Columbia University’s president has said that talks with pro-Palestinian protesters who began camping on the Ivy League campus two weeks ago have failed and urged them to voluntarily disperse, without saying what would happen if they did not, Reuters reports.

President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that organisers and academic leaders could not reach an agreement that would break a stalemate over the encampment, which the administration says violates university rules.

She said Columbia would not divest assets that support Israel’s military — a key demand of the protesters — but the school has offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and to improve the transparency of Columbia’s direct investment holdings, according to Shafik’s statement.