vile" and adds, "Those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account."Dec. 7, 2023Gay apologizes for her remarks before Congress in an interview with the Harvard Crimson, the college's student newspaper.Dec. 8, 2023Magill voluntarily resigns as UPenn president amid the backlash over her congressional testimony.Dec. 19, 2024The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website, publishes an anonymous complaint that alleges nearly 40 instances of plagiarism by Gay.Jan. 2, 2024Gay resigns as Harvard's president following mounting accusations of plagiarism and backlash after the testimony she gave at the December congressional hearing.Jan. 11, 2024Harvard is sued by Jewish students citing antisemitism on campus.The lawsuit, on behalf of members of the Students Against Antisemitism Inc., asks a judge to compel the university to enforce rules already on the books to protect Jewish students on campus and discipline classmates who violate them. Harvard told ABC News at the time that it would not comment on pending litigation.Jan. 19, 2024Protesters at Columbia are allegedly sprayed with a foul-smelling chemical during a divestment rally on campus.Jan. 20, 2024Harvard officials issue new guidance and restrictions for protests on campus amid heightened scrutiny regarding on-campus debate around the Israel-Hamas war, according to student newspaper the Harvard Crimson.Jan. 22, 2024Columbia's provost says the perpetrators who are believed to have sprayed Barnard and Columbia students with a foul-smelling substance that later required them to seek medical treatment have been identified to the university and they were immediately banned from campus while the investigation continues.Columbia also says the investigation into the incident continues and the NYPD is taking the lead.Jan. 30, 2024Pro-Palestinian students at Harvard file a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights demanding an investigation into Harvard's alleged failure to protect pro-Palestinian students from harassment, intimidation and threats.Feb. 6, 2024The Department of Education launches an investigation into Harvard following the civil rights complaint filed by pro-Palestinian students.April 18, 2024At least 108 protesters are arrested and others are suspended and removed from campus at Columbia University after administrators appeared before Congress and promised a crackdown. The move ignites outrage with protests and encampments appearing at universities around the country.April 21, 2024Massachusetts Institute of Technology students begin an encampment on campus, demanding the university cut research ties with Israel.April 22, 2024Over 150 people are arrested at an encampment at New York University. The university and student groups report different accounts of the arrests.NYU states that protesters "breeched" a barrier limiting access to the encampment, triggering the arrests, while protesters tell ABC News it was a peaceful protest and the NYPD began making arrests while Muslim protesters were praying.At Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, about 45 protesters are arrested and charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing.Harvard suspends the Palestine Solidarity Committee -- the only official pro-Palestinian group on campus -- for the remainder of the semester.The protests on campuses have been largely peaceful, according to school administrators, with some officials, including the NYPD, as well as protesters, bl